 |
| P&L Sheet | Profit and Loss Statement. |
|
| pack | A standard number of items in a case. |
|
| pack box/repack | A large case of merchandise broken down and combined with other products into smaller case packs for distribution to retail stores. |
|
| pack date | The date on which a product was made or packaged for sale. |
|
| packer | A company that processes foods for consumption by customers, e.g., meat, poultry, fruits, vegetables. |
|
| packer's label | A label that lists a product's content, quality and the processor. |
|
| packing slip | A handling slip that tracks shipping and loading of merchandise. |
|
| packing supplies | Various paper and plastic bags for bagging customer purchases at a check stand. |
|
| pack out | Placing merchandise on shelves from cases or containers to maximize shelf capacity. Total capacity of a shelf in units when fully stocked. |
|
| paid outs | Money paid out for goods or services, usually in cash at a store. |
|
| palatability | The sensation of taste on the palate of the mouth from pleasant-tasting or acceptable food. |
|
| pallet | A standard-sized base for assembling, sorting, stacking, handling and transporting goods as a unit. The industry standard is GPC-spec-4-way entry, 48" x 40" hardwood pallets. |
|
| pallet display | A manufacturer's display unit that is shipped to a retailer on a pallet, which when placed on a sales floor serves as a free-standing, advertising display that saves time and labor. |
|
| pallet factor | The number of cases on a pallet. |
|
| pallet jack | A hand- or battery-powered device used to move pallets or products. |
|
| pallet shipper | A combination of different products stacked together and shrink-wrapped on a pallet for shipment to a retailer. |
|
| palletized shipment | See unitized shipment. |
|
| palletizing | Storing and/or shipping of products on standard sized pallets. |
|
| panning (panning out) | A bakery term for putting raw dough on a cooking sheet. |
|
| pantry audit | A survey of consumers about grocery brands, products, and quantities in their homes. |
|
| pantryload | A stock-piling of sale products by customers to take advantage of low prices, e.g., carbonated beverages. |
|
| parcel pickup | A driving lane in front of a store where customers pick up their purchases. |
|
| parity pricing | Pricing products at the same margin as competitors in an area. |
|
| party platters | Large, circular flats of selected deli items. |
|
| patronage dividend or rebate | A wholesaler's refund to a member retailer to distribute profits. Determined by totaling purchases for a given time period or of specified items. |
|
| pay directs | Coupons refunded directly to a retailer. |
|
| pay for performance | A manufacturer's requirement that a retailer must prove performance for a promotion before reimbursement. |
|
| payable | See accounts payable. |
|
| payback, payoff | A profit made by a retailer on a special program. |
|
| payload | A trucking practice; after delivery of a shipment, a trucker picks up another shipment before returning to a warehouse. Also known as backhaul. |
|
| pegboard | A display used for small products or individual items. |
|
| pennant | A display poster with three visible sides. |
|
| percent of profit | The selling price of an item minus its cost, expressed as a percentage of its selling price. Also referred to as margin or percent of margin. |
|
| performance allowance | A manufacturer's allowance to a retailer on completion of a promotion. |
|
| performance requirements | Specific promotional activities that a manufacturer requires before a retailer can receive a performance allowance. |
|
| perimeter department | An outer wall of a retail store where the meat, dairy, produce, deli and bakery departments are typically located in a store. |
|
| perishables | Foods requiring refrigeration or special handling because they spoil easily, such as meat, seafood, produce, deli, bakery and dairy. |
|
| perpetual inventory system | A system that maintains an expected inventory level within a store that reflects all physical product movement sales, deliveries, credits, etc. |
|
| Pet Food Institute (PFI) | 1101 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 857-1100 |
|
| pet foods and supplies | An area of the grocery department designated for food and supplies for domestic pets. Often considered a profit center. |
|
| PFI | Pet Food Institute. |
|
| pharmacy | A place where prescription medicines are compounded and dispensed. |
|
| pharmacy only | A store that generates at least 95 percent of sales from prescription drugs. |
|
| physical distribution | The process of planning, storing, order picking, and shipping of products through the supply chain. |
|
| physical inventory | A written accounting of salable stock on hand as of a specified date, valued at actual or replacement cost. |
|
| pick ticket | A small label that warehouse selectors use to select items to be shipped. |
|
| pick to belt | Warehouse selectors select items or cases, apply price labels, place them on an automated conveyor to the dock to ship to a retailer. |
|
| pick to light | A lighting system that guides warehouse selectors to the correct products. |
|
| pick to pack | A selector at a warehouse finds, prices and packs small items in totes and transports them to the dock for shipping. |
|
| pickup (cash) | The removal of surplus cash from registers to prevent losses. |
|
| pickup allowance, CPU allowance | A manufacturer's discount offered to wholesalers who pick up orders at the manufacturing site or distribution center rather than having them delivered. See customer pickup. |
|
| pickups | An out-of-stock product purchased to complete scheduled orders or to fill a store shelf until a scheduled delivery arrives. |
|
| piece count | A receiving method for checking a load against the invoice by counting cases instead of each item. |
