twelfth · Glossary · Pricing
Matched SKU
Also called product matching
A matched SKU is a competitor's listing confirmed to be the same product as one of yours, so the two prices can be compared fairly.
What it means for retail and category teams
Matching sounds trivial and is the hardest part of competitor price monitoring. Barcodes (GTINs) are missing, reused or wrong on many listings; pack sizes and variants differ; titles are inconsistent; and a number in a title can be a model code, a size or a multipack count. Good matching uses several signals together — barcode, brand and manufacturer part number, pack size, variant — and treats a doubtful match as unmatched rather than guessing.
Matches also age. Listings are relisted, competitors change pack sizes and marketplace sellers come and go, so matches need re-checking rather than setting once.
Why it matters
Every downstream number, from a single price gap to a category index, inherits the quality of the match. A wrong match produces a comparison that reads perfectly and means nothing, and it is often the dramatic comparisons, the ones most likely to trigger a price move, that turn out to be mismatches.
Illustrative example
The business and figures are illustrative, not customer data
A retailer tracks a 24-pack of 600 ml sparkling water. A competitor listing with a similar title shows a price 40% lower. On inspection it is a 12-pack of the same product. Once pack size is used as a matching signal, that listing is rejected, the competitor's genuine 24-pack is found, and the real gap turns out to be about 5%.
In twelfth
In twelfth, the customer SKU is the key for each tracked product, and a barcode (GTIN) or brand plus manufacturer part number are optional matching signals; pack, model, variant and fitment attributes help prevent false matches. The Tracked set marks each competitor as in stock, out of stock or not matched, and a newly added line can stay unmatched until collection has observed and paired it.
Related terms
Related on twelfth.ai
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