SKU attributes are the characteristics of a product that can vary from one lot to the next, even though the lots share the same SKU. A size, a quality grade, a storage location, a customs status - these all describe a specific lot, rather than the product itself.
Attributes vs. the SKU code
A SKU code identifies what the product is - the same code for every lot of, say, “organic apples, 1kg bag.” The attributes describe how this particular lot differs from the next: its size grading, its moisture content, its EU tariff code, which storage bin it’s sitting in.
Why attributes matter more for food and pharma products
A bag of screws is the same regardless of which batch it came from. A crate of apples is not - size, sugar content and quality can all vary from one harvest lot to the next, even under the same SKU. The same is true for pharma products, where potency or concentration can vary slightly from batch to batch within tolerance. Being able to assign attributes at the lot level, rather than only at the SKU level, is what makes it possible to capture that variation instead of forcing every lot into an identical description.
In practice, which attributes matter depends on the industry: seafood companies often track Catch Method or FAO Catch Zone, meat producers track Breeder or Cutting, and fresh produce companies track Quality grade or Size. See the full list of available lot attributes in tracezilla.
