Plain answers, plainly stated.

The terms

Lead-to-load

The proportion of marketing enquiries that become a booked shipment. The metric that matters in freight marketing, and the one most agencies do not instrument — cost per lead tells a forwarder almost nothing on its own.

Quote-to-shipment conversion

The share of quotations issued that convert to a moved shipment. A falling ratio usually means the desk is quoting work it cannot win, which is a targeting problem rather than a sales problem.

Survey-to-quote

In relocation, the proportion of completed surveys that result in a quotation. Together with lead-to-move it governs the economics of a moving business far more directly than enquiry volume.

First-party data

Customer information a business collects directly and owns outright, rather than renting audience access from a platform. The asset Kaelo brands compound.

Landed cost

The true cost of goods once they reach the buyer's warehouse: ex-factory price plus freight, insurance, duty, VAT and clearance. The number a price list has to survive — and the first thing we work out before an order is committed.

Greige

Woven fabric as it leaves the loom, before dyeing or finishing. Its quality decides most of what can go right or wrong downstream, which is why a mill's greige store tells a buyer more than its showroom.

Letter of credit

A bank instrument that pays the seller when the presented documents match its terms exactly. In trade, the documents are the transaction — a letter of credit drafted around the wrong term costs real money at the port.

Incoterms

The standard trade terms — FOB, CIF, DDP and the rest — that fix where cost and risk pass between buyer and seller. A surprising share of trade disputes are simply an Incoterm chosen carelessly at the quotation stage.

Pre-shipment inspection

Checking goods against the agreed tolerances before the vessel sails, as a condition of payment. Recourse exists while the goods are still at origin; after they arrive, a claim is a negotiation.

Cash on delivery (COD)

In Gulf e-commerce, orders paid at the door. Until the courier is paid, a COD order is an option the customer holds, not revenue — a distinction that reshapes how stock, dispatch and marketing are planned.

Return to origin (RTO)

A cash-on-delivery parcel refused at the door and shipped back to the seller. The quiet cost line — outbound freight, return freight, repackaging, a missed season — that decides many direct-to-consumer economics.

Retention channel

A storefront, list or messaging channel whose job is repeat purchase from customers already won, rather than new acquisition. Where a brand's own site usually earns its keep once retail and marketplaces carry discovery.