Retail Dictionary - Omnichannel Glossary (60+ Popular Terms)

retail dictionary - omnichannel glossary

A Retail Dictionary for Retailers
The 60+ popular terms the retailers need to know in the world of Omnichannel Retail

Omnichannel Glossary

Omnichannel (omni channel or omni-channel)
Omnichannel is a business model that companies use to improve their customer experience. The approach has applications in healthcare, government, financial services, retail, and telecommunications industries, and includes channels such as physical locations, FAQ webpages, social media, live web chats, mobile applications and telephone communication. Companies that use omnichannel contend that a customer values the ability to be in constant contact with a company through multiple avenues at the same time. see more →

Omnichannel Contact Center

Omnichannel contact center is the ability of a customer care, helpdesk, or service function to unify the customer information collected across all communication channels within a universal queue and provide seamless, contextual, real-time customer service across any channel at any time.

Omnichannel Customer Service

Omnichannel customer service is the integration of phone, email, social and instant messaging that offer a quality, consistent experience across multiple channels preserving the quality despite the channel used by a client.

Omnichannel Distribution

Omnichannel distribution is one-touch integration between operations and physical product flows across all channels to provide a seamless shopping experience. In other words, Omnichannel distribution is a system that enables customers to complete a purchase and receives orders from any channel they choose. see more →

Omnichannel Fulfillment

Omnichannel fulfillment can simply be understood as the whole process from the time the customer orders to the time the merchandise is delivered to the end-user. It includes pick up, warehousing, packaging, and delivery to the buyer on time, etc… through a synchronous way, where the data channels are centralized together. see more →

Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing is a strategy that provides a fluid, connected experience across all the touchpoints a customer has with your company.

Omnichannel Retailing

Omnichannel retailing is a business model in which all existing channels become completely integrated to offer customers a seamless shopping experience. see more →

Omnichannel Supply Chain

An omnichannel supply chain uses a central stock pool to control a number of factors such as pricing, fulfillment, sales, stock management, ordering, and fulfillment. These orders are fulfilled from numerous retail channels such as concessions, franchises, catalog web, stores, and mobile.

A-E

3PL

3PL (Third Party Logistics) company is one that works with shippers in order to manage another company’s logistics operations department. 3PL is the action of outsourcing activities that are related to logistics and distribution.

4PL

The concept of a 4PL provider is an integrator that accumulates resources, capabilities, and technologies to run complete supply chain solutions.

Allocate

In inventory management, the process of assigning a product as “sold” so that it cannot be applied to another order and does not count toward on-hand inventory.

B2B

Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) refers to a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another.

B2C

Business-to-consumer (B2C) is business or transactions conducted directly between a company and consumers who are the end-users of its products or services.

B2G

Business-to-government (B2G) is a business model that refers to businesses selling products, services or information to governments or government agencies.

Barcode

Barcode is a machine-readable code, which has alternating dark and light bars. The spacing between the bars signals to the reader what the numerical code is. Barcode can be universal product code (UPC) or any other numerical format. Barcode helps you track inventory going in and out of the store. see more →

Big Box Store

A big-box store (also supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores.

BOPIS

BOPIS stands for Buy online, Pick up in store, a popular fulfillment model that allows shoppers to purchase a product online, but pick it up at a local store.

Brick-and-mortar

Brick and mortar is a traditional street-side business that deals with its customers face-to-face in an office or store that the business owns or rents.

Brick and Click

Brick and Click refers to a business that has a physical retail location — the bricks — as well as an online presence that generates significant sales — the clicks.

Click and Collect

Click and Collect is a hybrid e-commerce system where customers order goods online and pick them up at a store or at some agreed-upon location. It is also referred to as “buy online, pickup in store” or BOPIS. see more →

Cloud-based

Cloud-based is a term that refers to applications, services or resources made available to users on demand via the Internet from a cloud computing provider’s servers

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on shared computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications.

Consumer experience (CX)

Customer Experience – CX includes all customer interactions with your brand. It is evaluated based on: the customer’s overall experience with buying, paying, interacting with the Sales team, customer service, commenting, the ability to continue to use the product, and the success rate of the customer introducing the product to others (in many different forms).

Contact Center

Contact center referred to as a customer interaction center or e-contact center — is a central point from which all customer contacts are managed.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to practices, strategies, and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving customer service relationships and assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth.

Deadstock
Deadstock used to describe merchandise that was never sold to or used by consumers before being removed from sale, usually because it was outdated.

Distribution Centre (DC)

Distribution Centre is a warehouse and the business based there, that stores a manufacturer’s goods temporarily before they are transported to stores or customers for sale.

Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is a retail fulfillment model that allows you to buy products individually from a wholesaler and ship them directly to your customer. see more →

E-Commerce

E-Commerce or Electronic commerce refers to a wide range of online business activities for products and services.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a process by which a company (often a manufacturer) manages and integrates the important parts of its business. An ERP management information system integrates areas such as planning, purchasing, inventory, sales, marketing, finance and human resources. see more →

ePOS

ePOS stands for Electronic Point of Sale digital system and is a computerized system used in shops, restaurants, and other retail outlets. Essentially it’s an electronic way of letting people pay for goods or services. see more →

F-R

Flash sales

Flash sales are sales that are available for a limited time. The huge discounts (we’re talking 50 percent off and up) entice consumers to buy, and the limited time frame — usually anywhere from several hours to a couple of days — forces them to act quickly

Gift card

Gift card (also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card usually issued by a retailer or bank to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a particular store or related businesses. see more →

In-time inventory

In-time inventory (or Just in time inventory) is an inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thereby reducing inventory costs. This method requires producers to forecast demand accurately.

Inventory

Inventory is the raw materials, work-in-process products and finished goods that are considered to be the portion of a business’s assets that are ready or will be ready for sale.

Inventory Management

Inventory management is a system for tracking inventory levels, orders, sales, and deliveries. It can also be used in the manufacturing industry to create a work order, bill of materials and other production-related documents. see more →

KPI

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs to evaluate their success at reaching targets.

Logistics

Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics can include physical items such as food, materials, animals, equipment, and liquids; as well as abstract items, such as time and information. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, materials handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security.

Loyalty Program

Loyalty program is structured marketing strategies designed by merchants to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of businesses associated with each program. see more →

Merchant

A merchant is a person whose business is buying and selling goods for profit

Mobile commerce

Mobile commerce, also referred as m-commerce, is the use of wireless handheld devices, such as cellular phones and laptops, to conduct commercial transactions online.

mPOS

A mPOS ( mobile point of sale) is a smartphone, tablet or dedicated wireless device that performs the functions of a cash register or electronic point of sale terminal. see more →

Multichannel

Multichannel (i.e., “many” channels), while less integrated, allows customers to purchase natively wherever they prefer to browse and shop. see more →

Online Marketplace

An online marketplace (or online e-commerce marketplace) is a type of e-commerce site where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties, whereas transactions are processed by the marketplace operator. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel e-commerce and can be a way to streamline the production process.

On-Premise

On-premises is the software and technology that is located within the physical confines of an enterprise – often in the company’s data center – as opposed to running remotely on hosted servers or in the cloud.

Order Management System (OMS)

An order management system (OMS) is an electronic system developed to execute securities orders in an efficient and cost-effective manner. see more →

Out-of-stock

Out-of-stock (OOS) event is an event when products that are out of stock are not available to buy in a store because they have all been sold.

Pick and Pack

Pick and pack is a part of a complete supply chain management process that is commonly used in the retail distribution of goods.

POS

The point of sale (POS) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer (which may be a cash register printout), and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service. see more →

RFID

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a form of wireless communication that incorporates the use of electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify an object, animal or person.

S-Z

Safety Stock

Safety stock term used by logisticians to describe a level of extra stock that is maintained to mitigate the risk of out-of-stock (shortfall in raw material or packaging) due to uncertainties in supply and demand.

Ship-from-store

Ship from Store is a retail fulfillment process, by which retailers use stock from their store estate to fulfill orders.

Ship-to-store

Ship any order directly to a specific store from other stores and warehouses. Provide an endless aisle to in-store customers by offering fulfillment from another nearby location.

Showroom

A showroom is a large space used to display products for sales, such as automobiles, furniture, appliances, carpet or apparel. It is a retail store of a company in which products are on sale in a space created by their brand or company. A showroom can also be a space for wholesale buyers to view fashion merchandise for sale in their retail stores.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Software as a service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet.

Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)

A stock keeping unit (SKU) is a product and service identification code for a store or product, often portrayed as a machine-readable bar code that helps track the item for inventory.

Suppliers
Supplier (also called Vendor) is a person or company that provides goods and/or services to other companies as one of the contributors to the development process on the way to the ultimate customer. A supplier could produce and deliver raw materials, partially assembled components, custom parts, or any consumable supplies.

Supply Chain

A supply chain (SC) is the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and technology involved in the creation and sale of a product, from the delivery of source materials from the supplier to the manufacturer, through to its eventual delivery to the end user.

Warehouse Management System (WMS)

A warehouse management system (WMS) is software and processes that allow organizations to control and administer warehouse operations from the time goods or materials enter a warehouse until they move out. see more →

Web-based

A web-based application is any program that is accessed over a network connection using HTTP, rather than existing within a device’s memory. Web-based applications often run inside a web browser.