Terms the beverage pros use every day.
191 terms and counting
How a regulated market is structured and the rules that bind each tier.
A requirement that product physically come to rest in a licensed in-state warehouse before it can be sold onward.
In many control states, product sits in a state warehouse but the supplier or importer keeps title and the risk of loss until it sells. The state holds the goods, not the ownership.
For importers and producers, a financial guarantee posted to TTB covering excise tax on product not yet taxed.
Most states require a product to be registered with the regulator before a distributor can sell it. Miss it and you cannot ship.
The Craft Beverage Modernization Act, the federal law that lowered excise tax rates on smaller producers.
Certificate of Label Approval. The federal sign-off a product label needs before it can go to market.
A state where the government acts as the wholesaler or retailer for certain categories, usually spirits. The NABCA states. A license state lets private businesses run each tier under license.
The middle tier. Buys from suppliers, sells to retailers, and runs logistics, compliance, and field sales in a territory. Also called a wholesaler.
Laws that hold a seller liable for harm caused by serving an obviously intoxicated or underage customer.
Direct-to-consumer shipping, mostly for wine, where a producer ships across state lines straight to a consumer under a permit. The main carve-out from three-tier.
The per-unit tax on alcohol that distributors collect and remit to state and federal governments.
State rules that govern the supplier and distributor relationship, often making brand rights hard to terminate or transfer. A franchise state heavily favors the distributor.
The import model where a supplier hands a brand to an importer who takes on logistics, registration, marketing, and sales in the market.
Anything of value a supplier gives a retailer to win placement. Heavily restricted under trade practice law. The legal name for pay to play.
A state where private businesses run each tier under a license, as opposed to a control state.
The National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, the body representing the control states.
The National Beer Wholesalers Association, the trade group representing America’s beer distributors on legislative, regulatory, and industry matters.
An on-sale license permits consumption on the premises. An off-sale license permits sale for consumption elsewhere.
State laws that require distributors to file prices with the regulator and hold them for a set period before changing them. Common in states like New York. Also called post and hold.
A rule that a product must be bought from its designated source of record, which blocks gray-market supply.
The point of sale. Bars, restaurants, grocery, convenience, and liquor stores that sell to the consumer.
An allowance in many states for small producers to sell directly to retailers without a distributor, usually up to a volume cap.
The producer. Breweries, wineries, distilleries, and importers that make or source the product.
The post-Prohibition structure that separates suppliers, distributors, and retailers into independent tiers. Most states require these tiers to stay legally distinct.
The post-Prohibition laws that bar suppliers and distributors from giving retailers anything of value to push product. The reason the three tiers must stay independent.
The federal rules under tied house that prohibit consignment sales, exclusive outlets, commercial bribery, and paying for shelf space.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The federal agency that approves labels and formulas and collects federal excise tax.
How distributors move volume and how suppliers measure it.
Limited product split across accounts when demand outruns supply. In wine and spirits it is also a relationship tool: scarce, high-demand bottles like rare bourbon go to accounts based on purchase history and loyalty.
The list of SKUs an account is approved to carry.
The supplier-side owner of a brand’s distributor relationship and programming.
Physically adding a new product into an existing shelf set between resets.
A case sold from the distributor to a retailer. The number suppliers watch most closely because it funds the programs.
A per-case incentive a supplier pays a distributor for hitting depletion targets in a set period.
The periodic file a distributor sends a supplier showing cases sold to retail by brand and account.
The three trade promotion levers at retail. A display is off-shelf space, an ad is retailer advertising, a feature is a promoted price in a circular.
Frontline brands are the new and focus priorities. Back book is the established, steady portfolio.
Wine bought before it is released or has even arrived, often below the eventual release price. The account commits early to lock in allocation.
The case or revenue target a rep or distributor commits to for a brand in a period.
A SKU a supplier or chain requires an account to carry, regardless of the rep’s preference.
A chain’s formal sign-off to add a SKU to its shelf set. Without it the rep cannot place the product.
A discount taken directly off the invoice at the time of sale, the simplest form of trade support.
October, November, December. The fourth-quarter window that can carry the majority of annual spirits volume. The make-or-break selling stretch.
Points of Distribution. The count of retail accounts that carry a given product.
A rep takes the order on one visit and the product is delivered later. Tel-sell does the same over the phone.
A fixed sequence of accounts a rep or driver services on a given day. The atomic unit of distribution work.
The set schedule of which accounts get visited on which day of the week.
Shipments are what the supplier sells into the distributor. Depletions are what the distributor sells out to retail. The gap is distributor inventory.
An independent account open to any distributor, as opposed to a contracted chain.
A rep’s structured check of an account, capturing facings, pricing, out-of-stocks, and competitor activity.
Taking orders by phone rather than in person.
The defined geographic area a distributor holds rights to sell in.
Accounts that should carry a product but do not. Closing voids is core to distribution growth.
How price and cost stack up across the tiers, and where the money moves.
A rebate the distributor claims back from the supplier after selling product at an agreed promotional price.
