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A 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) is a service that helps companies manage their supply chain and logistics operations. 3PL providers usually help in warehouse and inventory management, order fulfillment, shipping coordination, retail distribution, exchanges, and returns.

This guarantee assures customers that their purchase will meet their expectations in terms of product quality and delivery

The A-Z Guarantee in an Amazon program protects the buyers when they buy an item sold and fulfilled by a third-party seller. It guarantees both the condition and timely delivery. If you can't resolve a dispute with a seller, you can raise it up to Amazon, and the y will decide whether you're eligible for a refund or not.

Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) is a ten-digit alphanumeric code that identifies products on Amazon. It’s unique for each product and is assigned when you create a new product in Amazon’s catalog. Almost every product on Amazon has an ASIN with the exception of books (they use the ISBN or International Standard Book Number.

Actual Time of Arrival (ATA) is a logistics term that signifies the exact moment a shipment reaches its destination.

Actual Time of Departure (ATD) means the specific time when a shipment leaves its point of origin, such as a warehouse or distribution center

Actual Stock in ecommerce refers to the exact quantity of goods and products physically present and available for sale or distribution in a warehouse at any given time

Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) is a document provided by the supplier to the receiver detailing the specifics of a pending delivery

All-Risk Cargo Insurance typically covers physical loss or damage from any external cause

Amazon Buy Box refers to the box on the right side of the Amazon product detail page, where customers can add items for purchase to their cart. As there are multiple sellers for one product, "winning" a Buy Box is extremely beneficial, as it means you're the seller customers are buying from when they click "Buy Now".

Amazon's European Fulfilment Network (EFN) allows sellers with an Amazon Europe Stores account who are also registered for Fulfilment by Amazon to store their inventory in their local fulfilment centre and fulfil orders coming from other European stores from the same local inventory pool, maximising the control and flexibility that sellers have over their inventory.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service that allows businesses to outsource order fulfillment to Amazon. Businesses send products to Amazon fulfillment centers and when a customer makes a purchase, they pick, pack, and ship the order. They can also provide customer service and process returns for those orders.

A Prep Center is an intermediary between Amazon and FBA Sellers that receives inventory from sellers, inspects the inventory, bundles and packs the inventory units, prepares shipping and box labels, and ships to the Amazon warehouse.

Fulfilled By Merchant (FBM) allows sellers to list their products on Amazon and choose to ship products to each buyer themselves. They are responsible for fulfilling their orders and do not rely on Amazon for the same. While it's advantageous for products with lower margins, FBM is rather overlooked owing to easy shipping, handling, and other benefits that come with FBA.

An Amazon Fulfillment Center is a large warehouse facility where Amazon stores, preps, packs, and ships orders for FBA merchants/sellers.

Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment is a fulfillment and shipping service provided by Amazon to D2C/E-commerce brands. It also involves fulfilling orders that maybe placed on channels other than Amazon such as marketplaces like eBay, and e-commerce platforms like Shopify.

The Amazon Partnered Carrier Program allows eligible sellers to get services from partenred carriers at deeply discounted rates, where the cost is billed to the sellers account as an inbound transportation charge.

Amazon Seller Central is Amazon's platform where sellers view and manage all their marketplace and fulfillment operations. The platform enables sellers to add product details, track orders and inventory, manage FBA vs FBM activities, create shipping plans, settle fees, commission, and charges with Amazon, and more.

Amazon’s Choice is a feature that algorithmically identifies the “best fit” product for a search query according to keywords. This is a badge awarded to listings based on product ratings, price, and availability to ship. It appears as a badge on search result and product detail pages.

AOV is a critical metric in e-commerce and retail analytics that represents the average amount of money each customer spends per transaction

The average cost of shipping an order to the customer.

An Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR) is a number that nearly every product in its catalog is awarded once the item has had at least one sale. It uses sales and historical sales data, and hence is an indicator of both how well a product has sold in the past and how well it has sold in the last few hours

Backhaul refers to the process of transporting goods on the return journey of a vehicle that has completed its primary freight task

Percentage of orders that cannot be fulfilled immediately due to stock unavailability.

A barcode is a square or rectangular image consisting of a series of machine-readable parallel black lines and white spaces representing numerals and characters. Barcodes are applied to products as a means of quick identification.

Batch picking is a picking strategy where inventory is retreived by grouping orders into "batches". These batches are made based on similar SKUs and their characteristics in each order. Adopting this strategy helps improve operational efficiency by reducing the number of repeated trips a picker has to make.

The Bill of Lading (BOL) is a legally-binding document which serves as a receipt given by the carrier of the shipment to the recipient. It provides details like the type, quantity, and destination of the goods being carried.

A Bill of Materials is a comprehensive list of the materials, components and parts required to manufacture or repair a product, showing names, quantities, descriptions and cost as well. Multilevel BOMs also show subassemblies and their components.

A billing schedule is used by 3PLs to define the schedule to bill a sale over a range of time or a contract term. For example, they may want to bill monthly for the sale of a one-year membership, or bill quarterly for a three-year service contract.

Blind receiving is when a warehouse receives a shipment of goods that arrives without any purchase order or invoice, meaning all the information relative to the receipt must be entered manually or via barcode scan.

Brand Registry is an Amazon program where brand owners register their private labels, giving them increased control of their products on the marketplace and protecting them from counterfeit or fraud. It gives them access to other features likes EBC (Enhanced Brand Content) and Product Display Ads as well.

The cargo is carried in unitized forms such as pallets, bags, drums, etc. It is a common method used to successfully transport cargo or goods which cannot fit in standard-size shipping containers or cargo bins.

CNF is a common term used in international trade to denote a shipping agreement where the seller is responsible for the cost of transporting goods

This includes all costs associated with holding inventory, such as warehousing costs, labor costs, insurance, taxes, and depreciation.

Case Packed is an Amazon FBA packing arrangement where the shipment boxes contain the same products with identical SKUs in the exact condition. A merchant can specify the number of cases/boxes and the number of units of each item in each box while preparing the Shipping Plan. Case Packed allows maximum of 150 units of a SKU in a box.

Case picking involves picking a product in full case or carton quantities from a variety of storage mediums: pallet positions, carton flow, and shelving.

A Commodity Code is a standardized numerical code used to classify goods for international trade

Consingee's are end recipients of an order. They are the party scheduled to receive goods from the consignor. Speaking of 3PLs, they are only considered as a middle party, The consignee would be the party serving as the final touch point of that item after it leaves the care of the 3PL provider.

The consignor is an independent owner who transfers goods to the consignee for sale on their behalf. The consignor keeps the title/ownership of the property until it is transferred to or sold to the final party.

Cross docking is a logistics procedure where products are unloaded from a truck or railroad car, sorted, and directly reloaded onto outbound trucks or rail cars to continue their journey; with marginal to no handling or storage time.

Cubage, also known as cubic volume, is a measure of the total volume occupied by an object, package, or shipment, expressed in cubic units

This is a measurement of how effectively the 3-dimensional space of a warehouse is used.

Cubing is the process of determining the dimensions and weight of items, boxes, and pallets for effective inventory placement and space utilization.

It refers to the total time taken from the moment an order is placed until the final product is delivered to the customer

DDP is a shipping agreement where the seller assumes all responsibilities and costs associated with transporting goods until they are received by the buyer

Delivery Confirmation is a message sent by the carrier confirming the due delivery of shipment in accordance with the terms of the transaction.

A crucial document in the supply chain and logistics industry, signifying an authorization to release cargo from a carrier to a designated party

The deviation in actual shipping time from the expected or promised shipping time. The shipping time refers to the interval elapsed between the instance when the shipment leaves the fulfillment center and when it reaches the intended destination.

