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| sack | To bag purchases at the checkout. See bagger. |
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| safety cutter | A case cutter used to open cases of product. |
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| safety stock | A back-stock of products kept to replenish shelves. |
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| sales | The dollar amount of products or services sold. |
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| sales analysis | An analysis of sales by week, month, period or year to project trends, identify problems and measure a retailer's performance. |
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| sales area | An area designated in a retail store to display and merchandise products, provide customer service and check out. It does not include the back room, coolers, (stock area) or maintenance areas. |
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| sales log | A sales record by store and department, which provides sales trends, competitive factors, staffing, weather, holidays, etc. |
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| sales per associate hour/sales per labor hour (SPAH/SPLH) | A productivity measure that quantifies the total dollars of sales for every labor hour used. |
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| sales per square foot | A measure of store and department profitability. Calculated by dividing the daily, weekly or monthly sales by the number of square feet of floor or shelf space. |
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| sales projection | A sales forecast based on sales for the same period last year. |
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| sales representative | A marketing person employed by a manufacturer or wholesaler to represent certain product brands within a given sales area. |
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| sales representative's premium | A premium or prize given to a manufacturer's or wholesaler's marketing person for achieving benchmark sales. |
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| sales service | Fee-based services for retailers provided by a manufacturer's or wholesaler's marketing staff on a fee per service basis, e.g., merchandising the store, advertising, management information services (MIS). |
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| sales service representative | A marketing person who provides services for a fee to a retailer, e.g., merchandising, advertising, or layout. |
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| salvage | Product containers/shippers (bales, pallets, containers) that must be returned or recycled to defray operational costs. |
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| sampling | A marketing program used to prompt impulse buying. Particularly useful in the Deli and Bakery Departments. The customer is encouraged to sample products from a prepared sample tray. |
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| sanitize | The last part of the cleaning procedure of food equipment and surfaces to reduce microbial counts to a safe level within the department. |
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| satellite network | A communications system that utilizes satellites to relay data and information. Also known as Satellite Communications. |
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| satellite stores | Retail stores that are serviced by the same distribution center; or outlying stores in a shopping center. |
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| scale | A machine used to weigh products. |
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| scaler | A special hand tool with ridged teeth for scaling fish. |
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| scaling | The pricing of merchandise on the basis of weight and retail price. |
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| scan and bag | The system or technique whereby a cashier bags purchases while scanning. |
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| scan bars | The standardized coding system (Universal Product Code) that encrypts individual product pricing and identification information within a series of vertical lines. |
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| scan down | Data obtained from a secondary source, e.g., A.C. Nielsen or Information Resources, Inc. |
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| scan integrity | The quality of the inventory and pricing data that ensures that items have been added, deleted and correctly priced. |
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| scan ratio | An inventory correction calculation to adjust for physical inventory differences based on the percentage of items scanned to the total items sold. |
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| scannable coupons | Coupons with a scannable bar code used to identify the promotional program and product and to deduct the correct value from a customer's receipt. |
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| scanner | An electronic register system that automatically records the product description and retail price for an item by reading a UPC code with a laser. |
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| scanner allowance | A manufacturer's performance criteria based on the number of products scanned during a promotion. |
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| scanning | A process of moving items over a laser in order to record a transaction. |
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| schematic | See planogram. |
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| scratch | A product deleted from a retailer's order because the warehouse is out of stock. Also called a short. See cut. |
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| scratch bakery | An in-store bakery that prepares products by using basic ingredients, e.g., flour, sugar, eggs, yeast. |
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| seal program | A security procedure for truck deliveries. Each truck is padlocked and sealed with a slim, numbered metal strip. The receiver breaks the seal and records the driver's name and the seal number in a log. |
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| seasonal calendar/planner | A seasonal, schedule created to simplify planning around holidays and specific selling periods, i.e., merchandising, display building, ordering, scheduling staff. |
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| seasonal item | Products associated exclusively with a holiday or specific time of the year. Also known as Seasonal Merchandise. |
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| seasonal promotions | A marketing plan of in-and-out promotions for seasonal events, such as Christmas, Back-to-School, Spring Clean-up, Halloween, Valentine's Day. |
