Identify your products

Akeneo PIM lets you identify products in several complementary ways. Whether you are searching for a specific product, updating catalog data in bulk, or synchronizing records with an ERP or e-commerce platform, choosing the right identifier makes your workflows faster and more reliable.

For example, a retailer selling on both Amazon and in physical stores might use an ASIN as an additional identifier alongside their internal SKU, while relying on the UUID to update products via the API regardless of whether the SKU has been filled in.

The three ways to identify a product

Akeneo PIM offers three ways to identify your products:

1. SKU (default Identifier Attribute): available in every PIM out of the box, and set as the main identifier by default.
2. Main identifier: any Identifier Attribute you choose to promote as the reference identifier for your whole catalog.
3. UUID: a technical, immutable identifier automatically assigned to every product. It cannot be changed or deleted.

Manage your products with the Identifier Attribute

Create an Identifier Attribute

To add a new product identifier to your catalog, create an Attribute of type Identifier:

1. Go to Settings > Attributes.
2. Click Create attribute.
3. Select Identifier as the attribute type.
4. Fill in the attribute code and label, then click Save.

For the full attribute creation steps, see Manage your attributes.

Set the main identifier

By default, the SKU is the main identifier. To use a different Identifier Attribute as the main identifier for your catalog:

1. Go to Settings > Attributes.
2. Open the Identifier Attribute you want to set as the main identifier.
3. In the attribute settings, enable the Set as main identifier option.
4. Click Save.

Identifier Attribute characteristics

All Identifier Attributes share these properties:

• Each product's value for an Identifier Attribute must be unique across your catalog.
• Identifier Attributes are not localizable (per Locale) and not scopable (per Channel).
• The SKU field is now optional: it can stay empty when creating a new product.
• The SKU Attribute can be removed from Family attributes and unchecked from product completeness requirements.

Search for products using an identifier

You can search for products using any of their identifier values, not just the main identifier, in two ways:

• Use the Search bar at the top of the product grid to find one specific product.
• Use the filter panel on the left with the In list function to display several products at once by providing a list of identifier values.

Automate identifier creation with the Identifier Generator

The Identifier Generator lets you automatically generate identifier values during product creation, based on a structure you define. With this feature, you can:

• Build identifier structures using product Attributes
• Target specific products by Family
• Define custom abbreviations for each property

Find out more in our Identifier Generator article.

Update products via the API using the main identifier

Eight API endpoints are available to identify, update, or delete products using their main identifier value. Refer to api.akeneo.com for the full reference.

Manage your products with the UUID

What is the UUID?

The UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is a technical identifier automatically assigned to every product in the PIM at creation.

Key characteristics:

• The UUID is not an Attribute: it is not displayed as a product value, unlike the Identifier Attribute.
• The UUID is immutable: it cannot be modified or deleted after the product is created.
• Each UUID is unique across the entire PIM.
• Every product has a UUID, even if its main identifier is empty.

A UUID is assigned at product creation in one of two ways:

• Automatically: the PIM generates a random UUID when the product is created through the UI or an import without a UUID column.
• Manually: you can provide your own UUID during an import or via the API, as long as it follows the Version 4 UUID standard.

You can find a product's UUID in two places:

• The URL of the product page in the PIM
• The product API response

Update products with imports

When exporting products from the PIM, your file can include a UUID column. Because every product has a UUID even when the main identifier is empty, using the UUID column is the most reliable way to re-identify products when re-importing an updated file.

After editing your product file, make sure the UUID column is still present before re-importing, so the PIM can match the rows to the correct products.

Supported import use cases:

Update products via the API using the UUID

Dedicated API endpoints let you identify, update, or delete products by UUID. These endpoints work regardless of whether a main identifier value is present, making them the most future-proof way to manage products via the API.

Follow our migration guide From product identifier to product UUID to update your integration.

Learn more about additional identifiers in this interactive course