Retail math, plainly.

Selling

Point of sale (POS)

What the retailer sold to shoppers, by item, store and week, as reported in the retailer's supplier portal. Different from what you shipped: the gap between the two is inventory moving through the retailer's system.

POS units × retail price = POS dollars

Why it matters: POS is the only number that reflects shopper demand. Shipments can look healthy while the shelf is quietly slowing.

Velocity (units per store per week)

How fast an item sells where it is stocked. The single most useful comparison across items, stores and retailers because it removes the effect of how many stores carry it.

POS units ÷ stores selling ÷ weeks

Why it matters: a fast item in few stores is a distribution opportunity; a slow item in many stores is a delisting risk. Total units hide both.

Sell-through

The share of inventory available in a period that actually sold. Retailers use it to judge whether a buy was right-sized and whether a promotion cleared what it was meant to.

Units sold ÷ (beginning inventory + receipts)

Why it matters: a merchant's bonus often depends on it. Framing your proposal around their sell-through, not your shipments, is the fastest way to be heard.

Comparable (comp) growth

Growth measured only in stores that stocked the item in both periods. Strips out the effect of new or lost distribution so you can see whether the base is strengthening or eroding.

(This period POS in common stores ÷ last period POS in common stores) − 1

Why it matters: total growth of 4% can hide a comp decline of 3% masked by new stores. The merchant will see the comp number; you should see it first.

Promotion lift and post-promotion dip

Lift is the increase in units during a promotion against a baseline of normal weeks. The dip is the shortfall in the weeks after, when shoppers who stocked up stop buying.

Lift = promo units ÷ baseline units − 1 · Dip = post-promo units ÷ baseline units − 1

Why it matters: lift alone flatters every promotion. Lift net of dip, with the margin given up, tells you which mechanics to repeat and which to decline.

Distribution and space

Distribution (stores selling, % ACV)

How widely an item is available. Counted as stores stocking or selling, or weighted by store sales volume (% ACV, all-commodity volume) so that a big store counts for more than a small one.

Stores selling ÷ total stores · or · sales volume of stores stocking ÷ total sales volume

Why it matters: distribution changes are the most common hidden driver of a sales swing, and the one most often argued at a line review.

Facings and space productivity

A facing is one unit-width of an item visible on the shelf. Space productivity is sales per facing or per linear foot, compared with the category average.

POS dollars ÷ facings (or ÷ linear feet)

Why it matters: "more space" is a weak ask. "Our item turns 1.8× the category per facing while two neighbours turn under 0.7×" is a reallocation the merchant can defend upward.

Planogram (POG) compliance

Whether stores actually set the shelf the way the planogram says, with your items in the agreed positions and facings.

Compliant stores ÷ audited stores

Why it matters: weak velocity in a cluster of stores is often a compliance problem, not a demand problem. The remedy is different and cheaper.

Two-step distribution

In much of the hardware channel your product reaches the store through a cooperative or distributor rather than direct from you. Sales data arrives on the distributor's cadence and in its layout, often warehouse withdrawals rather than store POS.

Your shipments → distributor warehouse → member store → shopper

Why it matters: warehouse withdrawals lag the shelf by weeks, so a demand change shows up late. Reading both signals together is how you see it in time.

Inventory and availability

In-stock rate and out-of-stock (OOS)

The share of store-days (or store-weeks) an item had inventory available to sell. Out-of-stock is the complement.

Store-days with on-hand > 0 ÷ total store-days

Why it matters: sales data alone hides it, because an item still showing some units looks fine on a weekly report while it was empty for four of seven days.

Weeks of supply (WOS)

How long current inventory would last at the current rate of sale. Retailers use it to decide reorders and to judge whether you are over- or under-stocked in their system.

On-hand units ÷ average weekly POS units

Why it matters: too high and the merchant stops ordering; too low and you lose sales to an empty peg. Both are visible before they bite, if you are looking.

Lost sales

An estimate of what would have sold had the item been available. Calculated from the store's own normal velocity during the days it was out of stock.

Out-of-stock store-days × expected daily velocity × price

Why it matters: it turns an availability problem into a dollar figure a merchant and your own operations team will act on. Always present as an estimate with the method stated.

Fill rate and on-time in-full (OTIF)

Fill rate is the share of ordered units you shipped; OTIF is the share of orders delivered complete and within the window. Many retailers charge compliance penalties when they fall below a threshold.

Units shipped ÷ units ordered · Orders on time and complete ÷ total orders

Why it matters: a miss costs you twice, once in the penalty and again in the merchant's confidence at the next review.

Phantom inventory

Stock the retailer's system says is in the store but is not on the shelf: mis-shelved, damaged, stolen or never received. The system will not reorder because it thinks the item is there.

Signal: on-hand > 0 for weeks while POS = 0

Why it matters: it is the most common reason a store "has inventory" and sells nothing. Spotting the pattern is how you get it fixed.

Margin and money

Retail margin and supplier margin

The retailer's margin is retail price minus what they pay you. Your margin is what they pay you minus your cost. Promotions and allowances move both.

(Retail price − cost to retailer) ÷ retail price

Why it matters: a promotion that lifts units 45% and cuts your margin 21% may still be a loss. The chart should show both.

GMROI (gross margin return on inventory investment)

How many dollars of gross margin the retailer earns for each dollar of inventory it holds in your items. The merchant's shorthand for whether your line deserves its space and working capital.

Gross margin dollars ÷ average inventory at cost

Why it matters: two items with identical sales can have very different GMROI. The one that turns faster is the one the merchant protects.

Trade spend and deductions

Money you give the retailer for promotions, allowances and programs, often taken as deductions from your invoices rather than paid out. Reconciling them is a recurring administrative burden for suppliers.

Promised allowance − deducted amount = variance to investigate

Why it matters: unreconciled deductions are margin leaking quietly. It is also one of the most automatable tasks in a supplier's month.