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| secondary display | A promotional display of an item in a retail store in addition to a product's regular shelf location. |
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| secondary packaging | A master package that contains several inner packs; which are normally the unit of sale. |
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| secondary supplier | A vendor or wholesaler that supplies a retailer with a small volume of products. |
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| section | An area in a retail store that contains one category of products. |
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| section reset | See reset. |
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| security deposit | A retailer's cash deposit with a wholesaler to secure credit. |
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| segregation | Locating general merchandise products (GM) in a well-defined area of a store rather than in aisles next to or across from food products. |
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| selective discounting | Price reductions on fast-moving products to give a low- price image. |
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| selective merchandising | The elimination or minimizing of duplicate brand products. |
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| selective selling | A wholesaler's marketing practice of selling only to retailers who meet various criteria, e.g., sales volume, type of store, location and style of operation. See tonnage items. |
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| self-facing fixture | A rack or shelf that uses either gravity or mechanical means to replace an item when one item is removed by a customer. |
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| self-insured | An insurance policy within a company where revenue is generated for insurance from associates and company contributions rather than paying premiums to an outside insurance company. |
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| self-liquidating premium | A manufacturer's premium in which the product's cost is recovered through a retail sale of the product. |
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| self-service | A retail store with few service employees to assist customers other than at the checkout. |
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| sell-down | The amount of time it takes to sell all products on the shelf. |
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| sell sheet | See flash sheet. |
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| semi-liquidators | A customer's premium whose cost is only partially recovered by a manufacturer or retailer. |
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| server | A central computer, which provides processing for several terminals. |
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| service charge | In wholesaling, any charge above a transfer of goods. In retailing, an additional charge for providing service to a customer, e.g., check cashing. See neutralizing charge. |
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| service department | A retail department that fills customer's orders, e.g., service deli; service meat; service seafood; service bakery; in-store pharmacy; video department. |
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| service label | The in-stock position of a warehouse expressed as the percentage of orders placed that can be filled. The opposite of service label is out-of-stocks. |
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| service merchandiser | A vendor/ or wholesaler who specializes in a product category. Also known as a rack jobber. |
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| service store | A retail store with a high level of customer service, e.g., floral department, service deli, service bakery. |
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| set | The layout of merchandise in an aisle or store. |
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| set store | The process of properly setting up each department with approved products according to a planogram or lay-out diagram. |
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| setting up | The process of properly setting up a display of product according to a planogram. |
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| share of ACV | See all commodity volume. |
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| share of market | A product's percent of sales within a category. A retailer's share of total retail sales within a specific trading area. |
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| shelf arrangement | The assortment and location of products on store shelves. |
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| shelf capacity | The total volume of a shelf; also called holding power or pack-out. |
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| shelf extender | A self-serve display that extends beyond a gondola to increase a shelf's capacity and draw attention to a product. |
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| shelf label | A label that lists order code, description, and pack size of a product on a shelf, as well as its retail price. See shelf tag. |
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| shelf life | The time period a product can be expected to maintain maximum quality and freshness. |
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| shelf marker | A sign on a gondola. Also known as a shelf talker. |
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| shelf molding | The outer edge of a gondola shelf used for signs, UPC codes, retail prices, etc. |
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| shelf price | The retail price stored in an inventory file, shown on a shelf tag, and marked on an item. |
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| shelf space | The amount of shelf space allocated to a product category and to each product within the category. |
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| shelf stable | A processed food product that remains safe to eat without refrigeration. |
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| shelf strips | A shelf sign for a product. Also known as a shelf talker. |
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| shelf tag | A label attached to shelving which is used to identify and describe a specific item. |
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| shelf talker | Merchandise signs, attached to the shelf molding, used to draw customer attention to a product. |
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| shelf warmers | Items that sell slowly. Also known as slow movers or slow-selling items. |
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| shellfish | An aquatic animal, e.g., clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, squid and octopus which has a shell; crustaceans or mollusks. |
