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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Merchandising & Stock

Shrinkage

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˈʃrɪŋkɪdʒ/nounAdvanced term

In sales & retail, shrinkage means: The difference between the stock a shop should have according to its records and what it actually has, caused by theft, damage, mistakes or fraud.

In Turkish: stok kaybı, kayıp-kaçak, fire

How it is used

A standard retail term, often shortened to shrink in US English. It is usually measured as a percentage of sales and found during stocktakes. Retailers reduce shrinkage with security tags, CCTV and better stock processes.

Example sentences

  1. Shrinkage in the cosmetics area was over 3 percent, so we moved the expensive items behind the counter.

  2. The stocktake showed shrinkage of 1.2 percent, mostly from damaged goods.

Common collocations

  • reduce shrinkage
  • shrinkage rate
  • stock shrinkage
  • retail shrink
  • stocktakeA full count of all the goods a shop or warehouse has, done to check that the real stock matches the records.
  • inventoryAll the goods a business has in stock and available to sell, or a detailed list of them.
  • stockroomA room at the back of a shop where extra goods are kept until they are needed on the sales floor.
  • store managerThe person in charge of a shop, responsible for its staff, sales results, stock, customer service and daily running.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Merchandising & Stock

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