The terms that run retail planning.
Plain definitions of the language behind demand, inventory, buying and margin. Each one: what it is, why it matters, and how it’s worked out.
Demand & forecasting
a demand forecast
A prediction of how much will sell, by product and channel, over a future period.
demand planning
The process of turning a demand forecast into a usable plan, with human review and overrides.
demand sensing
Adjusting the near-term forecast from current signals (recent sales, web traffic, orders) rather than history alone.
forecast accuracy
How close the forecast came to actual sales, usually measured as error.
forecast bias
A consistent lean in the forecast, always too high or always too low.
cohort baselining
Forecasting a new product by anchoring it to a small group of past products that behaved like it.
new-product forecasting
Predicting demand for a product with little or no sales history.
cannibalization
A new or promoted product taking sales from your existing ones rather than adding new demand.
seasonality
The repeating pattern of demand across the year for a product or category.
base demand vs uplift
Base is the demand you'd get with no promotion; uplift is the extra a promotion or event drives.
Inventory & availability
weeks of cover (WOC)
How many weeks your current stock will last at the current rate of sale.
safety stock
The buffer held to cover the gap between forecast and actual demand, and variability in supply.
service level
The share of demand you intend to meet from stock without a stockout.
fill rate
The share of demand actually met from available stock.
a stockout
Running out of a product customers want to buy.
inventory turn
How many times you sell and replace your average stock in a year.
days sales of inventory (DSI)
The average number of days stock sits before it sells.
dead stock
Stock that has stopped selling at any meaningful rate.
carrying cost
The cost of holding stock: capital, storage, insurance, shrinkage and obsolescence.
ABC analysis
Ranking products by their share of sales or margin, so the vital few get the most attention.
BOP / EOP stock
Beginning-of-period and end-of-period stock.
Buying & open-to-buy
open-to-buy (OTB)
The amount of new stock you can receive this period and still hit the plan.
receipts
Stock arriving into the business in a period, also called intake.
on order
Stock committed with suppliers but not yet received.
lead time
The time from placing an order to receiving the stock.
MOQ (minimum order quantity)
The smallest quantity a supplier will produce or ship.
WSSI
Weekly sales, stock and intake: a weekly trading plan that tracks sales, stock and receipts against plan.
continuity vs seasonal
Continuity lines are carried all year; seasonal lines come and go.
merchandise financial planning (MFP)
The top-down plan for sales, margin, markdowns and inventory across a season, by department and channel.
Merchandising & allocation
an assortment
The range of products planned for a season, channel or store.
a line plan
The planned list of styles or options for a season, with rough volumes and price points.
option count
The number of distinct choices (styles, colors) in a range.
a size curve
How demand splits across the sizes within a style.
a pack (prepack)
A pre-set bundle of sizes shipped as one unit.
store clustering
Grouping stores that behave alike so you can plan and allocate to the group, not each store.
allocation
Deciding how much stock goes to each location or channel.
replenishment
Topping stock back up to plan as it sells.
category management
Planning a group of related products as one business, from range to price to space.
Pricing & markdown
a markdown
A permanent cut in selling price to clear stock that isn't moving fast enough.
markdown optimization
Deciding which lines to mark, by how much and when, to clear stock with the least margin lost.
sell-through
The share of stock that has sold in a period.
full-price sell-through
The share of stock sold before any markdown.
a promotion
A temporary price cut or offer to lift demand.
Financial KPIs
GMROI
Gross margin earned per dollar of inventory.
gross margin
Sales minus the cost of the goods sold, as a value or a percentage.
markup / IMU
The difference between cost and retail price; initial markup (IMU) is set before any markdown.
the stock-to-sales ratio
How much stock you hold relative to sales in a period.
sell-in vs sell-through
Sell-in is what you sell to a wholesale partner; sell-through is what their customers buy.
Plan with confidence. One set of numbers, every team, every week.
There's nothing to rip out. Tightly runs on your existing ERP, EDI, e-commerce and POS. Give us 30 minutes and we'll show it on your own categories.