Resources
Retail & manufacturing glossary
The words buyers, factories and freight forwarders use, in plain English.
A
- ASN (Advance ship notice)
- An electronic notice listing what is in a shipment, sent to the buyer before it arrives, usually by EDI.
C
- COGS (Cost of goods sold)
- The cost of the products you sold in a period: what you paid to buy or make them, plus costs to get them into inventory, such as inbound freight and duties.
- Copyright
- Protection for original creative works, such as artwork, photos and written content. Copyrights are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, not the USPTO.
- CPSC (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)
- The federal agency that sets and enforces safety rules for consumer products in the United States.
D
E
- EDI (Electronic data interchange)
- Computer-to-computer exchange of standard business documents, such as purchase orders, invoices and advance ship notices. ANSI X12 is the common standard in North America.
- End cap
- The shelf space at the end of a store aisle, where retailers place promotions and featured products.
- EXW (Ex works)
- An Incoterm where the seller makes the goods available at its own premises, and the buyer takes on almost all cost and risk from there.
F
- Floor shipper
- A display-ready shipping unit that stands on the sales floor on its own base or pallet, stocked and ready to sell when it arrives.
- FOB (Free on board)
- An Incoterm for sea and inland-waterway shipping: the seller covers cost and risk until the goods are loaded on the vessel the buyer names. After that, they are the buyer’s.
G
- GCC / CPC (General Certificate of Conformity / Children’s Product Certificate)
- Certificates the US manufacturer or importer issues stating a product meets the safety rules that apply: a GCC for general-use products, or a CPC for children's products, based on testing by a CPSC-accepted lab.
- GS1 Company Prefix
- A unique company number issued by GS1 that you use to create your own product numbers.
- GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)
- The product identification number a barcode carries. A UPC is one way to print it.
H
- HTS code (Harmonized Tariff Schedule code)
- The tariff classification number for an imported product, used to work out the customs duty owed. The rate also depends on the country of origin and any trade programs.
I
- Incoterms
- Standard international trade terms, published by the International Chamber of Commerce, that set which costs, risks and tasks belong to the buyer and which to the seller. The current edition is Incoterms 2020.
K
- Keystone pricing
- Setting the retail price at twice the wholesale cost: a 100% markup, which is a 50% margin.
L
- Landed cost
- The full per-unit cost of getting an imported product into your inventory: product cost plus freight, duties and tariffs, insurance, brokerage and fees.
- Line review
- A retailer's scheduled review of a product category, when buyers decide which items to add, keep, expand or drop, and suppliers present new products.
M
- Markup vs. margin
- Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price. A 100% markup is a 50% margin.
O
P
- Patent
- A government grant, issued in the US by the USPTO, that lets the owner of an invention stop others from making, using or selling it for a limited time.
- PDQ display
- A pre-packed display carton that goes from the shipping case to the sales floor with little or no setup, often on an aisle end cap.
- Planogram
- A map of a store shelf that sets where each product goes and how much space it gets.
- Purchase order
- A buyer's document ordering specific products, quantities and terms from a supplier.
R
- Retail chargeback
- An amount a retailer subtracts from what it pays a supplier, often for compliance or shipping errors. Not the same as a credit-card chargeback.
T
- Tooling
- The custom-made molds and tools that shape a part, such as a steel or aluminum mold for injection-molded plastic. Usually a large upfront cost.
- Trademark
- A word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of them, that identifies the source of goods or services. Registration adds nationwide protection.
U
- UPC (Universal Product Code)
- The 12-digit barcode scanned at checkout, used mainly in North American retail. It carries the product’s GTIN.
V
- Vendor setup
- The process a retailer uses to register a new supplier in its systems so it can place orders and pay invoices.
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