Backhaul - Wholesalers and direct buying retailers may have a program whereby they stop at manufacturer companies’ plants to pick up products and receive a backhaul discount (saving the manufacturer hauling costs). From the manufacturer standpoint, if they permit this practice, they are participating in a backhaul program and this can occur even if he has his own trucks. It’s simply permitting the wholesaler/retailer to make pickups and prevent him from having to run his truck while it's empty - in addition to providing for a backhaul allowance (discount).

Broker - An individual or business who represents manufacturers in a market area on a commission basis. Most represent multiple, non-competing lines.

Card-Based Program - Frequent shopper program characterized by the use of a free membership-type card. The card often allows special prices or promotional deals as well as check-approval.

Channel of Distribution - The route a product follows from its origin to reaching the last consumer.

Circular - Direct mail advertising material similar in style to a newspaper advertisement.

DSD - Direct Store Delivery. System by which a manufacturer by-passes a wholesaler, delivering instead directly to the retailer.

Distributor - A buying, warehousing and distributing organization that delivers merchandise to retail stores in their own trucks, i.e., a wholesaler or direct-buying retail chain.

Diverter - A company who buys products from a manufacturer, has it in his warehouse, and sells it to wholesalers, retailers, etc. The purchase from the manufacturer is usually at below usual price due to overstocking, closeout, overabundance of deal-priced merchandise, etc., so that the diverter can sell to distributors below the manufacturer’s normal price.

EDI - Electronic Data Interchange. Exchange of business data through computers between trading partners.

Electronic Marketing - Marketing tied to an electronic POS system; typically a Frequent Shopper program which tracks individual consumer purchases by dollar or by type. Also includes coupon machines at the front of stores and coupons from the register tape from related purchases.

End Cap - A mass display stacked against the end of a gondola or tier of products in a store.

Facings - The number of packages of an item on the front line of a store shelf.

Front End - The part of the store devoted to the checkouts.

GM - General merchandise as found in a retail store (greeting cards, automotive products, bakeware, party supplies, candles, glassware, etc. - but in a broad sense can also include health and beauty care).

HBC - Health and beauty care as found in a retail store (shampoo, lotion, cough drops, cold remedies, makeup, etc.)

J-Hook - A merchandising device that affixes to shelving for the display of individually packaged small merchandise.

Loss Leader - An item priced in an advertisement or in-store merchandising at substantially less than competition, usually below cost, to draw customer traffic.

Manufacturer’s Rep (Representative) - A person or firm that represents and sells one or more manufacturers’ products on a regional basis, to a variety of distributors and retail outlets on a commission basis.

Market Share - The percentage of the total sales in the market that a given company generates.

Nonfoods - A term used in the industry to describe the merchandise categories stocked and sold that are neither food products nor customary household products sold in retail stores. Product categories such as vitamins, motor oil, kitchen gadgets and greeting cards are examples of "nonfoods," and hence the term is often used interchangeably with "general merchandise."

Nonservice Programs - A wholesaler/retailer relationship in which the wholesaler primarily or exclusively provides product to the retailer, with the latter assuming responsibility for all services normally provided in a service program.

Plan-O-Gram - A schematic or diagram of one or more retail shelf sections showing the manner in which products, brands and sizes to be stocked in those sections are arranged.

POS - Point of sale. Merchandising materials used in-store at or near the location of the item being promoted.

Retailer - A merchant whose main business is selling directly to the ultimate consumer. An "independent" retailer is one who is not corporately affiliated or franchised with his distributor.

Service Programs/Serviced Accounts - A wholesaler/retailer relationship in which the wholesaler provides not only product but also any or all of a variety of services (i.e., ordering, stocking, pricing).

Shelf Extender - A merchandising device that affixes to the shelf so that additional product can be displayed on the shelf.

Shelf Talkers - Printed displays attached, apron-style, to the shelf where an item is regularly stocked, giving details of product or promotional information.

SKU - Stock Keeping Unit. Code assigned to each brand, flavor or type of product that assists in tracking inventory and ordering.

Turns - The number of times a product completes a cycle of moving through a warehouse or retail store; the number of times a warehouse is completely rotated; measured on a yearly basis.

Wholesaler - Cooperative - An organization owned by independent retailers that buys products and provides services for those retailers. The fact that the purchasing/distribution center is owned by the retailers differentiates the cooperative wholesaler from the voluntary.

Wholesaler - Voluntary - A distributor company that owns its own distribution center and distributes goods and services to independent retailers and/or corporately owned stores . . . differs from a cooperative in that the stores have no vested financial interest in the voluntary distribution center.