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| ship notice/manifest | An EDI transaction in which the shipper notifies a customer of a pending shipment. Generically this is known as an advance ship notice (ASN). The ASN enables the customer to identify short shipments before receipt and plan warehouse receiving more efficie |
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| shipper | A company that transports and retains title to a shipment until a recipient accepts a shipment. |
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| shipper or shipper pack | See prepack. |
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| shipping brackets | A manufacturer's or wholesaler's price points used to encourage retailers to order in large quantities in order to receive better discounts. |
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| shipping container | An outer shipping case used to transport products. |
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| shipping unit | The amount, size and style of product in its original case. |
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| shop backs | Individual items accumulated at the front end during the course of a day's business that can be put back on shelves for sale. |
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| shoplifter | A person who steals goods from a store, while pretending to shop. |
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| shopping behavior | An observable pattern of consumer behavior, typically in response to sales displays or product price reductions. |
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| shopping cart display | A shopping cart used as a free-standing display. |
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| shopping center | A group of complementary retail stores with a common parking lot. |
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| shopping service | A vendor who performs competitive price comparisons for a retailer within a specified market area. |
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| short | An inadequate amount of products needed to fill a shelf or an order or to meet customer demand. |
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| short or short ship | See scratch. |
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| shortage | A shortfall of a product's order or weight or of money. |
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| shorts, scratches | A note on an invoice to a retailer of insufficient or out-of-stock products at a distribution center. |
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| shrink, shrinkage | The amount of missing items due to poor management controls, receiving practices, shortages, spoilage, theft, breakage and other reasons. |
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| shrink allowance | An estimate of loss of inventory, due to delivery errors (an incorrect item or the wrong amount), theft, damages or spoilage. |
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| shrink-wrap | A process to stabilize a pallet load by wrapping stacked products with clear plastic film. |
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| shucking | A process of opening shellfish, such as oysters, clams, mussels, etc. |
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| signage | Advertising signs of many sizes used to attract customers to a display or a shelf location. |
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| signature items | Unique items that competitors do not sell, which differentiate a store or company from the competition. The items are advertised and promoted both in-store and through print advertisements. |
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| SIL | Standard Interchange language. |
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| single-serve | See portion pack. |
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| single-unit pricing | Each product is individually priced. See multiple pricing. |
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| skid | A pallet or base used to transport and store products. |
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| SKU | Stock-keeping unit. |
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| slack-off, slack-out | Thaw a frozen product. |
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| sleeper | A slow-selling product that is packed by a manufacturer with a higher volume item. Also known as a slow mover. |
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| slick | See ad slick. |
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| slick allowance | A manufacturer's allowance stipulating that a retailer use a specific advertising illustration (slick) in newspaper advertisements. |
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| slipsheet | A thick sheet of cardboard used to ship products in place of a pallet. |
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| slipsheet unloading allowance | A manufacturer's allowance to cover labor costs of off-loading a product by hand off of a slipsheet. |
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| slot | A numbered location within a distribution center that indicates the location of products for storage, retrieval and inventory control. See warehouse slot. |
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| slotting allowance | A manufacturer's incentive to a wholesaler or retailer to stock a new product. Also called conversion allowance or service allowance. |
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| slug | An embossed plate that, when inserted into certain scales, prints a descriptive label. |
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| smart card | A micro-chipped stored-value card that can be used to purchase goods and services and is reloadable. |
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| smock | A garment supplied to employees to be worn during working hours. |
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| Snack Food Association | 1711 King St. Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 836-4500 |
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| sneeze guard | A Plexiglas shield, surrounding three sides of a display case, that protects merchandise from contamination by customer contact either direct (touching) or indirect (sneezing). |
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| SO | Standing order. |
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| soft goods | Clothing with the exception of suits, dresses, coats or shoes. |
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| soft shell lobsters | Lobsters in the process of growing a new hard shell, enabling them to grow larger. |
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| solution selling | The concept of grouping related products together in the supermarket in order to offer consumers a simplified shopping experience. |
