This is the trade-spend and margin vocabulary as we've understood it from our conversations — every term you've used, defined in plain language, with the moment you said it. The point is to check we've got your world right before we build on it.
| Term | What it means | In your words |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Trading terms | The full set of standing discounts/allowances a supplier grants a retailer to be stocked (settlement, warehouse allowance, rebates, etc.) — the "cost of doing business" before any promotion. | "We will review the accrued trading terms per customer per selected category… then reconcile based on what they actually claimed." |
| 2. Settlement discount / early settlement discount | A discount (Goran's example ~2.5%) the retailer takes for paying the invoice early / within terms. | "analysis of 2.5% average early settlement discount… whether the 2.5% early payment is received in time." |
| 3. Payment terms / credit terms | The agreed days to pay (Goran's example 14 days). | "Normally our payment time is 14. I'm going to check if they actually paid us on the 14 or the 21." |
| 4. Warehouse allowance (a.k.a. distribution allowance / volume rebate) | A standing rebate (Goran's example ~10%) paid to the retailer for warehousing/distributing the product. Goran: the headline "10%" splits into 4 buckets — warehousing, growth incentive, marketing, ullage. | "warehouse allowance is 10%… that 10% normally has 4 buckets: warehousing, a growth incentive, marketing, and ullage." |
| 5. Volume rebate | A rebate tied to hitting volume targets; Goran uses it interchangeably with the warehouse allowance headline. | "the volume rebate, the 10%, that is called warehouse allowance." |
| 6. Ullage | Allowance for damaged/spoiled/short stock (loss in transit or on shelf). One of the 4 warehouse-allowance buckets. | "it's got warehousing, a growth incentive, marketing, and ullage." |
| 7. Off-invoice (logistics off-invoice) | A discount deducted directly on the invoice (vs. claimed back later). "Logistics off-invoice" = the freight/logistics portion taken off-invoice. | Listed in Goran's own 8-bucket model: "logistics off invoice, volume rebate, national rebate…" |
| 8. National rebate | A rebate applied at national-account level across the whole relationship (vs. per-promo). | "there's warehouse discounts, logistics off invoice, volume rebate, national rebate…" |
| 9. Wastage / wastage settlement discount | Allowance for product wastage, settled as a discount. | "wastage settlement discount, property improvement fund, margin enhancement." |
| 10. Property improvement fund | A contribution the supplier pays toward the retailer's store/property improvements. | "property improvement fund, margin enhancement." |
| 11. Growth incentive | A rebate paid for delivering growth (one of the 4 warehouse-allowance buckets). | "a growth incentive… " |
| 12. The "8 buckets" | Goran's point that trading terms decompose into up to 8 allocation buckets (warehouse discounts, logistics off-invoice, volume rebate, national rebate, wastage settlement, property improvement fund, margin enhancement — plus warehousing). "Some suppliers have 4, others the full 8." | "there's 8 buckets under trading terms that we will add on… some suppliers have 4, others the full 8." |
| Term | What it means | In your words |
|---|---|---|
| 13. Promotional efficiency analysis | Assessing whether a promotion made money net of all the trade spend poured into it — not just whether volume went up. | "promotional efficiency analysis based on one key agreed promotional bundle over a 52-week sales cycle." |
| 14. Promotional bundle | A product/category group run as one promotional unit (his examples: John West tuna; "Mars, Tic Tacs, chips"). The client has ~16–35 bundles; pilot does one. | "we'll just do one bundle, prove it, clean data." |
| 15. Promotional mechanic | The type of promotion — half price, 25% off, a shallow, a multibuy, etc. | "across base, half price, 25%, and shallows." |
| 16. Depth (of promotion) | How deep the discount goes (e.g. 50% vs 25% off). | "the optimum mechanic, depth and frequency on elasticity." |
| 17. Frequency (of promotion) | How often a product is promoted over the year (Goran: Mars in Woolworths runs half-price ~26×/yr, Coles ~27×, Metcash ~16×). | "Mars in Woolworths will do half price 26 times, Coles 27, Metcash 16." |
| 18. Base (price) / base units | The normal, non-promoted shelf price and the volume that sells at it. | "base, half price, 25%, and shallows" / "all the base units, the projections." |
| 19. Shallow (shallows) | A shallow promotion — a small discount off RRP (as opposed to a deep half-price). | "across base, half price, 25%, and shallows." |
| 20. Half price | A 50%-off promotion — the deepest common grocery mechanic. | "do 15 at 25% off, not 10 promotions at half price." |
| 21. RRP (recommended retail price) | The supplier's recommended shelf price before any promotion. | "review recommended retail price… the promotional price point." |
| 22. Price point | The actual shelf price a product is sold at during a promotion (e.g. "99 cents," "$2"). | "4 bean mix at 99 cents" / "Coke for $2… Woolworths at $3." |
| 23. Scan / scan data / scan sales | Point-of-sale data — units actually scanned through the till. Coles/Woolworths sell this to suppliers (via Quantium). | "you get scan sales… they've got all access to who's actually bought it through Quantium" . |
