Logistics Glossary
The most important terms from fulfillment, warehousing and transport — clear and jargon-free.
3
- 3PL
- Third-party logistics. An external provider that handles warehousing, picking and shipping for a merchant so they can focus on their core business.
A
- Subscription Box
- A recurring shipment with curated contents, automatically picked and shipped at fixed intervals.
- Advance Notice / Notification
- Advance notice of a delivery to the warehouse so that goods-in and staff can be scheduled.
B
- B2B Fulfillment
- Processing orders to business customers, often involving pallets, delivery notifications, time windows and special labeling requirements.
C
- Cross-Docking
- Goods are transferred directly from goods-in to goods-out within the warehouse without being put into storage, which saves time and warehousing costs.
D
- Dimensional Weight
- The volumetric weight of a parcel (length × width × height ÷ factor). Carriers charge the greater of actual and volumetric weight.
- Drayage
- Short-haul transport of a container, typically from the port or rail terminal to the warehouse.
F
- Fiscal Representative
- A tax representative that foreign merchants may need in Switzerland to handle VAT.
- FTL
- Full truck load, where an entire truck is used for a single shipment.
- Fulfillment
- The entire process after an order comes in: warehousing, picking, packing, shipping and returns management.
K
- Order Picking
- Gathering (picking) the ordered items from the warehouse for an order.
L
- LTL
- Less than truck load, where multiple shipments from different senders share one truck.
O
- Omnichannel
- Serving multiple sales channels (online shop, marketplace, store) from a single shared inventory.
- Onboarding
- The setup phase: system integration, master data, inventory handover and process definition before go-live.
P
- PBV
- An obligation to identify the sender — a mail-order (distance-selling) regulation relevant for cross-border shipping into Switzerland.
- Pick & Pack
- Picking the items and packing an order ready for shipping.
- Pick & Stick
- Picking with additional labeling or relabeling of items, e.g. for marketplaces.
R
- Return Rate
- The share of orders sent back. In fashion and beauty often 30 to 50 percent.
S
- SKU
- Stock keeping unit, the smallest uniquely identifiable product variant (e.g. T-shirt blue, size M).
- SLA
- Service level agreement, contractually guaranteed performance metrics such as processing time or shipping rate.
- Bulky Goods
- Oversized or heavy shipments that can't be sent as a standard parcel.
W
- Goods-In
- Receiving, checking and booking delivered goods into the warehouse system.
- WMS
- Warehouse management system, the software that controls inventory, storage locations and movements in the warehouse.
Z
- Two-Day Delivery
- A delivery promise within two business days, made possible by decentralized warehouses and cut-off management.
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