Due to the many potential metrics an order-writer may utilize when customizing orders, the options can seem a bit overwhelming. Below is a sample order output and the columns returned can be described by the glossary listing below. Any of these columns can be hidden or ordered by utilizing the preferences options - to read more click User Ordering Preferences.
For customers who order for Lowe's, we have recently added a Lowe's WOS metric that you can use to manage your inventory levels when Lowe's gives specific directions for maintaining WOS levels. (Purple-highlighted column.)
Store# - The store number.
Market - The market/patch of the store.
SKU/Item - The item.
Description - The item description.
Category - The item category.
On Hand - Remaining units on hand for the item/store.
On Order - Shipment data based units on order.
EDI On Order - Lowe's EDI on order value from daily 852.
Order Units - Computer suggested order based on minimum order multiple.
Cost Total - Total cost dollars ordered for this item at this store.
Retail Total - Total retail dollars ordered for this item at this store.
Min. Order Qty. - Minimum order quantity multiple.
Max. Order Qty. - Optional. If set, no order can contain more than this many units (subject to optional category superpack rounding rules)
Max Packtype Order Qty. - Optional, if set in the packtype - no order can contain more than this many units, (subject to optional category superpack rounding rules)
Packs in Container - Number of minimum order multiples in a super pack (rack) for this pack type.
Cost - Current program item cost.
Status - Indicates whether item is primary or secondary in market.
Retail - Program regular retail price.
Mkt. Avg. This Yr. - Avg. number of units sold in current year across the market.
Mkt Avg. Last Yr. - Avg. number of units sold in prior year across the market.
8wk Avg. - Avg. number of units sold in preceding weeks.
4wk Avg. - Avg. number of units sold in preceding weeks.
2wk Avg. - Avg. number of units sold in preceding weeks.
Sold Last Week - Number of unis sold in the preceding full fiscal week.
Next 2wk. Avg. LY - Avg rate of sale in coming weeks based on prior year history.
Max. Wk. Sold - Highest number of units sold during the preceding 8 week period. Indicator of max potential.
Min. Wk. Sold - Lowest number of units sold during the preceding 8 week period.
Mkt. Volatility Units - How many units the store sales rate differs across all stores in the market/patch over the past 4 weeks. Good indicator of lumpy sales item.
Str. Volatility Units - How many units the sales rate differs at this store over the past 4 weeks.
Inv. Shortage - Indicates whether the computer encountered an availability shortage at the warehouse when ordering and may have reduced ordered amount as a result.
Recommended Order - The computer generated integer units recommended. This value is exact, not rounded by minimum order quantity multiple.
Blended WOS - (Store WOS + Market WOS) / 2; can be helpful when evaluating slow/fast stores vs cohorts.
Store Rank - Store sales volume based rank across all stores in the template, based on all items being ordered in the template.
WTD Sold - Number of units sold since the beginning of retailer fiscal week.
Units Sold Next 4 Wks. - Store specific total units sold next X weeks based on prior year history, if available.
Mkt. Avg. Store Sold Next 4 Weeks - Market/Patch store average units sold next X weeks based on prior year history.
Min. Up Inventory -
Blanket Qty -
Net Hardiness Str vs. Item - Difference between the item USDA hardiness value and the store's value - indicates potential for frost driven loss if store is higher than item.
Ad Event? - Number of days (up to 35) until promotion begins. If number is negative, promotion is active, values is number of days left until promotion ends.
Margin Erosion? - Indicates the amount of short term margin erosion vs the regular MC% in the past week.
Regular MC% - Regular margin contribution % of the item. Indicated desired margin at program inception.
Item Rank - The rank of this item at this store compared to all other stores evaluated in the template.
Sales Trend Slope - Slope of sales, positive indicates increasing sales, negative indicates slowing.
Regression Est. - Polynomial regression estimate of sales based on actual weekly sales units.
Sales History? - Whether or not sales history exists for this store/item. Useful when determining rate of sale from prior year data.
Weighted Avg. Sold - Calculated Avg. units sold based on weights chosen.
Store WOS - Calculated weeks of supply at this store based on sales weights chosen. (User-selected weekly sales rate X WOS target in order template.)
Deviation Safe WOS - Calculated weeks of supply at this store including potential for unit sales variances (helpful for volatile/non-steady selling items).
Market WOS - Total store inventory / Market POS Avg over X weeks (Need to define X weeks)
Store Attributes - Placeholder to display any user custom store attributes. Store attributes set in User Ordering Preferences.
Fiscal LY Unit Total - Units sold at the store during the entire previous fiscal year.
FYTD Units - Units sold at the store during the current fiscal year to date.
Effective Inventory - Calculated inventory including on hand, on order, and suggested units. Changes as order quantities are changed.
Effective WOS -User Preferences Effective Inventory parameter / calculated one-week sales rate. Changes as order quantities are changed.
Presence Qty - Presence/Presentation quantity set by user, if not zero. Used for ordering to non-zero minimum regardless of demand profile. Use for shelf space filling.
Prior Units - optionally populate this column with a prior batch order units of the chosen template.
WTD MC% - Avg. Week-to-date margin%. Compare to Regular MC% for promo margin erosion.
FYTD MC% - Avg. Fiscal Year-to-date margin%.
FLY MC% - Fiscal last year margin%.
FLY Unit Sell% - Fiscal last year unit sell thru %.
FLY Cost Sell% - Fiscal last year cost sell thru %.
FYTD Unit Sell% - Fiscal year-to-date unit sell thru %.
FYTD Cost Sell% - Fiscal year-to-date cost sell thru %.
Pending Un-Extracted Orders - Order units on finalized batches which haven't been extracted yet.
Rain Days CY - Number of forecasted rainy days next 7 days current year
Rain Days PY - Number of forecasted rainy days next 7 days last year.
Net Rain Days - Number of forecasted rainy days over/under the number of days in the next 7 days last year.
Lowes WOS - Current unit inventory / Last week's unit sales. This is at whatever level the report is built (store, market, category, region, etc).
Detailed Description of WOS Calculations
Lowe’s WOS - Current unit inventory / Last week’s unit sales (This is at whatever level the report is built - store, market, category, etc. Note this is also a very volatile metric, and is often misleading during the beginning and ending of each season as sales change.)
Store WOS is calculated using 2 factors:
The weekly sales rate you set in your User Preferences
The WOS target you set in each order template.
User Preference Weekly Sales Rate in units is the combination of these 2 parameters:
This creates a weekly sales rate for a single week (per store/item). This is then multiplied by the WOS setting you choose in your order template.
Market WOS is the value of the store inventory in units for all the stores in a market divided by the average POS for the market over X weeks (Ross getting X; need to know if this is adjustable or fixed.)
Blended WOS is the value of Store WOS + Market WOS / 2; (Rarely used except in special situations, which we should specify. Also, is the Store WOS the value of the inventory of all the stores in the market / the inventory of all these same stores?)
Effective WOS is the value of your User Preferences Effective Inventory setting / the calculated one weekly sales rate (see first box above).
In using the WOS metrics we recommend the following order of importance in evaluating your inventory:
Effective WOS
Market WOS
Store WOS
Blended WOS