|
| piggyback | The transporting of a loaded truck trailer on a flat railcar. See trailer on flat car. |
|
| pilferage | Shoplifting, theft of money, or product tampering by employees or customers. |
|
| pilot store | A prototype store used to test management practices, systems and products. |
|
| pipeline | The stock flow s from producers to consumers necessary in all inventory locations throughout the channel to keep product on the retail shelf available for customers to purchase. |
|
| pitch book | A salesperson's loose-leaf notebook that lists prices, product specifications and other selling information. |
|
| placement | The initial selling and subsequent establishment of a product brand or pack on a store shelf that previously did not stock or purchase it; a "new sale." |
|
| placement allowance | A manufacturer's allowance for ordering new or promotional products. |
|
| planogram | A department, shelf, or display schematic for allocating products by the number of facings and/or the depth of the display. |
|
| plans committee | A management group that approves product mix, formulates advertising and merchandising programs and projects sales volume. See advisory board; buying committee; merchandising committee. |
|
| platter cart | A wheeled rack used to transport deli trays. |
|
| PLMA | Private Label Manufacturers Association. |
|
| PLU | Price look-up. |
|
| plus out | A forced distribution of products from the warehouse to the retail stores of a chain operation. |
|
| PM | Push money. |
|
| PM allowances | Promotional money paid by vendors for advertising allowances. |
|
| PMA | Produce Marketing Association. |
|
| PO | Purchase order. |
|
| point-of-purchase | The locations within a retail store where a customer purchases products. |
|
| point of sale (POS) | The place in a retail store where products are scanned through the register system, data is collected, and sales are tendered. POS also describes sales data generated by checkout scanners. |
|
| point-of-sale advertising | Signs, recorded messages or gimmicks in a store that direct attention to products on sale. They may be either supplied by a manufacturer and mention specific brand names, or they may have been made by the retailer himself to call attention to a special. |
|
| point-of-sale system | An electronic register system that scans purchases and collects data. |
|
| pole display | An advertising display that is mounted on a pole and placed above a product, e.g., produce displays, meat signs, coffin cases signs. |
|
| pool car | A rail car shipment of the same brand of products, shipped to one geographic area, but delivered to different retailers. |
|
| POP (P-O-P) | Point-of-purchase signage. See point-of-purchase. |
|
| POP radio | Advertising a particular product on radio. |
|
| portion pack | A product package of single-service portions. |
|
| POS | Point of sale. |
|
| posting bills | The entering of all transactions onto the proper receiving records at a store. |
|
| positive check authorization (velocity-based) | A database management system that allows a company to track and manage check authorizations through or with an electronic POS system. |
|
| power wing | Gondola extensions used to display promotional products. |
|
| PPO | Preferred provider organization. |
|
| PPUM | Price per unit measure. |
|
| pre-built display | See prepack. |
|
| preferred provider organization (PPO) | A healthcare provider group that offers reduced medical costs to members. |
|
| preorders | Future advertised items that are ordered in advance from the warehouse. |
|
| prepack | A shipping container designed to display products on a retail sales floor. Also called a shipper, pre-built display or display case. |
|
| prepackaging | A manufacturer's packaging and pricing of products before delivery to the retail store. e.g., display-ready packs of produce and meat. |
|
| prepricing | Items priced by a manufacturer before delivery to the retail store, e.g., produce and meat. |
|
| preprint order form | A printed inventory guide for a warehouse that lists current inventory available to retailers for ordering. |
|
| prescription drugs | Medicines that can be obtained only by means of a physician's written order. |
|
| price book | A manufacturer's or a wholesaler's printed current list of products and correct prices. |
|
| price brand | A featured brand of product on sale to attract customers. |
|
| price card | Display signs indicating the cost of a featured product. |
|
| price changes | The reduction or increase in the selling price of a product. |
|
| price discrimination | Discounting a product's price for one customer and not for others within a trading area. |
|
| price fixing | An illegal practice among competitors of setting the same price for a product. Also known as price gouging. |
|
| price leader | A brand of product featured at a low price point to increase sales volume. |
|
| price list | A manufacturer's listing of all products by UPC and price. |
|
| price look-up (PLU) | Codes assigned to products that are normally not bar-coded, such as fast-moving items and weighed produce, to allow for fast and accurate pricing. |
|
| price maintenance | The upkeep of a central pricing database to ensure accurate and consistent pricing. |
|
| price marking | Placing the retail price on a package using labels, stamps or other means. |
|
| price per unit measure (PPUM) | A label used on items stocked on shelves. Used for ordering and to help customers compare prices. |
|
| price protection | A manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer agreement to maintain a product's price for a set period of time. |
|
| price verification | A cross check of a product's shelf price compared with the scanned price at the register. |
|
| price war | A price war among retailers designed to retaliate against each other for price reductions. |