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| sore-thumb display | An intriguing and unusual merchandising display. |
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| softlines | The classification of general merchandise that includes apparel, bedding, hosiery, linens, shoes, etc. |
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| SOR | Standard operating reports. |
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| sous-vide | A European food-packaging technique where a prepared product is placed in individual pouches, cooked under a vacuum and quickly chilled. Products are frozen or refrigerated until used. |
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| space allocation | The method of allocating more space to faster moving items to prevent out-of-stock conditions. See space manager; velocity; planogram. |
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| space management | The allocation of space for products, based on sales volume and product profitability. |
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| space management system (electronic) | Space utilization software that plans and analyzes product categories, determines shelf allocation, and graphs planograms. |
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| space manager | A person who assigns shelf space for a product category, department, or store. See retail representative; space allocation. |
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| SPAH/SPLH | Sales per associate hour/sales per labor hour. |
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| special | See featured special. |
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| special allowance | A wholesaler's discount offered to retailers as an incentive to increase sales of a product. Also called a special purchase. |
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| special display | A display for featured products on a free-standing rack in addition to a regular shelf display. |
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| special pack | A shipping unit of a sales promotion product. Also known as a deal pack. See handling allowance; handling charge. |
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| specials | Products sold at a reduced price or as part of a promotion to attract customers. |
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| specialty sales representative | A manufacturer's or broker's representative that markets to retailers, presents promotional programs, takes product orders and arranges shipment by a retailer's preferred wholesaler. |
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| specialty store | A retail store that offers only particular types of foods, e.g., bakery, produce, meat. |
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| specialty wholesale grocer | A wholesaler that provides retailers with limited products and services. A specialty wholesaler. |
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| speculation | See turnover buying. |
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| spiff | See push money |
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| spill-in/spill-out | Food retailers serviced by a wholesaler outside a market area. |
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| spinner | A free-standing display rack that rotates 360 degrees. |
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| split case | A product that is shipped in half-case quantities or less. |
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| split palletload, split unitload | A shipment of two different kinds of products on a full pallet. Each product makes up approximately half the pallet load. See layer-loaded unitload. |
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| split shift | A peak sales period of a day, week or holiday season during which the largest number of employees possible are scheduled to work. |
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| spoilage allowance, breakage allowance | A manufacturer's allowance to a wholesaler/retailer for breakage or spoiled products. |
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| spoils | Goods that cannot be sold for which a retailer receives a credit from a supplier. Also called stales. |
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| spot display | A product display in a high traffic area of a retail store. |
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| spot mop | A quick mop of a dirty sales floor or to clean a spill. |
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| spread | Gross profit. See gross profit; markup. |
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| square down | To straighten products on a shelf or display. |
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| square foot | A size measurement of floor space occupied by a product or product group, display fixtures and its share of aisle space. |
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| SRP | Suggested retail price. |
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| stack | A column of products consisting of one or more unit loads placed on the floor with the total height limited to a vertical opening or the compressive strength of the individual unit loads. |
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| stack card | See case card. |
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| stales | See spoils. |
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| stand | A fixture used to display merchandise. |
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| standard case merchandiser | A standard display case for service departments, used in the produce, meat, deli and bakery departments. |
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| standard grocery shelving | Adjustable shelving in a standard frame. Also called a gondola. |
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| standard of identity | Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards for food composition. |
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| standard interchange language (SIL) | A computer language standard developed primarily for the exchange of data between independent retailers and wholesalers. |
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| standard operating procedures | A comprehensive book of a company's policies and procedures. Also called SOP. |
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| standard operating reports (SOR) | Profit and loss statements or projections reviewed weekly, by period, quarter or annually. |
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| standing order (SO) | A standard replenishment order placed by a wholesaler that allows a manufacturer to schedule production and shipping. |
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| standard pack | A unit of sale having a fixed number of like consumer units per container. |
