Glossary
The words on the stockroom door.
Short definitions of the terms that come up when you run stock, each with a note on where it shows up in Inventory Now. No jargon for its own sake.
- BarcodeA barcode is a machine-readable pattern of bars and spaces that encodes a number or short text so a scanner can identify an item without typing.Read →
- Barcode scanningBarcode scanning reads a printed code with a camera or laser scanner and uses it to find or create the matching item in your inventory system.Read →
- Cost of goods sold (COGS)Cost of goods sold is what you paid for the items you sold in a period, excluding the cost of stock still on the shelf.Read →
- Cycle countA cycle count is a small, scheduled stocktake of one section, category or location, repeated on a rotation so the whole inventory is verified over time without closing the shop.Read →
- Days of stock (days of cover)Days of stock is how many days your current quantity will last at the item's recent rate of sale: units on hand divided by units sold per day.Read →
- Dead stockDead stock is inventory that has stopped selling and is unlikely to sell at its current price: cash sitting on a shelf, often with storage cost attached.Read →
- Gross profit and gross marginGross profit is revenue minus the cost of the goods sold; gross margin is that profit as a percentage of revenue.Read →
- Inventory turnoverInventory turnover is how many times you sell through your average stock in a period: cost of goods sold divided by average inventory value.Read →
- Inventory valuation (average cost)Inventory valuation is the total cost of the stock you hold; average cost values each unit at the running average of what you paid for that item.Read →
- Item lifecycle (bought, received, sold, shipped, delivered)The item lifecycle is the sequence of states a unit passes through from the moment you order it to the moment the customer has it, each with its own count.Read →
- Lead timeLead time is the number of days between placing an order with a supplier and having the stock on the shelf ready to sell.Read →
- MarkupMarkup is the amount added to cost to reach the selling price, expressed as a percentage of cost; a $30 item sold for $50 has a 67% markup and a 40% margin.Read →
- Multi-location inventoryMulti-location inventory tracks the same product at more than one place, such as a storefront, a warehouse and a van, with transfers between them.Read →
- Point of sale (POS)A point of sale is where the sale is rung up: the software that builds the cart, applies tax and discounts, takes payment and records the order.Read →
- Refund and return to stockA refund reverses some or all of a sale's money; a return to stock puts the goods back on the shelf. They are separate decisions and should be recorded separately.Read →
- Reorder pointThe reorder point is the stock level at which you should place the next order so the new stock arrives before you run out, given how fast the item sells and how long delivery takes.Read →
- Safety stockSafety stock is the extra quantity you keep beyond expected demand to cover a sales spike or a late delivery without running out.Read →
- ShrinkageShrinkage is the gap between the inventory your records say you have and what is physically there, caused by theft, damage, spoilage, miscounts and clerical errors.Read →
- SKU (stock keeping unit)A SKU is a code you assign to a product so you can track it internally. Unlike a UPC, you invent it, and it usually encodes things like category, size and color.Read →
- Smart ScanSmart Scan is Inventory Now's photo-to-item feature: snap a product or its label and the app proposes a name, category, photo and suggested prices.Read →
- Stock velocity (sell-through rate)Stock velocity is how fast an item sells, measured as units per day or as the share of received stock sold in a period; it separates the products that pay the rent from the ones that gather dust.Read →
- Stocktake (physical inventory count)A stocktake is a physical count of what is actually on the shelf, compared against what the system says, with the differences corrected and recorded.Read →
- True profitTrue profit is gross profit after the expenses attached to a sale: fees, postage, packaging, payment processing. It is what actually reached your bank.Read →
- UPC and EANUPC-A and EAN-13 are the 12- and 13-digit retail barcodes printed on packaged goods; the number is assigned by GS1 and identifies the product worldwide.Read →
- VariantsVariants are the versions of one product that differ by an attribute such as size, color or location, tracked as separate items but viewed together as a group.Read →
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