Retail and POS glossary
The words retailers and POS systems use for sales, stock, cash and customers, explained simply. Use the filter to find a term.
43 terms · Last reviewed
Sales and checkout
- POS (point of sale)
- The place and the system where a sale is recorded and paid for: the till, the software on it and the receipt it produces. In NexaPOS: Point of sale
- Terminal
- One device used to ring up sales, such as a computer or tablet at the counter. A shop with two tills has two terminals.
- Receipt
- The record of a sale given to the customer: what was bought, the prices, the total and how it was paid.
- Refund (return)
- Money given back for items a customer returns. A good refund process records which sale it belongs to and who approved it.
- Void
- Cancelling an item or a whole sale before it is completed. Because voids change what the till should hold, they are usually tied to the person who made them. In NexaPOS: Staff management
- Discount
- A reduction on the normal price, for one item or the whole sale. Controlled discounts limit who can give them and how much.
- Payment method
- How a customer pays: for example cash, mobile money or a card. Reports by payment method show how much came in each way. In NexaPOS: Reporting and analytics
- Mobile money
- Payments made from a mobile phone wallet, used in Cameroon alongside cash.
Stock and purchasing
- SKU (stock-keeping unit)
- A code for one specific product you sell, so that each item can be counted and reported on separately.
- Barcode
- A printed code on a product that a scanner reads, so the right item is found at the counter without typing. In NexaPOS: Inventory management
- Variant
- A version of one product, such as a size or colour. A shirt in three sizes is one product with three variants. In NexaPOS: Inventory management
- Category
- A group of related products, such as drinks or skincare, used to organise the catalogue and the reports.
- Stock level
- How many units of a product are on hand at a location right now.
- Stock movement
- Any change to a stock level, such as a sale, a delivery, a transfer or a correction. The movement history shows why a number changed. In NexaPOS: Inventory management
- Stock count (stocktake)
- Counting what is physically on the shelves and comparing it with what the records say should be there.
- Shrinkage (stock loss)
- Stock that is gone without a recorded sale: theft, damage, expiry, or counting and recording mistakes. Regular counts show how much there is.
- Reorder point
- The stock level at which a product should be ordered again, so it does not run out. A low-stock alert warns when a product reaches it. In NexaPOS: Inventory management
- Stock valuation
- What the stock on hand is worth, usually at cost price. It shows how much money is tied up on the shelves. In NexaPOS: Inventory management
- Purchase order
- A written order to a supplier listing what you want, how much and at what price. In NexaPOS: Purchasing and suppliers
- Goods receiving
- Checking a delivery against the purchase order before the stock is added, so missing or extra items are caught at the door. In NexaPOS: Purchasing and suppliers
- Supplier
- A business you buy stock from, such as a wholesaler, distributor or manufacturer.
- Stock transfer
- Moving stock from one branch or store room to another, recorded so both locations stay correct.
Cash and shifts
- Shift
- A cashier's working period at a till, from opening to closing. Sales and cash are counted per shift.
- Opening float
- The cash placed in the till at the start of a shift, so the cashier can give change. In NexaPOS: Cash and shift reconciliation
- Expected cash
- How much cash should be in the till at the end of a shift: the opening float plus cash sales, minus cash paid out.
- Cash variance (over or short)
- The difference between the cash counted at the close and the expected cash. A variance is a reason to check the shift, not proof of wrongdoing. In NexaPOS: Cash and shift reconciliation
- Shift close (cash-up)
- Ending a shift: counting the cash, comparing it with the expected amount and recording the result. In NexaPOS: Cash and shift reconciliation
- Expense
- Money the business spends, such as transport, rent or utilities, recorded so profit can be worked out.
Customers and loyalty
- Customer profile
- A record of one customer: contact details and what they have bought. In NexaPOS: Customer management
- Customer segment
- A group of customers who share something, such as buying often or not visiting for a while, used to target a message.
- Loyalty programme
- A scheme that rewards customers for buying again, for example with points they can spend later. In NexaPOS: Loyalty and rewards
- Customer credit
- Goods a customer takes now and pays for later. The amount owed has to be tracked per customer. In NexaPOS: Customer management
- Gift card and voucher
- A prepaid value or a fixed offer that a customer spends at the till.
- Repeat customer
- A customer who comes back to buy again.
Branches, reports and setup
- Branch
- One shop or outlet of a business. Each branch has its own stock and tills. In NexaPOS: Multi-branch management
- Gross margin
- Sales minus the cost of the goods sold. It shows how much each sale contributes before running costs. In NexaPOS: Reporting and analytics
- Markup
- How much is added to the cost price to set the selling price. Markup and margin describe the same price from different sides.
- Cost price
- What you paid for a product, including what it cost to get it to the shop if you count that.
- Role and permissions
- What each person is allowed to do in the system. A cashier, a manager and an administrator usually have different access. In NexaPOS: Staff management
- Audit trail
- A record of who did what and when, so sales, voids and changes can be traced to a person.
- Offline-capable checkout
- Offline-capable checkout for eligible sales. Eligible sales can be captured during a connection loss and synchronized safely later. Not every action works offline. In NexaPOS: Offline-capable checkout
- Synchronization (sync)
- Sending records captured on a device to the central system once a connection is available, so every screen shows the same numbers.
- FCFA (XAF)
- The Central African CFA franc, the currency used in Cameroon.
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