What Is a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)?

A Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is the GS1-standard identifier for a trade item — the number encoded in the barcode on a product and referenced in catalogs, purchase orders, and marketplace listings. Common formats include GTIN-12 (the UPC used in North America), GTIN-13 (the EAN used widely elsewhere), and GTIN-14 for packaging levels such as cases and pallets.

Why it matters

The GTIN is the closest thing global commerce has to a shared primary key. Marketplaces use it to match listings to catalog entries, retailers use it in EDI documents and at the point of sale, and warehouses scan it at receiving and pick. When GTIN discipline slips — reused numbers, one GTIN across genuinely different variants, or internal SKUs sent where a GTIN was expected — the failures show up downstream as mismatched listings, rejected item setups, mis-receipts, and chargebacks that are expensive to trace.

GTIN vs SKU

A SKU is an internal identifier a company assigns for its own operations; a GTIN is a globally registered identifier for the trade item itself. The same GTIN may map to different SKUs in different companies' systems, and mapping tables between them are part of the item data governance described in PIM, ERP, OMS, WMS: Who Owns What.

Related concepts

See GDSN, PIM, and marketplace integrations.