A product code does not identify a pharmacy, a delivery is not a till sale, and a facing is not a stock figure. This glossary gathers the terms you need to move the same information between field sales, sales administration and logistics, with the distinctions that prevent mistakes.
32
terms defined
the vocabulary of the channel
4
families
network, commercial, field, reporting
14
covered in depth
each one links to its article
Pharmacy
the ground covered
and the neighbouring channels
Each definition takes a few lines and stands on its own. When a term deserves more — because it is calculated, negotiated or configured — a link points to the article that covers it in detail.
What are you trying to measure?
- Deliveries into the networkSell-in
Sales into the retail network, for the scope you have chosen.
- Sales to consumersSell-out
Till sales, over a defined period and from a defined source.
- Presence in the networkNumeric distribution
The share of stocking outlets within the universe you have chosen.
These measures complement each other; a recent order does not, on its own, prove presence on the shelf.
Network and identifiers
- SIREN
- Nine-digit identifier of a French company or legal unit. Several establishments of the same company share the same SIREN.
- SIRET
- Fourteen-digit identifier of a French establishment, made up of the SIREN plus an internal branch number. Keep it distinct from the trading name and the address, which can both change.
- GTIN
- Global Trade Item Number: the GS1 identifier of a trade item. Different pack sizes can carry different GTINs, so the code has to be matched to the selling unit.
- Officinecommunity pharmacy
- A pharmacy licensed to dispense medicines to the public. Its team also runs prevention and patient-support services. For a brand, separating the operating company, the retail outlet and the individual contacts avoids confusion when a pharmacy is transferred or changes owner.
- Parapharmacienon-monopoly health and beauty retail
- A retail outlet for health and beauty products that fall outside the French pharmacy monopoly. It can be an area inside a pharmacy, a standalone shop, or a concession in a supermarket — the last case is often called ParaGMS.
- Groupementpharmacy buying group
- A network of pharmacies that can pool services and negotiate terms for its members. The scope of the agreement and any purchase or display commitments depend on the contract; membership does not prove that a product is actually on the shelf.
- Grossiste-répartiteurfull-line pharmaceutical wholesaler — OCP, CERP, Alliance
- A pharmaceutical distribution business that supplies pharmacies. A sale from the brand to the wholesaler does not, on its own, give the list of pharmacies delivered. What you can see depends on the flows and the data-sharing agreements in place.
- CIPCode Identifiant de Présentation — French medicine pack code
- The code identifying a presentation, that is one pack format, of a medicine. A CIP 13 has thirteen digits. It is used to match product references; this pack code identifies neither the customer company nor the delivery location.
- FINESSFrench directory of health and social care establishments
- The national directory of health, social and medico-social establishments and of the legal entities they belong to. Keep the legal-entity number separate from the number of the physical establishment; check the scope and the freshness of the data before matching on it.
- GLNGlobal Location Number
- A thirteen-digit GS1 identifier for an entity, a place or a function: company, warehouse, invoicing department or delivery address. It identifies a party or a location, whereas a GTIN identifies a trade item.
Commercial terms and conditions
- Asilageautomatic POS-display bundling
- Adding a support item or a complementary article to a shipment: a leaflet, a tester or a display unit. It can be triggered by a product reference, a first order, a threshold or a period. Automation is one way of executing the operation, not the operation itself. Read the full article
- Free goodsunités gratuites, UG
- Quantities given under a commercial agreement, for example two units on top of twelve purchased. In a 12 + 2 offer at the same unit price, two of the fourteen units delivered are free, which is worth about 14.3% of the price of the fourteen units.
- POS displayPLV — publicité sur le lieu de vente
- All the physical materials used to promote a product in a retail outlet: display unit, window sticker, floor-standing unit, counter tester. The POS display is the object; asilage is the commercial mechanism that sends it out with the order. Read the full article
- Purchase orderBDC — bon de commande
- The document that records an order: customer, products, quantities and agreed terms. A structured digital version makes checks and transmission easier; it has to keep the identifier and the approved version of the order. Read the full article
- EDIelectronic data interchange
- Electronic data interchange: the transmission of structured commercial documents between systems. Orders, dispatch advices and invoices can all be exchanged this way. Formats, code mappings and error handling have to be agreed between partners.
- Free-shipping thresholdfranco de port
- The threshold or condition above which carriage is not charged to the customer under the commercial agreement. State what the threshold is calculated on, which delivery area it covers and any exclusions.
- Sales administrationADV — administration des ventes
- The function that handles orders between the sale and the delivery: data entry, checking commercial terms, passing orders to invoicing and logistics, and resolving disputes. It is the team that absorbs the cost of fragmented order channels.