|
| price zones | Price categories in an area that reflect a local market's competition and local warehouse costs. |
|
| pricing integrity | A matching of the price of a product and the price charged on the electronic scanner at the checkout. |
|
| pricing office | An area in-store where scanning coordinators change prices, enter new items, maintain the item file on the computer database and generate reports. |
|
| pricing zones | See zone pricing. |
|
| private label | A product line exclusively distributed by a wholesaler/ retailer, which may be manufactured under contract for the private label user. See controlled brand; franchised label; house brands. |
|
| Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) | 369 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10017 (212) 972-3131 |
|
| processor | A company that produces consumer products from raw goods or materials. Also known as a packer. |
|
| produce | Fresh fruits and vegetables. |
|
| Produce Marketing Association (PMA) | 1500 Casho Mill Rd. Newark, DE 19714-6036 (302) 738-7100 |
|
| producer | A grower or processor. |
|
| productive labor | An accounting term used for the hours charged to the normal operation of the store. |
|
| productivity measures | Standards or benchmarks used to improve productivity, business processes and organizational performance. |
|
| product liability | A legal term in tort law that means consumers can sue manufacturers, distributors or retailers for defective or unsafe products. |
|
| product line | A group of products with similar uses and characteristics. |
|
| product lookup number | A number assigned to a coupon or produce product that, when entered into the register, retrieves a product's name and price. |
|
| product mix | A variety and size of products comprising the total assortment of products that a retailer offers for sale. |
|
| product movement | An item's rate of sale. |
|
| product movement record | Data showing the volume of each product's sales by day, week, period and/or quarter. |
|
| product recall | The mandatory withdrawal for public safety reasons of a product that is for sale. |
|
| product sampling | A consumer promotion in which small sizes of products, usually new, are sold at a low price to encourage consumers to try them. Free tastings or demonstrations to introduce consumers to a new item. |
|
| profit and loss statement (P&L) | A financial statement of gains and losses for a specific time period. |
|
| profit, gross | See gross profit. |
|
| profit items | Products that have a high profit margin. |
|
| profit, net | See net profit. |
|
| profit opportunity | Products that enjoy a higher gross margin. Creative displays of such items will return a larger than average margin of profit. |
|
| profit sharing | A company's incentive program whereby employees share a percentage of net profits. |
|
| profitability | A calculation of the profit of a product by the number of product turns and gross profit. |
|
| Progressive Grocer | A monthly magazine for the food industry. |
|
| Progressive Grocer Associates, LLC | 23 Old King's Highway, South Darien, CT 06820 |
|
| projections | The process of determining what and how much product will be sold at what price during a predetermined time period. |
|
| promotion | A marketing campaign to increase sales through advertising, merchandising, signage, and special events. |
|
| promotion allowance | A discount offered by manufacturers to wholesalers and retailers to advertise, reduce the price of, or provide a special display of a product during a sales promotion period. See advertising allowance. |
|
| promotion money | See push money. |
|
| promotional business | A product that is sold under promotional allowances or other price considerations as a buyer's incentive to support a specific merchandising program. See turn business. |
|
| promotional licensing | A marketing agreement between a manufacturer and a celebrity to use his or her image in promoting a product. |
|
| proof box | A piece of equipment, in which heat and humidity are controlled in order for dough to rise in preparation for baking. |
|
| proofing/rise | A fermentation stage in the baking process in which dough rests after kneading and before baking. |
|
| proof of performance | A retailer's certification to a manufacturer that promotional performance requirements were met and allowances should be paid. |
|
| proof of purchase | Evidence used by a customer to verify the purchase of a product and mailed to a manufacturer to receive a premium, refund or rebate. |
|
| proportionate shelving | A space management procedure that utilizes share of sales to determine the number of facings for a product on a shelf. |
|
| pull date | The date by which a product must be either sold or pulled from a shelf. |
|
| pull down | Organizing merchandise so lower product layers are full on the shelf. |
|
| purchase allowance | A manufacturer's deal to retailers and wholesalers to lower the case price if an order is received during a promotional time period. |
|
| purchase order (PO) | A form used to order products. |
|
| purchasing power | A measure of a family's or individual's disposable income. |
|
| push items | Products that receive maximum marketing and merchandising attention to increase their sales volume. |
|
| push money (PM) | A manufacturer's incentive to wholesalers to actively market their products. Usually payments are based on the number of cases sold. Also called promotion money or a spiff. |
|
| push/pull | A marketing concept in which product is "pushed" by a manufacturer with a special promotion (advertising, merchandising) and "pulled" out of the store through customers' demand created by the promotion. |
|
| put-away | Reshelving items not purchased by customers in a store. |
|
| pyramid | A hand-stacked, triangular display. |
|
