Reference
Glossary
The words the trade uses, defined the way an operator would. Terms that have their own page link through.
C
- Consensus
- How many separate forecasters have called the same trend. Four of eight is a different signal from one of eight, whatever the volume of press.
- Curation gate
- The written test an item passes to enter a premium store: standard, reason to exist, margin, velocity, operations. Items leave the same way.
D
- Doors
- Stores carrying a product. 'Ten doors' is ten locations, not ten chains.
E
- Emerging / Scaling / Established
- Our distribution stages for a product: DTC-first or under about 200 doors; regional chains; national. A stage is reach, not quality.
F
- Facing
- One product-width on the shelf. Margin dollars per facing is how a buyer compares your item with its neighbours.
- Fad
- Our verdict for a trend with attention but no durable reason to be bought twice. Fads can still be worth content; they are rarely worth a line extension.
L
- Landed cost
- What the store pays to get the product to its back door: wholesale plus freight and fees. The margin target is applied to this, not to your list price.
- Lane (talk vs shelf)
- Whether a trend's search and social attention are running ahead of its forecaster and product support, or behind it.
M
- Margin vs markup
- Margin is profit as a share of retail; markup is profit as a share of cost. 48% margin equals 92% markup. Buyers speak margin.
N
- Niche
- Our verdict for a trend that is real for a defined customer and will stay that size. Worth stocking where that customer shops; not worth chasing elsewhere.
O
- Operator's take
- The editorial section on every trend page: formats to investigate, the proposition, the obstacle, what would change the verdict, the next practical test.
P
- Premium multiple
- A trend's median price per ounce divided by a conventional reference product. How much the trend is asking shoppers to pay for the idea.
- Private label
- The store's own brand. A strong category is where a premium store launches one, which is also your competition arriving.
R
- Real
- Our verdict for a trend with consensus, product on shelf and a reason to be bought again. Position against it.
S
- Shrub
- A drinking vinegar: fruit, sugar and vinegar, drunk diluted or as a mixer. The spine of the sour trend in beverages.
- Signal score
- 0 to 100 from forecaster consensus, recency, press volume, search interest, social velocity and products on shelf. It tracks attention, not commercial potential; the verdict is the judgment.
- Slotting
- A fee some retailers charge for shelf space on a new item. Most premium independents do not charge it; many chains do.
V
- Velocity
- Units sold per store per week. The only argument at a ninety-day review.
- Verdict
- Real, Niche or Fad: an editorial call with dated reasoning, never automatic. Old verdicts are kept so the scorecard can show the record.
Y
- Yoshoku
- Japanese takes on Western dishes (katsu sando, omurice, shokupan); on this site, the trend of Japanese-inflected comfort food reaching the US premium shelf.