Field sales and visits
- Pharmaceutical sales repdélégué pharmaceutique
- The person responsible for growing a range commercially with pharmacies: presenting products, negotiating, taking orders and following up a territory. The products and the duties determine the training and compliance requirements, particularly around promotional information on medicines. Read the full article
- RSOresponsable secteur officine — pharmacy territory manager
- Another job title for the field sales rep in charge of a portfolio of pharmacies, used in particular when the role covers selling, in-store implementation and running the network.
- Territory planningsectorisation
- Splitting the country between reps, which decides who is responsible for which retail outlet. A strictly département-by-département split ignores real catchment areas; a finer split follows the field better but means managing overlaps. Read the full article
- Sales route planplan de tournée
- The ordered list of retail outlets to visit over a period, built from the territory split, the potential of each outlet, a target visit frequency and urgency signals. Not to be confused with route optimisation, which orders stops that have already been chosen. Read the full article
- Facing
- The number of faces of a product visible at the front of a shelf. Facing tells you about exposure; on its own it does not measure the depth of stock on the shelf, the units in the stockroom or the sales actually made. Read the full article
- Out of stock at the counterrupture comptoir
- A product being unavailable at the moment it is asked for. An empty shelf can hide stock in the stockroom; a complete absence of stock has to be distinguished from a shelf that has simply not been replenished.
Reporting and data
- Numeric distributionDN — distribution numérique
- The share of the retail outlets in a defined universe that stock a product, for the period and the presence criterion chosen. DN = stocking outlets ÷ outlets in the universe × 100. The universe can be national, limited to one channel, or limited to the territories you work. Read the full article
- Weighted distributionDV — distribution en valeur
- The share of category sales made by the retail outlets that stock the product, within the same universe. It weights presence by the commercial weight of the shops. It is not the market share of the product. Read the full article
- Active DNDN active
- The term used in some tools for the share of retail outlets that have ordered over a recent period. This internal purchasing-activity measure does not prove that the product is physically present: old stock or purchases through another channel escape the calculation. Read the full article
- Dormant pharmacypharmacie dormante
- A pharmacy with no recent purchase in the sources you track, over a period suited to the range. The signal has to be qualified: seasonality, remaining stock, a change of channel or a delisting can all explain it. Read the full article
- Sell-in
- Sales into the distribution channel, from the brand to the wholesaler or directly to the pharmacy. They are measured in units or in value. State the recipient, the period and the step being counted: order, delivery or invoice. Read the full article
- Sell-out
- Sales from the pharmacy to the end consumer, in units or in value. They are measured from till data, or estimated from complete stock and movement figures over a common period. A delivery from the wholesaler to the pharmacy is not a sale to a consumer. Read the full article
- Rate of salerotation
- How fast a product sells over a period, for example three units a week. Weeks of stock cover can be estimated as available stock ÷ average weekly sales, as long as demand and availability stay comparable.
- GERSFrench pharmaceutical market data provider
- Groupement pour l’Élaboration et la Réalisation de Statistiques, a producer of French pharmaceutical market data. The series, scopes, frequencies and access conditions vary between data products; read their documentation before comparing indicators.
- SFASales Force Automation
- Sales Force Automation: features that automate sales tasks, in particular visit preparation, visit reports, orders and objective tracking. SFA and CRM scopes overlap and can be brought together in a single product. Read the full article
Discover Salesia
See this information inside your own order workflow
Catalogue, commercial terms, orders and visits: see how these pieces of information connect in Salesia.
Book a demo →Book a demonstration
Three checks before matching two files
Start with what the code identifies: a company, an establishment, a logistics location or a product. Keep codes as text so you do not lose a leading zero. A column called “CIP” at a partner has to be documented: do not assume its role from the name alone.
Then check the unit and the date: pack or case, excl. VAT or incl. VAT, order or invoice, complete or partial period. Finally, keep the source and the date of the match. A file with no match should stay in a to-qualify state rather than be merged on a name that merely looks similar.
Useful references
For the codes, see the French Health Ministry’s definition of the CIP (French), GS1’s explanation of the difference between GLN and GTIN (French) and the FINESS directory (French). Market data should be read alongside the documentation of whoever produces it, in particular the GERS (French).
Keep reading
Guide4 min
POS displays in pharmacies: definition, materials and setting them up
Counter display, tester, easel: what a POS display covers in a pharmacy, how to send it out with an order and check that it is installed.
By Anatole Briant
Guide6 min
Pharmacy merchandising: prepare, install and measure
Dimensions, facings, POS displays and training: prepare a shelf placement with the pharmacy, then check that it was installed and what it produced.
By Anatole Briant
Guide7 min
Pharmaceutical sales rep: duties, training and pay
The daily work in pharmacies, the routes into the job, the requirements that depend on the range, and the questions to ask about a job offer.
By Anatole Briant
Anatole Briant
CEO of Salesia
Anatole Briant is CEO of Salesia. He is your contact for demonstrations, pricing and partnerships.