Reporting and Analytics Glossary

Browse this list to get a deeper understanding of terminology used in business reporting. Check out the use cases and examples to see how they work within day-to-day operations.

To learn about Lightspeed-specific terms unrelated to reporting, visit the Lightspeed Glossary.

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   XYZ  

A

Asset Item
    A product or service provided in exchange for payment.
Examples: Coffee, sandwich, or bracelet sold at the register.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Included in sales calculations and reports.
See Also: Liability Item

Average Items Per Sale
    The average quantity of items in a sale, including liability items.
Use Case: Understand the quantity of items sold in a typical sale.
Calculation: (Total quantity of items sold) / (number of sales).
Example: Sale #1 = 2 apples and 1 orange. Sale #2 = 5 pears. The average number of items per sale is 4.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Dashboard.

Average Sale Value
    The average dollar amount of a sale, including discounts but not liability sales or tax.
Use Case: Understand the dollar amount collected on a typical sale.
Calculation: (Total pre-tax sales amount of asset items – sales discounts) / (total sales count).
Example: Sale #1 = $10 before tax. Sale #2 = $8 before tax. The average sale value is $9.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Dashboard.

C

Costs
    The sum of the cost of items sold, including both asset and liability items but not raw goods. Also known as Cost of Goods Sold, COGS, and Net COGS.
Use Case: Used to determine how much profit a given sale will generate.
Calculation: (Total cost of sold items) – (Total cost of returned items)
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Dashboard.

Current Unit Cost
    The most recent amount a merchant paid to acquire one unit of an asset item or raw good. The exact value depends on the costing method in use, Weighted Average Cost or Last Cost.
Example: A merchant paid $1 to obtain an item for inventory.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Items List and Stock Items Export.

Current Unit Price
    The current amount a merchant charges for a single unit of an item.
Example: A merchant charges customers $5 for an item.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Items List and Stock Items Export.

D

Discount
    A deduction from the usual price of an item or transaction.
Use case: Use discounts to make pricing adjustments for special offers for customers.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Total discount usage is available on several sales reports, such as the Dashboard and Sales by Discount report.

E

Effective Unit Cost
    The average cost of an item based on its historical sales.
Example: An item is sold at a $10 cost. The item is sold again later at a $20 cost. The item’s effective unit cost for the date range of these sales is $15.
Calculation: (Total net cost / net quantity sold).

Effective Unit Price
    The average price of an item based on its historical sales.
Example: An item is sold for $20. The item is sold again later for $30. The item’s effective unit price for the date range of these sales is $25.
Calculation: (Gross sales / quantity sold).

G

Gratuity
    Any dollar amount above a sale’s total that a customer gives to show appreciation. Also known as a tip.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Total gratuity amount collected on sales paid for with credit or gift cards, available by date range or by cashier.

Gross Margin
    The percentage of net sales revenue that remains after accounting for costs.
Use Case: Understand the percentage of sales that are profit.
Calculation: (Net sales – costs) / (net sales).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Dashboard and Sales by Item.

Gross Profit
    The amount of net sales revenue that remains after accounting for costs.
Use Case: Understand the dollar amount a merchant gets to keep for a given selling period.
Calculation: (Net sales) – (costs).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Dashboard and Sales by Item.

Gross Sales
    Total pre-tax sales of asset items, not adjusted for returns and discounts.
Use Case: Use as a raw, top-line sales metric.
Calculation: (Price of asset item) * (quantity sold).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Dashboard.

L

Liability Item
    An item sold by the business that represents a financial obligation to customers, such as a gift card or security deposit. These items are not taxed.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Sales of liability items are not included in gross or net sales reports. However, tenders used to purchase liabilities are included in the total tendered amount. Upon redemption, the net liability amount is reduced and sales paid for with the liability are reported in gross and net sales reports.
Example: A merchant sells a $100 gift card for cash (Net Sales: $0, New Liabilities: $100, Cash Tenders: $100). Later, a customer redeems a $50 gift card (Net Sales: $50, Net Liabilities: $50, Cash Tenders: $100, Gift Card Tenders: $50).
See Also: Asset Item

N

Net
    The amount remaining after accounting for expenses and deductions, such as returns and discounts.

Net Sales
    Sales revenue after subtracting discounts and returns.
Use Case: Understand how much revenue was brought in during a given period.
Calculation: (Total pre-tax sales amount) – (total pre-tax returns amount) – (net discounts amount).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Dashboard.

Net Tendered
    Total amount tendered after subtracting returns.
Use Case: Understand the final amount received for each tender type.
Calculation: (Sales amount tendered) – (Returns amount tendered).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Sales by Tender report.

Non-Taxable Sales
    The total amount of sales on which tax was not charged.
Use Case: Understand item sales amounts not subject to tax, typically for tax reporting purposes.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Sales by Tax Rate report.

P

Pay Ins
    Cash added to the cash drawer during a shift.
Use Case: Add additional cash to the drawer to give change to customers.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Pay ins and Payouts report.

Payouts
    Cash removed from the cash drawer during a shift.
Use Case: Remove cash from the drawer for staff gratuity, inventory purchases, etc.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Pay ins and Payouts report.

Q

Quantity Returned
    A count of returned asset items.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Item report.

Quantity Sold
    A count of sold asset items.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Item report.

R

Returns Amount
    Total amount refunded for returns of asset items before discounts and tax.
Use Case: Analyze top-line returns.
Calculation: (Quantity returned * price).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Item report.

Returns Count
    Either the total number of return transactions or total number of items returned.
Use Case: Understand how many returns transactions were completed.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Item report.

S

Sales Amount
    Total amount received from sales of asset items before discounts and tax.
Use Case: Analyze top-line sales.
Calculation: (Quantity sold * price).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Item report.

Sales Count
    Either the total number of sale transactions or total number of items sold.
Use Case: Understand how many sale transactions were completed.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Item report.

Sales Tax
    An estimate of total tax collected during transactions.
Calculation: (Sum of taxes on sales) – (sum of taxes on returns).
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on several sales reports, such as the Sales by Tax Rate report.

T

Taxable Sales
    The total amount of sales on which tax was charged.
Use Case: Understand item sales amounts subject to tax, typically for tax reporting purposes.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Sales by Tax Rate report.

Total Tendered
    Total amount of tender provided for a transaction.
Calculation: (Sales amount tendered) – (returns amount tendered).
Example: A customer purchases a sandwich for $5, pays $0.44 tax, and leaves a $1 tip. The total tendered amount for this transaction is $6.44.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Dashboard and X/Z Reports.

Transaction Count
    Total number of sales and returns in a given period of time.
Use Case: Understand how many transactions are run to adjust staffing or business hours.
Lightspeed Retail Reporting: Available on the Dashboard.

U

Unit Cost
    The amount a merchant pays for a single unit of an item.
Example: A merchant purchases an item to add to inventory for $100.
See Also: Current Unit Cost, Effective Unit Cost

Unit Price
    The amount a customer pays for a single unit of an item.
Example: The price a customer pays for an item is $100.
See Also: Current Unit Price, Effective Unit Price