The glossary of a top-notch retailer should include retail, marketing and financial terms. While some of them may seem a bit complicated, committing yourself to studying these definitions will help you manage your store, train your staff and, most importantly, serve your customers.
E
ECPA: The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association is an international, not-for-profit trade organization based in Phoenix. Membership is open to companies that publish evangelical Christian literature. It seeks to promote cooperation between publishing companies and provide members with training through events and conferences.
It also produces the STATS (Sales Tracking Analysis Trends Summary) sales report and honors excellence in Christian publishing with its ECPA Christian Book Awards—formally known as the Gold Medallion Book Awards.
EDI: Electronic Data Interchanges is computer and telecommunications technology used to exchange electronic invoices, payments and information between suppliers and retailers.
ENDCAP: Used in merchandising, this is typically a freestanding, gondola-style display with high visibility located at the end of a fixture. Endcaps are usually temporary vendor displays that group products by author, publisher or subject matter.
ENDING INVENTORY: Sometimes called closing inventory, this is the cost of inventory on hand at the end of an accounting period.
EXPENDITURE: Synonymous with disbursement, this is a payment of cash for goods or services received.
F
FISCAL YEAR: This is a period of 12 consecutive months chosen by a business as the accounting period for annual reports. It may or may not be a calendar year.
Since Christmas gifts are returned in January, a fiscal year based on the calendar year would see sales in one year and associated returns in the following year. Therefore, retailers commonly use a month other than December to end their fiscal year. January is a popular choice, since by month's end most returns have already taken place.
FIXED COST: An expenditure or expense that does not vary with volume of activity—such as rent, utilities and high-speed Internet access.
FIXTURES: These are permanent items on the sales floor that are used to display merchandise. Wall, book and music units are good examples of these. These also are referred to as trade fixtures.
FRONTLIST: This denotes new or recently released product from a vendor. It is the opposite of the term backlist, which defines current or older inventory.
G
GENERAL EXPENSES: These are operating expenses other than those assigned to COGS, selling and administration. Utilities are an example of a general expense.
GMA: Founded in 1964, the Gospel Music Association is a trade association headquartered in Nashville.
There are more than 4,200 members, including record company professionals, recording artists, artist managers, retailers, publishers and producers.
The organization offers several events, services and resources throughout the year. It is well-known for the GMA Music Awards, which recognizes excellence in gospel music by awarding artists with Dove Awards every year in April.
GROSS PROFIT: Also known as gross margin, this number is found by subtracting the COGS from net sales. In other words, subtract the cost of making a product or providing a service from revenue.
Phil Darrr is vice presidente and co-founder of Lemstone Christian Stores. He heads up Lemstone's new service division, Church Bookstore Solutions.
