A comprehensive list of all the terms you need to know associated with merchandising resets in retail.

1. Merchandising Reset
Glossary

2. Action Alley
Area of the store with wider
aisles that separate
departments and receive
more foot traffic.

3. ASP
Average Selling Price. The average price a retailer sells a
product for over a period of time.

4. Block Placement
When related products from
different categories are
stocked together, e.g. snacks
with reusable plastic
containers or chips with salsa
and dip. Also called cross
merchandising. Learn more.

5. Case Cards
A piece of signage that slips between or into a case of a
product to help promote it. Also know as header cards,
case backers or case signage.

6. Charger Back
Deductions on an invoice taken by the retailer for
shortages, damages, freight allowances, or other costs.

7. CM
Category Manager. A CM oversees and has expertise in
the visual merchandising, price and sale of a specific
category.

8. CMA
Calendar Marketing Agreement. A schedule that a
retailer agrees to follow to promote a manufacturer's
product.

9. Color Break
A visual merchandising tactic
when products with
contrasting packaging colors
are put next to each other to
make them stand out more.

10. Cut-Case Display
Utilizing the original shipping
packaging to display the
product with the top and/or
sides removed.

11. Cut-In
To make space on a shelf for
new or promotional items by
shifting or removing other
merchandise. This often
occurs between major
merchandising resets to
introduce items more quickly.

12. Dead Stock
Stock that has spent too much time on the shelf and has
either expired or become obsolete.

13. DOS
Days of Supply. The product amount needed to sustain
customer demand between restockings.

14. Drop
A delivery.

15. Endcap
A display at the end of an
aisle.

16. ESL
Electronic Shelf Labeling.

17. Facing (verb)
To pull products forward to
be flush with the front of the
shelf. Also called blocking,
zoning, straightening,
rumbling, fronting or
conditioning.

18. Facing (noun)
The number of items wide a product is stocked on the
shelf. Also called slots.

19. FEFO
First Expired First Out. A
stock rotation method of
organizing product by
freshest in front, oldest in the
back. Learn more.

20. FIFO
First in First Out. A stock
rotation method of putting
incoming product in the back
of the shelf and pushing older
product forward. Learn more.

21. Frontage
The section of the store directly facing the street.

22. Inventory Carrying Cost
The total cost of carrying inventory, including rent,
utilities, salaries, opportunity cost, and inventory costs
related to perishability, shrinkage and insurance.

23. IPQ
Initial Purchase Quantity

24. Keystone Product
A product that is sold for double the wholesale price.

25. Lead Time
The time between order and delivery.

26. LIFO
Last Expired First Out. A
stock rotation method of
placing incoming product
directly onto the shelf,
pushing older product
towards the back. Learn more.

27. Loss Leader
A product priced below cost to draw customers into a
store.

28. Lumper
A third-party worker hired to load or unload shipments.

29. Main-Line
The main display area in a store.

30. Mis-Pick
A product that is incorrectly slotted.

31. Mod
Modular. A category of goods on display, e.g. beer or
detergent.

32. Off-Shelf
Any display or promotion that
is not part of the regular
store, e.g. cardboard POP
displays or beverage towers.

33. OOS
Out of stock. When a product
sells out, leaving an empty
slot on the shelf. Also called a
stockout. Learn more.

34. OSA
On shelf availability.

35. OSDs
Overs, shorts and damages. Any discrepancy in the
product ordered and those received by the retailer.

36. Pack-Out
The total number of packages of an item on a shelf when
fully-stocked, shelf capacity or holding power.

37. PDQ
Predetermined Display
Quantity. A pre-made display
unit that requires little to no
assembly. Also called a
sidekick, shipper, or pre-pack.

38. Planogram
A visual representation of
how all the facings in an aisle
should look and be organized.
Also called a POG or
schematic. Learn more.

39. POS
Point of Sale. Where
purchases are made in the
store. Also called a cash wrap
or checkout counter.

40. Reverse Pick
Scanning items in bins to see if they will fit out on the
shelf, rather than scanning items on the shelf to see if
there is stock in the bin.

41. Scratch
A product removed from an order because it was out of
stock at the manufacturer or warehouse.

42. Self-Facing Tray
A shelf management solution that pushes new product
forward each time a product is removed, e.g. cans of soup
roll forward to fill the empty space each time a can is
taken out.

43. Shelf Tag
A product's price tag, affixed
to the shelf it sits on.

44. Shelf Talker
A sign attached to a shelf to
attract a customer's attention
to a certain product or
promotion. Also called a
dangler.

45. Shrinkage
The difference between the stock you actually have and
what you have on paper. This occurs due to employee
theft, shoplifting, human error or poor inventory
management.

46. SKU
Stock Keeping Unit. Assigned by the retailer for stock-
keeping and internal purposes to identify the
manufacturer, style, size, color, and unit price of a piece of
merchandise. Typically eight alpha-numeric digits and
differs retailer to retailer.

47. Slot
Place for one product to be stocked on a shelf.

48. Slotting Fee
A fee that some retailers charge for each slot on a shelf a
product occupies. Learn more.

49. Stock Rotation
Organizing products based on freshness and expiration
date. Learn more.

50. Top Stock
When extra stock is kept above shelves on the retail floor
instead of in the backroom.

51. TPR
Temporary price reduction.

52. Turn
The number of times a product completes a cycle of
moving through a warehouse in a year.

53. Unit Load
Items arranged or packaged as a single unit on a pallet for
easy storage and transportation.

54. UPC
Universal Product Code. A
number with 12 digits that is
assigned to each item and is
the same across all retailers.
Also usually associated with a
unique EAN barcode.

55. Wand
A handheld electronic device
used to scan barcodes and
record quantities.