Demurrage refers to the charges that are incurred when cargo or freight is not moved off a ship or out of a port within the allotted free time

Dispatch Confirmation is a message sent by the warehouse where the good in question is stored, confirming that the item has left the facility. The message may also containt the parcel tracking number.

Distributed Inventory Placement is a kind of Inventory Placement Service that requires a merchant to send its inventory to typically 3 Fulfillment Centers that is later rerouted to other fulfillment centers by Amazon itself.

A Dock Receipt is a document used in international shipping, issued by a carrier or its agent, acknowledging the receipt of cargo for shipment

Dock Scheduling is the use of optimization and scheduling tools to automate dock door and yard schedules. A calendar is maintained, showing all operating constraints, such as open/close time, commodities accepted through the dock door, and trailer types accepted.

Dock-to-stock time is the duration between the arrival of an inbound shipment at the warehouse dock and its placement in the appropriate storage location.

Drayage is a specialized logistics service within the shipping industry, focused on transporting goods over short distances

Drop shipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn't keep the products it sells in stock

European Article Number (EAN) is a standard describing a barcode symbology and numbering system used in global trade to identify a specific retail product type, in a specific packaging configuration, from a specific manufacturer.

Enhanced Brand Content is a feature offered by Amazon whereby sellers can add images with detailed product descriptions. It also helps use bullet points to present data more neatly.

It is a business practice involving buying products from one marketplace and reselling them in another at a higher price to profit

FBA Prep is the process of inspecting and preparing inventory to be shipped to the Amazon Warehouse. This involves inspecting inventory, bundling and packing inventory units, adding necessary labels, and preparing cartons/packages to be shipped out.

FEFO stands for First-Expired, First-Out, an inventory management technique primarily used for products with expiration dates

Finished Goods Inventory (FGI) refers to products that have completed the manufacturing process and are ready to be sold to customers

FIFO is an inventory management strategy where the goods that are first added to inventory are the first to be sold

FNSKU, or Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit is a unique barcode that is used by Amazon to store, identify, pack, and ship products sent by FBA merchants and sellers. Every product-supplier combination has a FNSKU code to it and is placed at the unit-level.

Flat Rate Shipping is a straightforward pricing method in logistics where a single fixed fee is charged for shipping a package

Flow Rack is a storage aid system that uses gravity rollers or wheels to facilitate the movement of inventory

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is an internationally recognized system for uniquely identifying products in the supply chain

GATT was a multilateral agreement aimed at promoting international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas

It refers to the concerted effort within the logistics and supply chain management sectors to minimize the environmental impact of their operations

Handling rates are charged upon receipt of goods into a warehouse facility, consisting of costs not related to product or shipping. It covers the cost of fulfillment-related charges, such as picking, put-away, warehouse storage cost, etc.

It refers to the practice of combining multiple shipments, often from different suppliers, into one consolidated load for transportation

Holding Cost, also known as carrying cost, refers to the total expenses associated with storing unsold goods

The International Standard Book Number is a 13-digit identity number assigned to individual books by standard book numbering agencies. This is used to identify the registrant, as well as the specific title, edition and format.

Inbound order accuracy measures the percentage of inbound orders that are received without any errors or discrepancies.

Inbound order cycle time is the duration from the placement of a purchase order with a supplier to the receipt of goods at the warehouse.

Individual Packed is an Amazon FBAM packing arrangement where a merchant can place different quantity of different SKUs in a box. The merchant must break down the box content while preparing the shipping plan and must specify the SKUs, number of units, and other parameters for every box.

It is a concept in manufacturing and production planning that assumes there is no limit to the capacity available for production

This refers to how accurately the physical inventory matches the inventory recorded in the warehouse management/inventory system.

This measures the amount of time inventory sits in a warehouse before being sold.

It is a critical aspect of inventory management, involving the strategic distribution or assignment of available stock to fulfill orders

This metric calculates the number of days that inventory will last at the current demand rate.

