Anchor Store
Also known as “draw tenant”, “anchor tenant”, or “key tenant”, an anchor store is one of the largest—if not the largest—store in a mall or shopping center. It’s usually a well-known department store or retail chain.
Augmented Reality (AR)
In retail, AR can be implemented in several ways, including shoppable catalogs, apps that let you see in-store deals when you point your phone’s camera towards a specific direction, or even fitting room simulators.
Big Box Store
Its name pretty much says it all. A big box store is a large establishment, often in a square or rectangular-shaped building.
Big Data
This refers to sets of data so massive; it would take sophisticated programs and really smart data scientists to make sense of it all. Take Macy’s, for example. With the help of IBM, the US retailer is able to gather torrents of customer information and behavior at a variety of touchpoints in order to serve up personalized experiences and recommendations.
Brick and Click
This term refers to retailers that integrate their brick-and-mortar store with their ecommerce site.
Beacons
Powered by BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) technology, Beacons are devices that can transmit messages to other Bluetooth-enabled gizmos, such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. For example, a returning customer walking in may receive a “Welcome back!” message, and when that shopper passes by the footwear section with a shoe sale, the store can send an alert via smartphone.
Loss Leader
A known marketing tool in retail, a loss leader is an item that’s sold at a loss to attract more customers into a store. Once inside, the retailer counts on the customer to buy other items together with the loss leader, generating profits for the business.
Markdown
A markdown is a devaluation of a product due to its inability to be sold at the intended price. The price of the merchandise is permanently reduced to move inventory and make room for new products.
Niche Retailing
This term refers to the practice of selling only to a specific market segment. In other words, if you’re a niche retailer, you specialize in a particular type of product.
Planogram
This is a visual representation that shows how merchandise should be arranged on store shelves in order to drive more sales.
Pop-Up Store
Pop-Up-Stores are short-term shops or sales spaces that come and go within a given period. These stores can be set up in empty retail spaces, mall booths, or even in the middle of a park.
Prestige Pricing
Usually implemented by high-end retailers and lifestyle brands, prestige pricing is a strategy in which an item is priced at a high level to denote exclusivity, high quality, or luxury.
Relationship Retailing
This is a strategy businesses implement to build loyalty and forge long-term relationships with customers. Relationship Retailing can come in the form of loyalty programs, personalized experiences, or superb customer service.
RFID
An acronym for Radio Frequency Identification, RFID is a chip embedded in an item’s label or packaging. It stores information about the product and is primarily used for tracking purposes.
Self-Serve
In retail, this means letting customers select and pay for goods themselves, without requiring the assistance of live staff. Vending machines, kiosks, and self-serve checkout lanes in grocery stores all fall under this category.
Shrinkage
The common causes of shrinkage include employee theft, shoplifting, administrative errors, and supplier fraud.
Stock-Keeping Unit
More commonly known as SKU, this term pertains to the unique identification of a particular product. A SKU represents all the attributes of an item, including style, brand, size, color, and more.
Social Commerce
S-Commerce refers to retail models or ecommerce practices that incorporate social media, user-generated content, or social interaction.
Webrooming
This is the practice of looking at products online before buying them in actual brick-and-mortar stores. It’s the opposite of showrooming.
Wearable Technology
Smartwatches, smartglasses, and fitness devices like FitBit all fall under wearable tech. These are gadgets that people can wear, and they can often sync to an app or other cloud-based software.
Action Alley
The sales area of a store located immediately after entering.
Ad-to-Sales Percentage
The amount of advertising dollars that you spend expressed as a percentage of your sales.
Advance Shipping Notice (ASN)
The ASN is a file containing all the SKU information of the shipment, as well as the shipping container serial number. For example, in a shoe store, the SKU might be defined by manufacturer, style, color, and size. Retailers use the ASN to avoid counting or receiving every piece of inventory individually.
Breadth of Assortments
The range or number of different items offered for sale. For example, wide = many different items, narrow = a limited range of items for sale.
Card File
Usually refers to a list of store customers arranged in a card index file.
Classification (Sub Classification) / Category (Sub Category)
Further breakdown of a classification into a more specific group of items, e.g., men’s short sleeve dress shirts is a sub-classification of the main classification of men’s dress shirts.
Comp Sales
Comparable-store sales measure revenue productivity by comparing sales of retail stores that have been open for a year or more.
Conversion Rate
The number of people who enter a store divided into the number who made a purchase. It measures the “close” rate that a store achieves on specific foot traffic into the store.
CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by strengthening customer loyalty.
EAN
The European Article Number replaces the North American UPC code. The EAN has thirteen digits: one on the leading left side of the barcode, six for the manufacturer, and six for product identification.
Gondola
A primary merchandising fixture consisting of a base, free-standing vertical wall, and a number of shelving sections.
Merchandise Mix
The breadth and depth of the products offered by retailers.
Off Price Advertising
Advertising whose basic appeal is outstanding savings.
Open-to-Buy
Merchandise budgeted for purchase during a certain time period that has not yet been ordered.
PLU — Price Look Up
A system where the PLU feature displays the description and price of an item when entered or scanned at the point of sale. It’s also printed on the receipt for customers to recall what they purchased.
Point-of-Purchase Display
Point-of-purchase displays, or POP displays, are marketing materials placed next to the merchandise being promoted. These items are often located at the checkout area or other locations where purchase decisions are made.
POS
Point Of Sale refers to visual merchandising or cash register systems capable of price lookups (PLUs) and storing customer data.
Category Killer
A large retail chain store dominant in its product category, offering an extensive selection of merchandise at low prices, making it difficult for smaller stores to compete.
