Operations Terms and Definitions

Centralized fulfillment allows a company to keep its entire inventory in one location, or it opts to utilize a few major hubs that focus on a large region.

Product assortment refers to the variety of products that a retailer stocks and sells. This consists of product breadth, which is the variety of product lines in a store as well as product depth, which refers to the number of variations within a particular product line.

Run-In Run-Out is the process of optimizing the introduction of one product to the market in line with the corresponding exit of another product.

Pick by weight is order picking of items which must be weighed, but not necessarily affixed with a bar code, usually weighed in bulk, such as bananas.

Pick by scan is order picking of items which must be weighed and affixed with a barcode before checkout, such as fresh meat and seafood.

Items sold by their total weight and priced per lb instead of pricing each item individually.

Sell by each is when an item is sold “by the each” such as three lemons for $1.00, instead of selling items by their weight and price per lb,

Represents the number of times during a specific period such as a week or month, that a given product is sold. Stock turnover can be computed in units or dollars (at retail or cost).

Anticipates the information needs of retail managers; collects, organizes, and stores relevant data on a continuous basis; and directs the flow of information to the proper retail decision makers.

Enables a retailer to reduce the amount of inventory it keeps on hand by ordering more frequently and in lower quantity.