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Wholesale glossary

Plain-English definitions for the terms you will run into when buying and selling wholesale.

A

Agentic orderingAgentic ordering is an order prepared or placed by an AI assistant working directly against a live catalogue, rather than a person reading a linesheet and typing quantities.AI agentAn AI agent is software that can read your wholesale data and take actions on it, rather than only answering questions about it.ATS (available to sell)ATS (available to sell) is the quantity of a product that can still be promised to a buyer: stock on hand plus incoming units, minus everything already committed to confirmed orders, allocations and reservations.Attribute extractionAttribute extraction is pulling structured fields out of unstructured supplier files such as PDF linesheets, spreadsheets, and folders of images.

B

B2B ordering platformA B2B ordering platform is the system a brand uses to show its range to trade buyers and take their orders directly, replacing linesheets, spreadsheets, and emailed order forms.BackorderA backorder is an order a brand has accepted but cannot ship yet, held open until stock arrives rather than being cancelled.

C

Cancel dateThe cancel date is the point after which a buyer is no longer obliged to accept a late delivery, and the order can be cancelled without penalty.ConsignmentConsignment is an arrangement where a brand places goods with a retailer but retains ownership until the goods are sold to a consumer.

D

Dead stockDead stock is inventory that has stopped selling altogether and has no realistic route back to full price, usually because its season, trend, or size run has passed.Delivery windowA delivery window is the agreed date range within which an order must ship, defined by a start date and a cancel date.Demand forecastingDemand forecasting is predicting what will sell, by style, size, and account, in order to size a production run or a seasonal buy.DistributorA distributor buys product from a brand outright and resells it to retailers in its market, taking ownership of the stock and the risk that comes with it.DropA drop is a dated release of product to market, used instead of one large seasonal delivery so a brand can put newness in front of buyers several times a year.

F

Fill rateFill rate is the share of ordered units a brand actually ships, measured against what the buyer originally ordered and confirmed.

I

In-stock sellingIn-stock selling is selling from inventory a brand already holds, so an order can ship immediately rather than waiting on a production run.

L

Landed costLanded cost is the total cost of getting goods to their destination, including the unit price plus freight, duties, insurance, and handling.Lead timeLead time is the gap between placing an order and receiving the goods, covering production, finishing, freight, and customs rather than shipping alone.LinesheetA linesheet is the priced, orderable list of a collection, showing every style, colourway, and size a buyer can order, with wholesale and retail prices.

M

Machine-readable catalogueA machine-readable catalogue is product data structured so a system can read, filter, and order from it without a person interpreting a document first.Made to orderMade to order is a model where production starts only after an order is confirmed, so nothing is cut until a buyer has committed to taking it.MarkdownA markdown is a reduction from the planned retail price, taken to move stock that is not selling quickly enough at full price.MCP (Model Context Protocol)MCP is an open standard that lets an AI tool connect to a system such as an ordering platform and use its data through defined, permissioned operations.MOQ (minimum order quantity)MOQ is the smallest quantity a brand will accept on an order, set per style, per colourway, or across the whole order.MSRPMSRP is the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, the consumer price a brand recommends its retail partners sell at.MultiplierThe multiplier is the factor between the wholesale price and the retail price, and it is how buyers judge whether a product earns its place on the floor.

N

Net termsNet terms are the credit terms on an invoice, stating how many days after invoicing the buyer has to pay — Net 30 means payment is due in thirty days.

O

OTB (open to buy)OTB is the budget a buyer still has left to spend for a given period, after existing commitments are deducted from the total plan.OverstockOverstock is inventory a brand holds beyond what it can reasonably sell in the period it was bought for, tying up cash and warehouse space until it clears.

P

Pack ratioA pack ratio is the fixed size breakdown a style is sold in, so a buyer orders prepacked units rather than choosing quantities size by size.Pre-orderA pre-order is an order placed before the goods exist, committing a buyer to quantities ahead of production so the brand can produce against confirmed demand.PrelineA preline is an early showing of part of a collection to selected buyers, held before the main selling season opens.Product data enrichmentProduct data enrichment is filling in the attributes a catalogue is missing — composition, category, colour, fit — so products can be searched, filtered, and merchandised.

R

ReplenishmentReplenishment is reordering product a retailer already carries, placed against stock the brand holds rather than against a new seasonal buy.RRP (recommended retail price)RRP is the recommended retail price a brand publishes for a product, used across the UK and Europe where an American brand would say MSRP.

S

Sales agencyA sales agency sells a brand’s collection to retailers on commission without buying the stock, so the brand keeps ownership, pricing, and the account relationship.Sales repA sales rep carries a collection to buyers, writes the orders, and manages the accounts in a territory, either employed by the brand or working through an agency.Sell-in vs sell-outSell-in is what a brand sells to its retailers; sell-out is what those retailers sell to consumers.Sell-through rateSell-through rate is the share of received units sold within a given period, and it is the clearest measure of whether stock is performing.Size runA size run is the set of sizes a style is offered in, and the size curve is the ratio in which those sizes are expected to sell.Stock orderA stock order is an order placed against inventory a brand already holds, shipping immediately rather than after a production run.

W

WebhookA webhook is a message one system sends to another when something happens, so the second system does not have to keep asking whether it has.Wholesale priceThe wholesale price is what a retailer pays a brand per unit, before any retail markup, and it is the number every other wholesale calculation is built on.Workflow automationWorkflow automation is rules that act on events in your wholesale data — an order confirmed, stock running low, a drop shared — without somebody watching for them.

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