3PL; Third Party Logistics. 3PLs are typically used by eCommerce brands to help manage their distribution, warehousing, and fulfilment needs.

4PL; Fourth Party Logistics. Refers to an operational model whereby a business outsources it’s entire supply chain management to one specific company rather than having multiple companies that make up the supply chain.

Advanced Shipping Notice; ASN– A pending piece of delivery documentation that displays information about the products, quantities, and nature of the shipment being sent/received.

API; Application Programming Interface- Refers to software intermediary which allows two or more platforms to communicate with each other through the sharing of data and other information.

ATA; Actual Time of Arrival- The exact time a vessel, ship, or plane, regardless of importing or exporting, is determined to arrive at its final destination.

ATD; Actual Time of Departure; The exact time a shipment has been dispatched from its point of origin.

Barcode; A barcode is a unique set of bars and spaces that then create a barcode. Barcodes are used to identify items and information about a product.

Bundling; An event in which two or more products are combined into one transaction for a single price.

B2B; Business to Business.

B2C; Business to Consumer.

Carrier; An organisation or individual who can legally transport goods on the behalf of another business or individual. Goods can be transported via land, sea, or air.

Carrier Liability; A carrier that is responsible for any shipment loss, damage, or delay, though, this there are some exceptions in these cases.

Chargeable weight; Refers to the Actual Gross Weight, or the Volumetric Weight of shipments. Which ever is greater is then the chargeable weight.

Commodity Code; Code used to describe a product or raw material (commodity) or a group of commodities that deal with standard classifications of goods.

COGS; Cost Of Goods Sold; A formula used to calculate the cost of your goods in order to sell. Read more about it here.

Dashboard; A virtual board used to summarize KPIs, but can also be used as a monitoring system for eCommerce businesses.

DDP; Duty Paid Delivery are taxes/fees/duty charges that are paid by the person/company shipping the order. Read more about it here.

DDU; Delivery Duty Unpaid; Taxes/fees/charges that must be paid for/by the recipient of the shipment delivery.

Dunnage; Durable packaging material that is used to protect goods during the shipping and handling process. Read more about it here.

FIFO; First in First Out; an inventory management method. Read more about it here

Fulfilment; The process of picking, packing, and shipping orders directly to the customer or retailer.

Hazardous materials; A material that has the capacity to pose a risk to health, safety, and or property during the process of shipping and handling.

Holding Cost; The cost required to hold a unit of stock/item for a certain amount of time

Handling cost; The cost involved in moving, transferring, or generally handling inventory.

Hundred weight; a pricing unit designed to be used within transportations (equal to 100 GBP)

In-Bound; Goods that are held or transported in-bound under customs control, import duties, and charges are paid.

In-bound logistics; The management that commences from suppliers and vendors, then into production processes to storage facilities.

Inventory; The overall number of stock or products you have at any given time in your warehouse or facility.

Import; The act of receiving an order or product(s) from one country to another.

Logistics; Refers to the overall process of managing how resources are acquired, stored, and transported to their final destination.

Logistics Data Interchange; An automatic system that electronically transmits logistics information

Last mile; The last step in the delivery process whereby the carrier/courier is responsible for the final handover of goods/order to the customer.

MOQ; Minimum order quantity; read more about it here.

Net-weight; How much an order weighs before the container or packaging is factored into the equation

Non Stock Inventory; This relates to the inventory that is not tracked within your inventory management system, meaning there is no SKU or barcode for this product.

Order fulfilment; the process of receiving goods and orders, before then processing and delivering those goods to customers.

Outsourcing; the process of utilizing a third party business to manage and handle areas or services that you cannot manage yourself.

Pick; the process of going to the dedicated area in the warehouse to retrieve order items.

Pack; the process of packing orders in packaging before shipping the order(s) to a customer or retailer.

Supply Chain; A network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer.

Shipping; The transport of goods by sea, land, or air

Safety Stock; Another term for emergency stock

SKU; Stock Keeping Unit

Tariff; A tax that is assessed by a government on goods entering or leaving the country

Tracking Shipment; The process of localising shipping containers or parcel posts at any time during production, storing, and delivering

VAT; Abbreviation for ‘Value Added Tax’ and refers to incrementally assessed tax that is levied on goods and services based on the price at each stage of production, distribution, etc.

Value Added; The increased value of goods or services