Lowe’s Terms and Acronyms Cheat Sheet

Retailers use a wide variety of terms and acronyms that communicate essential information foundational to doing business with them. Keeping all of these straight and top-of-mind can be tricky.

This is a list of terms and acronyms commonly used in Lowe’s communication with suppliers, especially in shipping and compliance, organized by a few major categories:

• The Vendor Gateway Portal
• OTIF
• Packaging
• Distribution
• Fulfillment

Within each of these larger categories is a bulleted list of some common terms to know followed by their definitions. Within each section, they are categorized by level of importance and/or alphabetical order.

Vendor Gateway Portal

• Vendor Gateway: The Lowe’s supplier portal used for monitoring vendor performance, payments, and deductions.
• Vendor Compliance System: An application for viewing and disputing compliance fines.
• Vendor Inquiry: An application for viewing and disputing problem invoices, deductions, and returns.

OTIF

• Cargo Ready Date: Cargo Ready Date is the date the vendor tells Lowe’s their cargo will be ready to be booked. It is used for Import Freight.
• EDI 214 Date: This is the shipping event date from EDI 214 that indicates when the carrier has departed the pick-up location with the PO shipment or when the carrier has arrived at the shipping location. It is used for the Collect freight method On-Time measurement.
• Expected Arrival Date: The date the PO was scheduled to arrive. It is shown as the Original Arrival Date on the PO.
• Expected Ship Date: The original date the PO was scheduled to ship. It is shown as the Original Ship Date on the PO.
• Lag 6 Forecast: The item’s forecast 6 weeks prior to the current date. This can be pulled in VPP reporting.
• Lag 8 Forecast: The item’s forecast 8 weeks prior to the current date. This can be pulled in VPP reporting.
• Land Date: The Land Date is when the PO arrives at a location (only populated for DC locations; Stores do not have a Land Date). Used for Prepaid freight method On-Time measurement.
• Lead Time: The number of days between "PO Creation Date" and "Compliance Expected Ship Date."
• Performance Period: This is the calendar month that establishes the timeframe a vendor’s performance is evaluated within.
• Received Date: The received date is when the PO is processed (counted/unloaded). It is used for Prepaid freight method On-Time measurement.
• Review Window: The 2nd to the 16th of each month when a vendor can review non-compliant purchase orders in VCS and submit rebuttals. This window does not change even if the dates fall on weekends or holidays.
• Revised Scheduled Ship Date: This is the revised scheduled ship date when the RTS date in EDI 753 is updated by the vendor.
• RTS Date: Also known as the Ready-To-Ship (RTS) Date from EDI 753, this date is updated by the vendor to indicate when a PO is ready-to-ship. It is used for the Collect freight method On-Time measurement.
• SFVBU #: Ship from Vendor Number. Location in which your POs are shipping from.
• Vendor Compliance System (VCS): See the Vendor Gateway Portal.

Packaging

• 1XD Mini-Pallet: These are primarily used for promotional side-stacks.
• Bulk Storage: Bulk Storage is used for items greater than 7 cubic feet in volume and 70 pounds that can be handled using a squeeze clamp. Lowe’s prefers a stack height of 20 feet for optimal storage capacity utilization. The recommended stack height is to be identified by the vendor but must be a minimum of 16 feet without incurring damage to product or selling carton.
• Conveyable Case Ship: For qualifying products flowing through Stock or 1XD distribution paths. The Master Carton weight must be less than 70 lbs and have a height less than 24 inches. Some categories are automatically disqualified from being conveyable including:
  • Ceramic Bath
  • Ceramic Tile
  • Fasteners and Chain
  • Mirrors, Glass, Flooring, Paint
• I2of5 (also known as ITF-14): The barcode used for Pallets, Master Cartons, and Inner Packs (representing a quantity greater than 1 unit).
• Non-Conveyable Case Ship: The item does not meet dimensional criteria for conveying (see Conveyable Case Ship) and/or cannot be safely conveyed without incurring damage or damaging other items.

Distribution

• Customer Direct Flow: Special Order Sales (SOS) shipped parcel or LTL directly to the customer.
• 100% Cross-Dock (1XD): Product is not stored in a location in the facility. It is ordered based on demand at the store level. Upon arrival at the DC, it is received and then immediately moved via conveyor, forklift, or squeeze clamp truck to the outbound trailer dock door. It is then shipped from the DC to a Lowe’s store.
• Alternate Ship Unit (ASU): Product (single SKU) is grouped together for shipment in a Truckload (TL) volume to the Lowe’s RDC that supports those stores.

Other Common Terms and Acronyms

• Configurable SKUs: Products that require measurements to be customized, such as rugs, flooring, windows, floors, etc.
• HOVBU: Home Office Vendor Business Unit.
• Non-Configurable SKUs: Product which is right off the shelf ready to ship as ordered.
• VBU: Vendor Business Unit.
• Special Order Sales (or Stock) (SOS): Sale of a product that is not stocked in a Lowe’s store.

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