I may have found clarity after reading the following post on the woocommerce blog:
https://woocommerce.com/posts/why-use-skus-woocommerce/
The customer’s model numbers are already unique, so it makes sense to use the client’s MODEL for the SKU + and keeping the NAME column the same. This way, the client can continue to refer to the MODEL(SKU) in searches, invoices and all internal communication. There’s no reason to confuse things more by using some arbitrary/generated ID, right?
