Plain-English definitions for 27 key FMCG terms — from commercial acronyms to supply chain jargon. Essential reading for anyone building a career in fast-moving consumer goods.
A&P (Advertising and Promotions) refers to the total budget a brand invests in consumer-facing marke…
Above the Line (ATL) refers to mass-media advertising that reaches a broad audience without being ta…
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) represents the direct costs attributable to producing a product — includin…
Category Management is the process of managing a product category as a strategic business unit, with…
Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) refers to products that are sold quickly at relatively low cost. T…
Forecast Accuracy measures how closely demand forecasts match actual sales. It is typically measured…
A Joint Business Plan (JBP) is a formal annual agreement between a supplier (FMCG brand) and a retai…
New Product Development (NPD) is the process of bringing a new product or product variant from initi…
Nielsen data refers to the syndicated retail measurement data provided by NIQ (formerly Nielsen IQ) …
On-Shelf Availability (OSA) is the percentage of time a product is available on shelf when a shopper…
On Time In Full (OTIF) is a supply chain KPI measuring the percentage of customer orders delivered b…
A Profit and Loss statement (P&L) is a financial summary that shows net revenue, costs, and profitab…
Point of Sale Materials (POSM) are physical or digital marketing materials placed in retail environm…
Perfect Store is an FMCG framework that defines the ideal in-store execution standards for a brand a…
A planogram (or POG) is a visual diagram or schematic showing how products should be placed on retai…
Private label (also called own-label or store brand) refers to products manufactured by a supplier b…
Promotional ROI measures the financial return generated by a trade promotion relative to its cost. A…
Revenue Growth Management (RGM) is the commercial strategy of maximising net revenue and profit thro…
Revenue Growth Management (RGM) is the strategic discipline of maximising net revenue and gross prof…
Route to Market (RTM) describes the strategic path a product takes from producer to end consumer. In…
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is the monthly cross-functional business planning process that …
A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is a unique identifier assigned to a specific product variant in inventor…
Sell-in refers to the volume of product sold FROM the supplier TO the retailer (what is placed in th…
Sell-through rate measures the percentage of inventory sold to end consumers relative to the invento…
Shopper Marketing is the practice of designing and executing marketing programmes that engage and in…
Trade Marketing is the strategy and execution of marketing activities directed at the trade channel …
Weighted distribution (WD) measures the percentage of total category volume sold in stores that stoc…