| 24. Scan-back / scan rebate | A rebate paid per unit scanned during a promo (retailer claims back the promotional discount based on scan volume). | Goran: "they do it on redemption because it's on scan." |
| 25. Redemption | Units on which a promo discount was actually claimed/scanned (vs. shipped). | "they do it on redemption because it's on scan." |
| 26. Case deal / deal (promotional investment) | A per-case promotional discount/investment offered to move volume. | "a financial case deal promotional investment perspective." |
| 27. Co-op (co-operative spend) | Money the supplier co-funds with the retailer for in-store activity (catalogue, display, advertising). | "we can do co-op" |
| 28. Catalogue spend | Payment to feature a product in the retailer's catalogue/leaflet. | "A&P, digital and catalogue spend reconciled to sell-through." |
| 29. Gondola end | A premium in-store display location at the end of an aisle, paid for by the supplier. | |
| 30. Promo group / promotional group | Goran's near-synonym for a promotional bundle — the grouping of products promoted together. | "we're going to do one promotional group and overlay it with your current system." |
| Term | What it means | In your words |
|---|---|---|
| 31. Gross sales (GES) | Total sales at list/gross price before any discounts or trade spend. | "GES? Gross sales. That's gross sales, net sales…" . |
| 32. Net sales | Sales after all trade spend/discounts are deducted from gross. | "gross sales, net sales, GP…" |
| 33. Gross-to-net (GTN) | The full "waterfall" of deductions from gross sales down to net sales — every discount, rebate and allowance. Goran quotes it running to ~200% (trade spend can exceed net). | "let's do the gross to net of 200%" / "your gross-to-net revenue percentage goes from 200 to 180." |
| 34. GP (gross profit) | Sales minus cost of goods — the basic profit before overheads. Transcript renders "GP wine" = GP line. | "GP wine, gross to net, contribution margin per wine" (= "GP line… per line" ). |
| 35. GP1 | A first-level gross-profit measure — gross profit after direct/variable trade costs but before deeper allocations. (Exact definition varies by company's chart of accounts.) | "GP1, incremental, incremental sales, margin enhancement…" |
| 36. Contribution margin | Sales minus all variable costs (incl. variable trade spend) — what each unit/promo "contributes" to fixed costs and profit. | "gross to net, contribution margin per line." |
| 37. Margin enhancement | Actions/allowances that lift margin (a specific trade-terms bucket and a claimable line). Appears in both the 8-bucket trading-terms list and the promo-claim options. | "we can do margin enhancement… what the dollars was, what the trade spend was." |
| 38. Incremental sales / incremental | The extra volume/revenue a promotion generated above the base — i.e. sales that wouldn't have happened anyway. | "GP1, incremental, incremental sales." |
| 39. Sell-through / sell-out | Units that actually sold to shoppers (out the front door), vs. sell-in (shipped to the retailer). | "A&P, digital and catalogue spend reconciled to sell-through" / "sell-out, promotions and trading terms mapped into one gross-to-net model." |
| 40. COGS (cost of goods sold) | The direct cost of producing/buying the goods sold. | "your COGS on average, if you're running 25, we notice you're sitting at 32." |
| 41. P&L (profit & loss) | The full profit-and-loss statement. Goran's endgame is "the full P&L" modelled and overlaid. | "once we have that full P&L, then we can overlay." |
| Term | What it means | In your words |
|---|---|---|
| 42. Price elasticity / elasticity | How much volume moves when price moves (e.g. drop price 50%, volume doubles). | "the volume doubles… that's just elasticity" / "they don't understand the elasticity model of supply and demand." |
| 43. Price-increase modelling | Modelling the net P&L effect of a list-price rise, given the volume you'll lose to elasticity, before committing. | "we'll put the price up 10%, volume's going to drop by 6%, what's my net impact?… we literally did price increase modelling with John West." |
| 44. List price | The undiscounted price the supplier sets before trade spend. | "model a list-price increase… against volume on elasticity." |
| 45. Price scenario / scenario modelling | Running "what if" price/volume combinations to pick the best outcome. | slide title: "Price-increase & scenario modelling." |
| 46. Cost-to-serve | The full cost of serving a particular customer/channel (logistics, terms, admin) — beyond just COGS. | "model a list-price increase and cost-to-serve against volume." |
| 47. Customer & channel margin | Gross-to-net and contribution margin computed per customer and per channel (grocery vs pharmacy vs foodservice). | "gross-to-net and contribution margin per customer." |
| 48. A&P (advertising & promotion) | The supplier's advertising and promotion budget line (above-the-line marketing spend). | "A&P, digital and catalogue spend reconciled to sell-through." Goran: "we've got to do marketing." |
| 49. Above the line / below the line | Above-the-line = mass advertising (TV, digital); below-the-line = targeted trade/in-store spend (promos, co-op). | "some people say it's above the line, below the line." |