A deduction one party takes against another’s invoice for agreed costs, shortages, or damages. Reconciling chargebacks against bill-backs is a constant finance headache.
Market Development Funds. Supplier money set aside for a distributor or retailer to spend on agreed marketing.
The true final price after every discount, allowance, and rebate is stripped out. What you actually net.
The document listing the promotional prices and allowances available on a brand for a period.
A payment for placing a product in an off-shelf display.
Everyday low pricing holds a steady low shelf price. Hi-Lo runs a higher base price with frequent promotions.
Free On Board. The supplier price to the distributor before freight and taxes.
The distributor's standard published price before any deal or post-off is applied.
The dollars left after cost of goods, before operating expense.
Setting retail price at double the cost, a traditional retail markup shorthand.
The distributor's true cost after freight and taxes are added to FOB. Also called landed cost.
The distributor's standard price before any discounts.
A claim a distributor files back to a supplier for the difference between standard cost and an agreed lower promotional cost on units sold.
Minimum Advertised Price. The lowest price a supplier allows a product to be advertised at.
Margin is profit as a percent of selling price. Markup is profit as a percent of cost. Mixing them up quietly distorts every pricing decision.
The price after off-invoice discounts but before bill-backs and rebates.
A temporary price reduction a supplier funds to lower the distributor's cost for a period.
On-premise, the cost of the liquor poured as a percent of the revenue it brings in. The number bar operators manage to.
Price to Consumer. The shelf or menu price the consumer pays.
Price to Retailer. What the retailer pays the distributor.
A rebate paid per unit that actually scans at retail during a promotion. Distinct from a bill-back because it pays on proven sell-through.
A fee a retailer, usually a grocery chain, charges to stock a new product on the shelf.
Suggested Retail Price. The price a supplier recommends the shelf carry.
Temporary Price Reduction. A short-term retail discount used to drive volume.
Volume Incentive Program. Supplier rebates or rewards tied to distributor volume targets.
Winning the shelf, the cold box, and the back bar.
The lit shelf behind the bar where premium spirits sit. Placement there drives call-brand sales.
On-premise wine and spirits sold by the pour. The highest-margin way an account sells a bottle. Often shortened to BTG.
A chain is a multi-location retailer like a national grocer. An independent is a single-location account.
The refrigerated shelf space at retail. In beer and RTD it is the most valuable real estate in the store, fought over by door and by shelf.
Small point-of-sale pieces that mark price or call out a product at the shelf.
A display at the end of a retail aisle. High traffic and a highly valued placement.
The number of product units visible at the front of a shelf. More facings mean more visibility.
A freestanding stack of product on the sales floor, usually tied to a promotion.
Earning a product onto an on-premise menu or by-the-glass list.
Grocery, convenience, and liquor stores where product is taken home.
Bars, restaurants, and venues where product is consumed on site.
A product that should be on the shelf but is not. Lost sales and a core execution metric.
The shelf map that dictates where and how products sit in a set. Also called a POG.
Point-of-sale signage and display pieces used to drive trial at retail. Also called POP, point of purchase.
A scheduled rebuild of a retailer's shelf set, often seasonal, where placements are won or lost.
The retailer's official shelf plan. Another word for the planogram.
Product displayed somewhere beyond its normal shelf home, like a floor stack or cooler clip.
The percentage of a category’s shelf space a brand holds. A proxy for how a brand is winning the set.
The well-liquor rack at the bartender’s hip. Brands placed there get poured most.
The branded lever on a draft line. Winning a tap handle is the on-premise version of winning a shelf facing.
On-premise spirit tiers. Well is the house pour when no brand is named. Call is when the guest names a brand. Premium and above sit higher on the back bar and the price list.
How product is counted, stored, picked, and moved.
The standard case unit for wine and spirits planning, equal to twelve 750ml bottles. An actual case may hold 6 or 12 bottles, so volumes are normalized to 9-liter equivalents for reporting.
Carrying a load on the return leg of a delivery run so the truck does not run empty.
The specific warehouse location a SKU is stored and picked from.
A standard unit that converts mixed pack sizes into one common case measure for planning across categories.
The freshness or pull date printed on a package. The reference point for rotation and out-of-code.
Moving product straight from inbound to outbound dock without putting it into storage.
Counting a slice of inventory on a rotating schedule rather than shutting down for a full physical count.
How many days of sales a distributor's current warehouse stock covers.
Direct Store Delivery. The distributor delivers and often merchandises product directly at the retail account.
The refundable charge on a keg shell and the tracking of empties returned. Kegs are durable assets a distributor must recover.
The unit a pick is done in, a full pallet layer, a single case, or an individual unit.
A batch identifier that ties units to a production run for traceability and recall.
The list of everything loaded on a truck for a route, the document settlement reconciles against.
A pallet built from more than one SKU for a single delivery.
Product that has passed its freshness date and can no longer be sold.
The accessible front location a picker pulls cases from, replenished from reserve stock.
The warehouse document listing what to pull for an order. The manifest lists what goes on the truck.
Restocking a location back up to its target on-hand level, the par.
