eCOMMERCE GLOSSARY

Abandonment

In e-commerce, the term means that a visitor has left the web page without taking the desired action.

A/B Testing

A commonly used process which allows two versions of a web page to be compared so that you can determine which on...

Accessibility

approach in site design for use in different browsers and with different settings. Accessibility also means provi...

Acquisition

a process in which one company buys most or all of another company's shares in order to gain control over it.

Affiliate

An individual or company that promotes the products or services of another individual or company for a commission...

Affiliate Marketing

This is a marketing agreement in which a business pays a commission to one or more affiliates for each conversion...

Anchor

this is a word or several meaningfully related words which forward the person who clicked on them to another page...

Application Programming Interface (API)

a set of protocols, specifications or instructions which allows two software applications to interact and exchang...

Attribution Model in Google Analytics

A rule or set of rules that determines which specific points in a user path lead to conversions and sales.

Assisted Conversions

This is an indicator which is located in the Google Analytics system. It serves to summarize and evaluate the mar...

Authorization

This is the process of empowering someone to give orders, make decisions, and take action.

Average Order Value

this is the average value of the amount that a customer spends when visiting an online store and placing an order...

Average time on site

The average time on the site is mostly seen in the web analytics report, which refers to the time a visitor has s...

B2B

In e-commerce, B2B is referred to as the exchange of products and services between two businesses. This is a situ...

B2C

Unlike B2B, Business to Consumer (B2C) refers to a business or transaction which takes place directly between a c...

Backlink

also called "inbound link", this is a type of link between one website and another. Backlinks are considered an i...

Banner

an online advertisement in the form of a graphic image of a certain size on the Internet, similar to an advertisi...

Blog

Bolg is essential for any e-commerce business. It's just an online diary with content relevant to your market. Bl...

Booking

a term referring to the process of booking/reserving a place, overnight or room through a travel, transport or ot...

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is expressed as a percentage and refers to the percentage of visitors who leave the website witho...

Bottom of the Funnel

The bottom of the funnel is referred to as the transaction phase or purchase stage in the online purchase. At thi...

Brand equity

the assets or liabilities of the brand associated with its name and symbol, which add or reduce the value of the ...

Branding

a marketing practice involving the creation of a name, symbol, design, message and communication that are key to ...

Brick-and-click Store

With the transition from traditional retail, this will be your new identity. This is any business with at least o...

Browser

a type of application software used to search for information on the Internet.

Bundling

This is a marketing strategy in which several similar products or services are combined together and sold in one ...

Business architecture

a comprehensive concept of how a business works in terms of goals, strategy and business environment in which it ...

Business data

information about people, places, topics, business rules and events which is used to manage the business. This is...

Business model

a generalized concept of how a company will generate revenue by identifying its products, value-added services, r...

Buy-to-Detail Rate

This is an indicator which allows you to determine purchases by the number of views on the product details page. ...

Buyer Persona

A buyer's character is a semi-fictional representation of your prospective customer based on market research and ...

CAC

CAC is an important business indicator which relates to the costs associated with acquiring and persuading potent...

Cache

Temporary data that your computer stores to help websites load faster and provide a better user experience.

Cart Abandonment Rate

This refers to the ratio of the number of shopping carts in total to the number of completed transactions. Basica...

Catalogue

catalogues provide a structured list of registered websites in different categories.

Chargebacks

Their purpose is to protect cardholders from fraud. A chargeback is a refund. When does this happen? When custome...

Checkout

An online payment process, usually consisting of several web pages requiring personal user data, payment and deli...

Churn Rate

This is the percentage of customers or subscribers who disconnect from the company or services over a given perio...

Click-Through Rate

A term that refers to the ratio of how often people who see your business ad end up clicking on it. Many factors ...

CLV (Customer Lifetime Value)

This indicator is an estimate of the total value (Total Net Profit) that an e-commerce company would make from a ...

CMS (Content Management System)

a back-end interface which makes editing content more convenient for the user, e.g. WordPress.

Cohort Analysis

This is an analysis of customer behavior grouped by different attributes. It includes a study of how the specific...

Content Curation

the process of finding and sharing quality, relevant content for your brand's online followers. By curating conte...

Content Marketing

a type of marketing in which brands plan, create, promote and analyze content to achieve strategic goals. Brands ...

