Glossary

Shopify stock glossary

The words on the paperwork, explained in the words people actually use.

60 terms

Barcodes and codes

Check digit

A check digit is the last number in a barcode. It is calculated from the others, so a scanner can tell when a digit has been read wrong.

Code 128

Code 128 is a barcode you generate and print yourself. It holds letters as well as numbers, and it is any length you want.

EAN

Also called: European Article Number, EAN-13

An EAN is the thirteen-digit retail barcode used across Europe and most of the world outside North America.

GS1 company prefix

A GS1 company prefix is the block of barcode numbers a business rents from GS1 so its products can be identified worldwide.

GTIN

Also called: Global Trade Item Number

A GTIN is the number that identifies a product worldwide. The barcode on the box is just a way of printing it.

SKU

Also called: Stock Keeping Unit

A SKU is your own code for one exact thing you sell, down to the size and colour. You invent it, and only your shop uses it.

UPC

Also called: Universal Product Code, UPC-A

A UPC is the twelve-digit retail barcode used in the United States and Canada. It is the North American cousin of the EAN.

Buying and receiving

Advance shipping notice

Also called: ASN

An advance shipping notice is a message from a supplier saying what they have dispatched and when it should reach you.

Backorder

A backorder is an order for something you do not have in stock yet, taken on the promise that it is coming.

Goods received note

Also called: GRN

A goods received note is your own record of what a delivery actually contained, written by the person who counted it.

Landed cost

Landed cost is what a unit of stock cost by the time it reached your shelf, including freight, duty and handling.

Lead time

Lead time is how long it takes for stock to arrive after you place the order, measured from your side of the transaction.

Part delivery

Also called: Partial shipment

A part delivery is when a supplier sends some of an order now and the rest later, against the same purchase order.

Purchase order

Also called: PO

A purchase order is the document you send a supplier to order stock. It lists what you want, how many, and what you agreed to pay.

Receiving

Also called: Goods in

Receiving is checking a delivery against what you ordered, then telling your system what actually arrived.

Counting and accuracy

Available inventory

Also called: On hand vs available

Available inventory is the stock a customer can still buy. It is what you hold on hand, minus what is already promised to other orders.

Cycle counting

Cycle counting is counting a few products often, on a rota, instead of counting everything once a year.

Inventory adjustment

An inventory adjustment is a manual change to a stock number, made when what the system says does not match the shelf.

Reorder point

A reorder point is the stock level that tells you to order more, set so the delivery lands before you run out.

Safety stock

Safety stock is the extra you hold to cover the weeks when sales run high or a delivery runs late.

Shrinkage

Also called: Shrink

Shrinkage is stock you paid for that is gone without being sold, through theft, damage or errors nobody recorded.

Stock accuracy

Stock accuracy is how often the number on screen matches the number on the shelf, counted line by line rather than in total.

Stocktake

Also called: Physical inventory count, Stock count

A stocktake is counting every product you hold and correcting the system to match what is really on the shelves.

Stockroom and warehouse

3PL

Also called: Third-party logistics

A 3PL is a company that stores your stock and ships your orders, so you do not run a warehouse yourself.

Bin location

Also called: Bin, Storage location

A bin location is the address of a place in your stockroom, so anyone can be told where to find a product without being shown.

Pick list

A pick list is the sheet or screen that tells someone which products to collect for an order, and where each one is.

Putaway

Putaway is moving stock from the receiving area onto the shelf it will be picked from, and recording where it went.

Stock health

Dead stock

Also called: Obsolete stock

Dead stock is inventory that is not selling and is not going to, tying up money and shelf space you need for something else.

Inventory turnover

Also called: Stock turn

Inventory turnover is how many times you sell and replace your stock in a year. Higher means your money is working harder.

Stockout

Also called: Out of stock

A stockout is running out of something a customer wanted to buy. The lost sale is usually the smallest part of the cost.

Products and variants

Barcode field

The barcode field is the box on a Shopify variant that holds the number printed under the bars on the product.

Cost per item

Also called: COGS

Cost per item is what you paid for one unit, stored on the variant so Shopify can work out margin and stock value.

Handle

Also called: URL handle

A handle is the readable part of a Shopify URL, generated from the title and used to identify a product, collection or page.

Inventory item

An inventory item is the countable half of a variant. Stock levels attach to it, one per location, not to the variant itself.

Metafield

A metafield is an extra field you add to a Shopify record to store something the built-in fields have no box for.

Product option

Also called: Option

A product option is one axis a customer chooses along, such as size or colour. Shopify allows three, and their combinations make the variants.

Variant

A variant is one buyable version of a Shopify product, such as the blue medium. Stock, price and barcode all live on the variant.

Locations and stock levels

Inventory history

Also called: Adjustment history

Inventory history is Shopify's log of every stock change on a variant, with the time, the reason and who or what made it.

Inventory policy

Also called: Continue selling when out of stock

Inventory policy is the setting that decides whether a Shopify variant stops selling at zero or keeps going.

Inventory tracking

Also called: Track quantity

Inventory tracking is the setting that tells Shopify to count a variant. With it off, Shopify holds no quantity at all.

Location

Also called: Shopify location

A location is a place Shopify holds stock, such as a shop, a stockroom, a warehouse or a third party who ships for you.

Multi-location inventory

Multi-location inventory means Shopify holds a separate stock number for every location, and no single total behind them.

Stocky

Stocky is Shopify's own inventory and purchasing app, included with Shopify POS Pro at no extra cost.

Transfer

Also called: Inventory transfer

A transfer is a record of stock moving from one Shopify location to another, open until the receiving end confirms what arrived.

Orders and fulfillment

Bundle

Also called: Kit

A bundle is several products sold together as one line, either kept as its own stock or drawn from the parts.

Draft order

A draft order is an order you create yourself in the Shopify admin, usually to invoice a customer who cannot check out normally.

Fulfillment

Also called: Fulfilment

Fulfillment is the step where you tell Shopify an order has been picked, packed and sent, which closes it and releases the stock.

Fulfillment service

A fulfillment service is a third party connected to Shopify that holds your stock and ships your orders automatically.

Partial fulfillment

Partial fulfillment is sending some line items of an order now and the rest later, leaving the order open in between.

Preorder

A preorder is a sale for stock that has not arrived yet, taken against a date you have told the customer.

Unfulfilled order

An unfulfilled order is one that has been paid for but not yet sent. Its stock is committed and cannot be sold to anyone else.