Selling oldest stock first to protect freshness. Standard practice is FIFO, first in first out.
Inventory lost to breakage, theft, or spoilage, measured against the book count.
Stock Keeping Unit. A single product variant, like a 12oz can versus a 16oz can of the same beer. Pack-size proliferation is why SKU counts run into the thousands.
A retailer picks up product directly from the distributor warehouse instead of taking delivery.
The numbers that tell you what is actually happening in market.
A distribution measure weighted by store size. In wine and spirits it is the dollar value of stores where a product scans divided by all stores in the market, which is why it does not capture on-premise or non-scan states like New York.
Baseline is what would have sold with no promotion. Incremental is the lift a promotion adds on top.
The supplier a retailer trusts to advise on the whole category’s shelf set. Influence that shapes everyone’s placement.
A brand’s percentage of total category sales in a market.
Product moved out of its intended market or channel, often to chase price. Also called transshipping. Suppliers and distributors police it because it breaks territory pricing and brand control.
A rolling one-year reporting window that smooths out seasonality.
The percentage increase in sales a promotion drives over baseline.
The full count of sellable accounts in a market, the denominator for distribution math.
Demand a supplier creates with consumers to pull product through the three tiers.
Units sold per store per week. Closely related to velocity.
Point-of-sale data showing what actually sold through the register at retail.
The rate product moves off the shelf after a retailer buys it.
Market data from providers like Circana, Nielsen, or NIQ used to track category and brand performance.
The standardized outlet coding system that gives every retail location a unique ID, the backbone of syndicated reporting.
How fast a product sells per point of distribution. High velocity earns more shelf space.
Formats, categories, and the words on the label.
Alcohol by Volume. The percentage of alcohol in a drink.
Retail shorthand for large stores like grocery and club versus convenience and bottle shops.
The multipack count a product ships in, from six-packs to 30-count cases. Each count is a distinct SKU.
Draft-to-go containers, a 32oz filled-and-sealed can or a refillable 64oz jug.
Draft is kegged product served on tap. Package is cans and bottles.
Flavored Malt Beverage. The category that includes most hard seltzers and many ready-to-drink products.
Wine with spirit added to raise alcohol, like port, sherry, and madeira.
A category of flavored, lightly alcoholic sparkling drinks, most sold as flavored malt beverages.
A half-barrel holds about 15.5 gallons. A sixtel holds about 5.2 gallons.
A new SKU launched under an existing brand, like a new flavor or a non-alcoholic version.
The growing category of zero and reduced-alcohol products that still move through the three tiers.
The consumer trend of trading up to higher-price, higher-quality products.
A spirits measure equal to twice the alcohol by volume. An 80 proof whiskey is 40 percent ABV.
Ready-to-Drink. Pre-mixed cocktails sold in cans or bottles, one of the fastest-growing categories in beverage.
Single units sold cold for immediate drinking versus take-home multipacks.
A 16oz or 19.2oz single-serve can, a fast-growing convenience format.
A single package combining multiple SKUs. A major beer and RTD format and a merchandising tool.
How money moves, who owes whom, and how the route day reconciles.
Accounts receivable sorted by how overdue they are, in current, 30, 60, and 90 day buckets. The view collections works from.
Cash on Delivery. Payment collected at the point of delivery. Many states require alcohol to be sold COD or on short credit terms, which makes the route the collection point.
A stop placed on a past-due or over-limit account that blocks new orders until it pays down.
The window an account has to pay, such as net 14 or net 30. State credit laws cap how long alcohol can ride before it must be paid.
Money a retailer or chain takes off an invoice for promotions, shortages, damages, or fees. Matching deductions to the bill-backs and chargebacks that justify them is a constant finance task.
Electronic funds transfer between bank accounts, increasingly replacing the check at settlement.
The starting cash a driver carries to make change on COD stops.
Non-sufficient funds. A returned or bounced check, which often triggers a credit hold.
The end-of-route reconciliation of a driver’s cash, checks, returns, and undelivered product against the day’s manifest. Settling a route ties the truck back to the books.
When an account pays less than the invoice amount, usually because of a disputed deduction.
An invoice bills a single order. A statement summarizes all open invoices and payments for an account over a period.
How trading partners and systems pass orders, shipments, and invoices to each other.
A direct system-to-system connection that passes data in real time, the modern alternative to batch EDI.
Advance Ship Notice. The shipment detail sent ahead of delivery so the receiver can plan the dock. Carried by the EDI 856.
Electronic Data Interchange. The standardized electronic format trading partners use to swap purchase orders, shipments, and invoices without re-keying.
The electronic invoice.
The electronic purchase order a buyer sends a supplier.
The purchase order acknowledgment the supplier sends back, confirming or adjusting the order.
The Advance Ship Notice. Tells the buyer what is on the truck before it arrives. Also called the ASN.
Global Trade Item Number. The global product identifier that sits behind the barcode.
A shared catalog standard that keeps product data consistent between suppliers and their trading partners.
Universal Product Code. The barcode that scans at retail and ties a physical unit to a SKU.
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