Inventory Placement is a service provided by Amazon where it receives inventory and reships it to other warehouses for optimal placement and distribution. Merchants can signup for the Inventory Placement program and can ship their inventory to a single Fulfillment Center that is then rerouted to other facilities.

This ratio shows how often inventory is sold and replaced over a given period.

This metric measures the speed at which inventory moves through a warehouse, from receipt to dispatch.

Kitting is the process of combining multiple SKUs into a single ‘kit’ for sale as one unit

LIFO, or Last-In, First-Out, is an inventory management method where the most recently produced or purchased items are sold first

Last Mile Delivery is the final step in the delivery process where goods are transported from a transportation hub to the final delivery destination

Less Than Truckload (LTL) is a shipping option offered by Amazon Carrier Partner Program where the products sent by merchants are palletized. Merchants are allowed to ship upto 12 pallets in one shipping plan. The LTL method doesn't require a complete trailer.

Lien rights refer to the legal authority of 3PLs where, if unpaid, they have the right to retain the goods transported until payment is completed. Lien can be exercised only for non-payment of the price and not for any other charges due against the customer.

Limits of liability refers to the maximum of liabilities a party may recover from the 3PL provider if negligence is the cause of loss/damage. This is integrated into the contract itself.

Percentage of order line items that can be completely fulfilled from available inventory.

Logistics Data Interchange (LDI) refers to the electronic transfer of logistics-related information between business partners

Multi-Country Fulfillment allows merchants/sellers to select certain countries where they wish to send their products and have Amazon warehouses fulfill the subsequent orders locally.

MSRP, or Manufacture's Suggested Retail Price is the price that is put on the product by the manufacturer. The price may be discounted by Amazon or the seller, and is shown next to the marketplace price.

Merge in Transit is a sophisticated logistics strategy where products from different origins are consolidated en route to the customer

Non-stock Inventory refers to items that are not regularly stocked but are ordered as needed

Omnichannel Fulfillment describes the way in which a warehouse accepts and fulfills orders through multiple channels - including (but not limited to) ERP, marketplaces, manual orders, etc.

Percentage of orders shipped on or before the promised date.

Percentage of orders that are canceled before they are shipped.

It is the process of strategic grouping of multiple orders, either from the same customer or to similar destinations, into one shipment.

Record high delivery costs, Ikea’s US expansion and Amazon moves to regional fulfillment model

CrossDock is evolving. Walmart's massive new fulfillment center, FedEx and Floship partner up, Amazon's fulfillment fee surge

Warehouse automation market heats up, Walmart layoffs, and Amazon closes facilities

Amazon is in a legal mess. FTC sues the e-commerce giant for anticompetitive practices.

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Increase in US cold storage demand, Shopify offers 'Buy With Prime', Increasing inventory costs and warehouse prices.

UPS strike, Prime Day 2023, Home Depot cost savings, and more

UPS And Teamsters, TikTok's E-Commerce Ambitions, Spread Of Amazon One

Flexport acquires Shopify Logistics, 3PLs lead warehouse leasing, DHL continues layoffs

Shopify's logistics ambitions, Walmart sunsets e-commerce stores, UPS' RFID rollout

Amazon layoffs, Shopify and Deliverr merge, and new Black Friday record.

Walmart’s Drone Delivery Service, Amazon surpassing UPS and FedEx, layoffs of DHL, and FedEx increase in revenue despite lesser parcel volume.

Tikok's warehousing ambitions, Amazon's failed attempt at another Prime Day sale, and more.

Warehouse demand decline, Walmart-Salesforce partnership, Amazon worker injuries

Quiet Platform's bets on taking on Amazon, Walmart's AR ambitions, supply chain tech growth led by D2C sales, and more.

Holiday season 2022 e-commerce slump, UPS' seasonal hiring plans, DHL and OnTrac's, and more.