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| standard shipping container | A container of a single type of product or of a fixed configuration of multiple products used to ship items. |
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| staples | A necessary or basic food, such as flour or sugar. |
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| start-ship date | A kick-off date for a promotional campaign to begin. See final ship date. |
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| starter gap | A merchandising technique in which spaces are left on a shelf to give the impression that demand is great for a product. |
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| stock | To shelve products or to build a display. |
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| stock capacity | The total volume of products that can be placed on a shelf, in a slot or on a rack. |
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| stock code | A unique product identifier used instead of a UPC code, which is assigned at a warehouse or headquarters for ordering purposes. |
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| stocking | A process of shelving products in a store. |
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| stock-keeping unit (SKU) | A number that identifies each separate brand, size, flavor, color or pack of a product. |
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| stockout | A display that needs replenishment. |
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| stock status report | A management report showing the current inventory level in-house or in-transit for a department, section or category. |
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| stock turns | See turnover. |
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| stock-up | A temporary price reduction for items due to a manufacturers' allowance or a volume buy. |
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| stocking allowance | A manufacturer's allowance to stock a new product. See distribution allowance. |
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| stop-off charge | An additional shipping charge (rail or truck) for delivery of partial loads to several different locations. |
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| store audit | A review of management procedures and processes, e.g., inventory, cash handling, etc. |
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| store brand | A private-label product carried by a retailer. See private label. |
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| store bulletin | An operations newsletter regarding merchandising contests and promotional programs, new products, etc. |
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| store coupon | A product coupon offered only in-store with fliers or an on-shelf dispenser. |
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| store dollar net profit | The actual profit a store makes after overhead and losses are deducted. |
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| store-door delivery | See direct store delivery. |
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| store-door margin | A product's gross profit after deducting expenses, e.g., storage costs, delivery costs. |
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| store format | The retail design or store layout based on size, services, prices, sales volume and SKUs, such as a convenience store, superstore or a conventional store. |
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| store image | The customer's impression of a retail store or a department, i.e., products carried, advertising, promotion, decor, service-level. |
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| store layout | The design and lay-out of floor space and the placement of fixtures within a department or retail store. |
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| store loyalty | See customer loyalty. |
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| store manager | A person responsible for daily operations of a retail store who hires and supervises employees, oversees merchandising and customer service and meets sales goals. Also called a store director. |
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| store perimeter | The departments located along the outside walls of a retail store, usually perishable departments. |
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| store security | Methods used to provide a secure workplace and shopping area free of violence, burglary, shoplifting and employee theft. |
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| store-specific pallet | A combination of different items on a pallet shipped to a store. |
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| store stamp | A rubber stamp bearing a store's number and name. The imprint of the store stamp on an invoice or other business paper indicates correctness or approval. Stamps are kept under tight security. |
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| store supervisor | An operations manager responsible for conditions, safety, product levels and cash handling procedures for several retail stores; a district manager. |
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| store supplies | Materials and merchandise needed to conduct daily business by a retailer, i.e., grocery bags, brooms and mops. |
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| store traffic | A customer count recorded by hour, day, week, month or holiday. See traffic. |
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| storewide promotion | A thematic merchandising and promotional program with all retail departments within a store participating. |
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| straight load | Merchandise delivered to retail stores in trucks carrying only one product group. |
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| street money | Monies available for specific performance, conditions or purchases. Usually from a supplier or salesperson rather than directly from a manufacturer. |
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| strip display | A horizontal shelf arrangement of like products. |
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| subprimal cuts | Untrimmed, boneless cuts of meat, primarily beef. |
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| suggested retail price | A manufacturer's recommended price for a product. |
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| suggestive selling | A marketing technique in which retail employees recommend tie-in or complementary products, e.g., cake and coffee, deli ham and cheese. |
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| super combo | An upscale grocery store with 80,000 to150,000 square feet, a full line of service departments and weekly sales of approximately $900,000. The store carries a wide variety of items, 60,000 or more, with at least 20 percent of sales attributed to general m |
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