Luxury Lexicon 39 terms
Business terms
How houses organise their business, work with retail partners and measure performance.
A
B
- B2B
- Business-to-business: products, services or transactions aimed at other businesses.
- Back office
- Administrative and operational work that supports customer-facing activity, such as stock records, invoices and reporting.
- Business intelligence
- Turning business data into reports and analysis that support decisions.
C
- Change management
- Planning and supporting changes to how people work, including communication, training and adoption.
- Circular fashion
- An approach that aims to keep garments and materials in use through durable design, repair, reuse and recycling.
- Concession
- A branded selling area within another retailer’s premises, operated under an agreement with that retailer.
- Cross-functional
- Involving people from different functions, such as design, finance and retail.
- CSR
- Corporate social responsibility: how an organisation addresses its effects on people, society and the environment.
D
- Data governance
- The responsibilities and rules for managing data quality, access and use.
- Direct to consumer
- Selling products directly to the people who use them, rather than through a separate retailer.
E
- EMEA
- Europe, the Middle East and Africa: a regional grouping used in business; its exact boundaries can vary by employer.
- Ethical fashion
- An approach to clothing that considers how it is made and its effects on workers, communities and other living things.
F
- F&B
- F&B means food and beverage, the hospitality operations that prepare and serve food and drinks.
- Fashion week
- A set period of shows, presentations and appointments at which houses unveil collections to buyers, press and clients.
- Flagship
- A store given a prominent role in presenting a brand, often through its location, scale or product range.
- FMCG
- Fast-moving consumer goods: products sold frequently and usually used or replaced quickly.
- FP&A
- Financial planning and analysis: budgeting, forecasting and analysing financial results to support decisions.
G
- Go-to-market
- The plan for introducing a product or service to its intended customers, including channels, pricing and communication.
H
- Haute couture
- A controlled French designation for fashion houses meeting specific requirements for made-to-order clothing and its presentation.
K
- KPI
- Key performance indicator: a measure used to assess progress toward a specific business goal.
L
M
- Matrix organisation
- An organisation in which people work across more than one management or responsibility structure, such as a function and a region.
- Merchandising
- Planning which products to offer, in what quantities and at what price, and how to present them for sale.
P
- P&L
- Profit and loss: a financial view of revenue, costs and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
- Pre-fall / pre-spring
- Collections offered ahead of the main autumn/winter and spring/summer seasons, often to extend a brand’s seasonal range.
- Procurement
- Obtaining goods or services through supplier selection, purchasing and related controls.
R
- Ready-to-wear
- Ready-to-wear is clothing made in standard sizes and offered for sale as finished garments.
S
- Sell-in
- Sales from a brand or supplier to a retailer or distributor, before the product is sold to the final customer.
- Sell-out
- In commercial reporting, sales from a retailer to the final customer.
- Showroom
- A space where products are presented for sale: to trade buyers placing wholesale orders, or to clients in a retail store.
- SLA
- Service-level agreement: a documented agreement on the service to be provided and how its performance will be measured.
- SOP
- Standard operating procedure: documented steps for carrying out a recurring task consistently.
- Succession planning
- Preparing people to take on important roles when their current holders move or leave.
- Supply chain
- The connected activities that source materials, make products and move them to customers.
T
- Travel retail
- Sales to travellers in locations such as airports; duty-free is a related tax treatment that applies only where conditions are met.
W
- Wholesale
- Selling products to retailers or other businesses that will resell them.