Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) and barcodes streamline inventory management and sales by enabling quick and accurate item identification. Each product in your system is assigned a unique system ID and corresponding barcode, including non-inventory items like coupons and promotions. This allows for efficient scanning during sales, inventory counts, and restocking, minimizing manual entry errors and saving time. Additionally, you can customize and print labels with barcodes to suit your specific business needs.

Supported barcodes and SKUs

R-Series supports various barcode and SKU types, which are designed to meet different business requirements The supported barcode and SKU types include:

• Auto-generated: An automatically created SKU within Retail POS.
• Custom: Custom SKU you created.
• EAN: European Article Number.
• Manufacturer: Manufacturer's SKU.
• UPC: Universal Product Code.

Understanding multiple barcodes

Each product's SKU is typically the primary identifier used for selling, inventory management, and customer-facing materials such as receipts, labels, and e-commerce listings. However, products may also be associated with various external identifiers, such as a UPC, EAN, manufacturing SKU, or custom SKU. These identifiers provide additional ways to track and manage products efficiently.

Adding and editing multiple barcodes on standard products

You can customize your product listing and add or remove multiple barcode fields:

1. Navigate to Settings > General options, and the Setup page displays.
2. In the Customize Product Listing, activate or deactivate the checkboxes for each barcode type you want to manage:
   • UPC
   • EAN
   • Custom SKU
   • Manufacturer SKU
3. Click Save Changes when you're finished. The barcodes you activated will now be visible on your product listings and the sale screen. Any deactivated barcodes won't be displayed.

Adding and editing multiple matrix product barcodes

A matrix product is a group of similar items offered in different variations, such as sizes or colors. Each variant in the matrix has a unique SKU for its inventory. For example, a sweater in multiple colors and sizes would have a unique SKU and barcode for each combination.

To customize your matrix inventory products and add or remove multiple SKUs:

1. Navigate to Inventory > Matrix to display the Item Matrices page, where you can edit items organized in matrices.
2. Select the item you want to edit, and the Item Matrix page for the item displays.
3. Click the pencil icon next to the matrix SKU you want to edit and the Item Matrix Details page displays.
4. On the Item Matrix Details page, in the IDs section, you can add or edit the codes:
   • UPC
   • EAN
   • Custom SKU
   • Manufacturing SKU
5. When you've finished adding or editing the codes, click Save Changes in the top left corner. The updated codes will now display for the matrix item you edited.

Adding a product and barcode

Add products to your store and inventory and use SKUs to easily find and differentiate items. To add a product and its SKU:

1. Navigate to Inventory > New Item.
2. Create a new product and enter its details. In the IDs section, you can add:
   • UPC
   • EAN
   • Custom SKU
   • Manufacturing SKU
3. When the item details are complete and you're finished, click Save Changes or Save & Start New Item to add more items. After saving, the item will be displayed in your inventory. Refer to Important considerations about product information in Lightspeed Retail POS (R-Series) to learn more about product information.

Editing a product barcode

If you decide to change the identification for a product, you can change its codes and barcodes. To edit SKUs for existing products:

1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Search.
2. Search for or select the item you want to edit.
3. Click the item from the Item list.
4. In the IDs section, you can edit the UPC, EAN, Custom SKU, and Manufacturing SKU as needed.

Quick editing items

You can make the editing process faster by using the Quick Edit Items feature. To do this:

1. Navigate to Inventory > Quick Edit Items.
2. In the item search field, enter the item name, UPC, EAN, Custom SKU, or Manufacturing SKU.
3. Click the dropdown menu and select the code type you want to edit (UPC, EAN, Custom SKU, or Manufacturing SKU). Then click Search to display a filtered list of items.
4. In the items list, click the field for the code type you want to edit, then enter the new number.
5. Click outside the field area or exit the page to save the new barcode for the item.
6. Optionally, to quickly edit a different barcode for the same item, select a different code filter from the dropdown menu and click Search. To edit a different item, enter its details in the search field and repeat the process.

Creating labels

1. Navigate to Settings > Label Editor.
2. Click Create label.
3. Select the Label size checkbox for the label type you'd like to create. You can select one of the following options:
• Normal.
• Alternative.
• Small.
• Jewelry (butterfly).
4. Click Create label.
5. Choose a label template and customize the label's details. If you want a barcode on the label, enable the Barcode checkbox.
6. In the Barcode dropdown menu, select the code type and information for the barcode that will be printed on your labels.
7. Enable the Manufacturer SKU or Custom SKU checkboxes if want them displayed on the label. Enable any other details you'd like to add to your label.
8. When you've completed customizing your new label, click Save changes. Your new template will be created, and you can access and edit existing labels within the Label Editor page.

Editing and deleting labels

1. Navigate to Settings > Label Editor.
2. From the Template list, select the Template name of the label you want to edit. The label editing page will display.
3. Make your edits, then click Save changes or click Delete label to remove the label from your store.

Using barcodes for marketing and promotions

Lightspeed Retail automatically generates a system ID and matching barcode for every item, including non-inventory items like coupons and promotions. You can use barcodes to create printed coupon designs with scannable barcodes, which can be distributed through promotions.

Use our Mailchimp integration to email these coupons to subscribers in your newsletter. Customers can then bring the coupon to your shop, where it can be scanned to apply a discount. Refer to Creating coupons and promotions for more information.

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