GTIN

What is GTIN?

GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number, an item number administered by the standards body GS1. It uniquely identifies a product across the entire trade chain. GTINs come in several lengths — GTIN-8, GTIN-12 (UPC), GTIN-13 (EAN), and GTIN-14 — and these are exactly the digits encoded in a standard UPC or EAN barcode. The last digit is a check digit calculated from the preceding ones, which catches entry and scanning errors.

Why does GTIN matter?

Unlike a SKU, which you invent for your own inventory, a GTIN is global and unique across every seller. That makes it a shared key that Google Merchant Center and other channels use to match your products against their catalog. Correct GTINs are strongly recommended in Google Shopping and can improve both ad eligibility and performance, because Google can group identical items and compare prices.

Common use cases

• Google Shopping and Meta feeds: The feed expects a gtin field so your ads stay eligible.
• Price comparison: Portals like Google Shopping match offers from multiple stores on the same GTIN.
• Barcode scanning: Point-of-sale and warehouse systems look items up via the GTIN in the barcode.
• Marketplaces: Amazon and similar platforms often require a valid GTIN (EAN/UPC) to create a listing.
• Distinct from MPN: A GTIN identifies the trade item itself, not the manufacturer’s internal part number.

Shopify perspective

In Shopify, the GTIN is entered per variant in the Barcode (ISBN, UPC, GTIN, etc.) field under the product’s variants. The built-in Google and Meta sales channels automatically pull that barcode value into the gtin attribute of the product feed. Fill the field in consistently across all variants — otherwise you risk disapproved or limited products in Merchant Center. If a product genuinely has no GTIN (e.g. handmade goods), use MPN plus brand instead of inventing a fake number.