Glossary

ABC and FSN Analysis

ABC and FSN analysis are two inventory classifications: ABC ranks items by value contribution, FSN by movement speed (fast, slow, non-moving) — together they decide where stocking effort and working capital should go.

Beat Planning

Beat planning is the practice of grouping retail outlets into named routes ("beats") and assigning each a repeating visit rhythm, so every outlet is called on at a predictable frequency by an accountable salesperson.

Dealer Management System (Auto DMS)

A dealer management system — an auto DMS — is software that runs a vehicle dealership end to end: showroom sales, vehicle inventory, workshop service, parts, warranty claims and the dealership’s accounting, as one system of record.

Distributor Management System (DMS)

A distributor management system is software that runs a distributor’s operations — stock, orders, invoicing, claims and collections — and gives the brand visibility of secondary sales it does not otherwise see.

Field Service Dispatch

Field service dispatch is the assignment of service jobs to technicians and time slots, balancing skills, capacity, location and service commitments — and re-balancing as the day changes.

Offline Sync Engine

An offline sync engine is the part of a mobile application that lets work continue with no connectivity — writing to a local database, queuing changes durably, and reconciling them with the server when the network returns.

Order to Cash

Order to cash is the end-to-end process from capturing a customer order through fulfilment, invoicing and collection, to the cash landing in the ledger against that invoice.

Permanent Journey Plan (PJP)

A permanent journey plan is a fixed, repeating schedule that states which outlets a salesperson visits on which day of a weekly or monthly cycle, so coverage is planned rather than improvised.

Planogram Compliance

Planogram compliance is the degree to which an outlet’s actual shelf matches the agreed planogram — the intended arrangement of products by position, facings and sequence.

Reorder Point

A reorder point is the stock level at which a replenishment order should be raised — classically lead-time demand plus a safety buffer — so stock arrives before the shelf runs empty.

Retail Execution

Retail execution is the discipline of making sure agreed in-store conditions — availability, placement, pricing, promotion and display — are actually true in each outlet, and measuring them on every visit.

Route Optimization

Route optimization is the computation of the order in which stops should be visited — and by whom — to minimise travel distance or time while respecting working hours, service durations and capacity limits.

Route to Market

Route to market is the chosen path a product takes from manufacturer to shopper — the mix of distributors, wholesalers, direct coverage and channels — and the economics and coverage rules that govern it.

Sales Force Automation (SFA)

Sales force automation is software that plans, executes and measures the work of a field sales team — routes and visit plans, in-outlet execution, order capture, and the reporting that shows what actually happened.

Secondary Sales

Secondary sales are sales from a distributor to its retailers — the second leg of the distribution chain, after the primary sale from the manufacturer to the distributor.

Share of Shelf

Share of shelf is the proportion of visible shelf space in a category occupied by a given brand or SKU, usually expressed as a percentage of facings or linear space.

Suggested Order Quantity (SOQ)

Suggested order quantity is the system-recommended quantity of a product to order, derived from current stock, sales velocity, target cover, lead time and replenishment rules, so the order is proposed rather than guessed.

Territory Planning

Territory planning is the allocation of accounts or geography across salespeople so that each has a workable, balanced and coverable patch — traded off against travel, capacity and service commitments.

Three-Way Match

A three-way match is the control that compares a purchase order, the goods actually received and the supplier’s invoice before payment is approved, so a business pays only for what it ordered and received.

Trade Scheme Management

Trade scheme management is the definition, execution and settlement of the discounts, free goods and incentives a brand offers its channel — calculated consistently at the point of sale and reconciled to a claim.

Van Sales

Van sales (also "load and sell") is a field-selling model where a salesperson carries sellable stock on a vehicle, sells and delivers it at the outlet in one visit, and reconciles the remaining load on return.