Changing SKUs is not recommended, because it can have many unforeseen consequences, some of them listed below:
1. If you are changing Channel SKUs on the listings that are mapped to Linnworks items then it will break inventory linking and may lead to further issues such as not updated listings and over-selling.
2. If you are changing Linnworks SKUs, then linking will not be broken but all the reports will have new SKUs in them, even if the information is pulled for times before SKUs were changed.
The best way of inventory setup would be to have the same Channel and Linnworks SKUs from the start. This way inventory mapping will be easy to run with Link All by SKU option that automatically maps any listings where the listing SKU matches the Linnworks SKU.
If the custom label / SKU has been changed on the channel, then the first thing to do would be to go to Linnworks.net and use the 'Download Listings' feature for that channel. This will force Linnworks to update the mapping screen with up-to-date information. In the mapping screen, you can always re-link your items so that stock levels would update correctly.
If you need to edit SKUs, then the best way would be to go through these steps:
- Unlink listing in the mapping screen
- Edit custom label on the channel
- Download listings
- Link items with listings again
Re-linking items in the mapping screen would be enough, but if the SKUs do not match your custom labels, then it will not be possible to link them in bulk via Link All by SKU. In this case, the quickest way would be to use Delete Stock Item Linking and Stock Item Linking Import.
If there are unlinked items and you need to change their inventory numbers (SKUs) in bulk, then you can do it via the Change Inventory Item Number import.
Alternative
If the reason for changing SKUs is renaming them to supplier SKU, then an alternative to avoid this could be using supplier codes. Linnworks provides fields such as Supplier Codes, which can be used for re-ordering purposes and printing. You can consider using them instead, so you would not need to change SKUs. More details on using Supplier SKUs can be found here.
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