Cross-dock

Definition

Receiving goods and shipping them out without ever putting them away into stock.

Why It Matters

Cross-docking is how a distributor serves an order it does not want to hold inventory for, and the share of revenue that moves this way is a useful read on what the warehouse is really for. A house that cross-docks heavily is closer to a broker than to a stockist, which lowers the working capital but also lowers the barrier a rival has to clear. Ask what share of lines were cross-docked last year and what margin they carried against the stocked lines.