Glossary
Retail Sales Associate Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential retail sales associate terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key retail sales associate vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in retail sales associate training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Add-on
- An extra item suggested at checkout.
- Average transaction value (ATV)
- Average amount spent per purchase.
- Conversion rate
- Shoppers who buy divided by shoppers who visit.
- Facing
- Pulling products forward on shelves.
- Key holder
- An associate trusted to open and close.
- Loyalty program
- Rewards for repeat customers.
- Markdown
- A price reduction.
- Omnichannel
- Selling across stores and online.
- Planogram
- A diagram showing where products go.
- POS
- Point of sale system.
- Recovery
- Straightening and restocking the floor.
- Shrink
- Inventory lost to theft, damage or error.
- SKU
- Stock keeping unit.
- Units per transaction (UPT)
- Average items per sale.
- Upsell
- Suggesting a higher-value item.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Retail Sales Associate practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Retail Sales Associate training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.