Each product on our website has a unique model number such as R6, RJ4300, etc.. However, a lot of products are available in various configurations. For example, the two products just mentioned are Rollators that are available in various colors. Do all the colors really share the same model number? No. In general, each variation of a product has a unique identifier, its SKU number.

Sometimes, manufacturers give the product a “product name”, for lack of a better term. Take the SilverSport2 wheelchair from Drive Medical as an example. None of the actual SKUs even have the word SilverSport in it. Rather the model #s look like SSP216FA-SF. In this case, the SKU gives a hint as to what the product configuration is. SSP2 stands for SilverSport2. The number 16 indicates that the seat width of the wheelchair is 16”. FA means it has fixed arms. The SF at the end tells us that it has swing-away footrests.

In other cases, the “product name” is actually a portion of the SKU. The blue R6 is R6BL, the red R6 is R6RD, and so on. All this can be a little confusing if someone knows the exact SKU that they are looking for. But it gets worse.

In yet other cases, the SKUs of a product have nothing to do with its known name. Let’s use the Drive Medical Cuiser III as as example. Drive has no less than 18 unique SKUs for the CruiserIII. The SKUs look like K316DDA-SF, K318ADDA-ELR, etc. In this particular case, we decided to use K318 as the model number on our site, despite the fact that not all model numbers even contain the characters K318. Admittedly, as I write this blog post, it occurs to me that a better idea would have been to call it CruiserIII, as we did for the SilverSport2. Perhaps we will change it, perhaps not. J.

There is no perfect solution. We believe the system we implemented is the most straight-forward. The average customer doesn’t want to be busy with the technicalities of the various SKU numbers when ordering their product. They just want to select the options they want on the product page, and add the product to their cart. The fact that this obscures the actual SKU number of the product as configured is not an issue to them.