| 50. Trade spend / trade investment | The total money a supplier pours into the retail channel (terms + promos + marketing). Goran deliberately prefers "trade investment" — "spend has a connotation you just spend." | "I don't like trade spend. Spend has a connotation you just spend. So trade investment — it's got a concept." |
| Term | What it means | In your words |
|---|---|---|
| 51. Reconciliation / reconcile | Matching two sets of numbers (what you accrued/paid vs. what was actually claimed) and finding the gap. | "He's got the data, it's the reconciliation process." |
| 52. Variance (overs and unders) | The difference between agreed and actual (over-claimed = "overs"; under-claimed = "unders"). | "review the variance… to look at overs and unders from a variance perspective." |
| 53. Accrual / accruals (over/under-accrual) | Money the supplier sets aside in advance to cover expected trade-spend claims. Over-accruing ties up cash; under-accruing blows the budget when claims land. | "what the company had accrued… or you guys are accruing too much." |
| 54. Claim / claimed | What the retailer actually bills back to the supplier for terms/promos. | "reconcile what the company had accrued versus what the customer had claimed." |
| 55. Remittance / remit | The retailer's payment advice document showing what they paid and what they deducted (e.g. the Woolworths remittance the accounts team downloads). | "we get the remit from Woolworths, which their accounts department downloads from the Woolies web." |
| 56. Claw back / clawback | The retailer reclaiming discount already given if volume/targets aren't hit (or the supplier reclaiming overpaid spend). | "then they have to claw back… if they've given too much discount" . |
| 57. Deduction | An amount the retailer takes off the invoice/payment as a claim. | Implicit in claim/remit reconciliation; standard term. |
| 58. Journal | The accounting journal entry the trade-spend figures ultimately post into. | "that all spits out there, and then that links into the journal." |
| 59. Cash transfer / remittance reconciliation | Matching the actual cash that moved (from the supplier's accounting system, Xero/MYOB) against the retailer's remittance. | "their finance guy… send me what the cash transfer was out of Xero or MYOB… put one column of actual and the other of claimed." |
| 60. Data room | A secure, access-controlled environment where the client's data is shared for the engagement. | "we'll have a data room, we come in, we do a workshop." |
| 61. Data integrity / clean data | Whether the data is complete, consistent and trustworthy enough to model. | "data integrity. What's in it?… clean data first." |
| 62. One source of truth | A single, unbiased dataset all departments agree on (vs. each having their own spreadsheet). | "one source of truth… the data and insight." |
| Term | What it means | In your words |
|---|---|---|
| 63. T1 / Tier-1 customers | The top-tier retail customers with the cleanest, most accessible data — Coles, Woolworths, Metcash, Chemist Warehouse, Superior, PFD. | "we will utilise T1 customers, being Coles, Woolworths, Chemist Warehouse, Superior, PFD, etc… where the data is clean." |
| 64. Category | The retailer's product grouping (confectionery, canned fish, water, etc.); trade is run "in categories." | "they run everything in categories… Mars stickers, Mars Tic Tacs, chips." |
| 65. Range / ranging / range review | Whether and how a product is stocked ("ranged") by a retailer; a range review decides what stays or is delisted ("deranged"). | Implicit: "if you don't do it, I'm going to delete that [line]." |
| 66. SKU | Stock-keeping unit — a single distinct product line. | "a true number… by week, by SKU. They can't do any of that" . |
| 67. National Account Manager (NAM) / Business Manager | The salespeople who negotiate directly with a retailer's buyers (the "25-year-old managing a $300M business"). | "National Account Managers and Business Managers… a junior 25-year-old managing a $300 million business with Woolworths." |
| 68. Trade marketing guidelines | The rules/parameters that tell an account manager how to invest trade money by customer and channel. | "you're giving him trade marketing guidelines. By customer, by channel." |
| 69. Plan on a page | A single-page, actionable set of recommendations — the pilot's headline deliverable. | "we'll give you a plan on a page recommendation per trading terms and promotional categories." |
| 70. Sell-in | Units shipped to the retailer (vs. sell-through/sell-out to shoppers). |
| Term | What it means | |
|---|---|---|
| 71. Quantium | Sydney data-analytics/AI firm, 75% owned by Woolworths (stake lifted 47% → 75% for $223M in 2021; remaining 25% founders/staff; 75% current per 2024-25 reporting); supplies the scan-data analytics Coles/Woolworths sell to suppliers (via "wiq" / "Q-Retail"). | |
| 72. Symbion | National pharmacy/healthcare wholesaler, owned by EBOS Group (~4,000 pharmacy customers). | |
| 73. Metcash / IGA | Metcash = wholesaler behind the IGA independent-supermarket banner; host of the expo. | |
| 74. Chemist Warehouse | Dominant pharmacy retailer; merged with Sigma Healthcare Feb 2025 into a ~$32B ASX group. | |
| 75. Xero / MYOB | The accounting systems an FMCG supplier runs (source of the "cash transfer" side of reconciliation). | |
| 76. Superior / PFD | Superior Food Group / PFD Food Services — national foodservice distributors, T1 targets. |