Conversion

The moment an anonymous website visitor converts to a customer upon completion of a purchase

Conversion Funnel

This term is used in e-commerce to describe the series of events which occur during a customer's "journey" when b...

Conversion Path

This is a step-by-step approach which involves converting an anonymous website visitor to a client. The typical c...

Conversion Rate

The percentage of visitors to a page who convert to customers.

Conversion Rate Optimization

A marketing tool to drive conversions by improving the layout, content, and design of your e-commerce website, la...

Content Optimization System (COS)

This is a system designed to help you fully manage your website and other components of digital marketing. It giv...

Cost Per Action (CPA)

a charging principle used in online advertising, according to which the advertiser pays a certain price for the d...

Cost Per Click (CPC)

a term associated with online advertising. It indicates a price that the advertiser pays only per click, regardle...

Cost per Install (CPI)

a new metric used mainly for social networks related to the cost of installing an application

Cost Per Mile (CPM)

A paid advertising option in which companies pay a price for every 1000 impressions which the ad receives. The te...

Cost Per Sale (CPS)

a term denoting the price needed to achieve a sale on the site

Cost Per Unique Visitor (CPU)

cost-per-click broken down by unique visitor metric

Cookies

A cookie is a small amount of data generated by a website. This information is stored by the customer on their ow...

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

The process of adjusting the design, the layout and the text of your site to obtain a measured and consistent inc...

Cross-Selling

This is the practice of selling additional services or products to customers who have already made a purchase. It...

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a practice of gathering information coming from a poorly defined external group of people to ach...

CRM

CRM is a practice which helps the organization manage and analyze customers' interaction throughout its life cycl...

CTA

The title or phrase on your page which encourages the visitor to take action and click the buy button. CTAs have ...

CTR

The clickthrough rate is a ratio which shows the number of clicks on a particular link or ad to the total number ...

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

an important business metric which relates to the costs associated with attracting and persuading potential custo...

Customer journey

description of modern multi-channel customer behavior - consumers use different media to choose suppliers, make p...

Customer Retention

a term which refers to the strategies and tactics which companies and organizations apply to attract customers ov...

Database

a large collection of specific data, organized to quickly search and retrieve the necessary information according...

Data management

the practice of collecting, storing and using data securely, efficiently and cost-effectively within an organizat...

Digital Commerce

E-commerce system, nowadays, includes a comprehensive infrastructure with analysis from search engines, social pl...

Digital Wallet

a service which allows customers to pay online through a payment provider without entering their credit card info...

Discount Code

In e-commerce, a discount code is also called a coupon or promo code. These codes consist of letters and numbers ...

Discount Rate

a percentage rate which is charged by banks to process the merchant's transactions. This fee is a small percentag...

Display advertising

paid advertising placements with graphic or multimedia advertising elements within a web page in order to achieve...

Distributor

a commercial intermediary that deals with the distribution of products from a number of manufacturers and sells t...

Dropshipping

A type of e-commerce arrangement in which the manufacturer or distributor sends directly to your customers, often...

Domain Name

The web address of your online store, such as www.myshop.com.

Ebook

a digital version of a printed book WHICH can be read on a computer or on special e-reading devices.

Ecommerce/E-commerce

a fast-growing industry of business transactions conducted over the Internet with the potential to include other ...

Editorial Calendar

This is a way to define and control the publication of content - to keep track of what to write and when to write...

Email

Email stands for "electronic mail" and it is a method of exchanging digital messages with a specific person or gr...

Email marketing

offering products and promoting business services to customers through the use of email. These email lists usuall...

Emoji

A small icon used to represent an emotion, symbol, or object. Emoji often appear in communication applications, s...

Encryption

the encoding of information in a form that cannot be interpreted. Decryption is used to make information readable

Engagement

getting in touch and interacting with the customers of your business through appropriate marketing channels and m...

Engagement Rate

The engagement rate is an indicator which measures how much a visitor is committed to a given content or advertis...

Event-Triggered Email

An automated message which is sent to the subscriber list when a certain event occurs. The events are determined ...

Evergreen Content

a type of content that is practically useful, sustainable and does not go out of fashion. It is a type of SEO con...

Evolutionary Algorithms

A type of algorithm used to generate intelligent e-commerce systems. Evolutionary algorithms test variables, find...

Financial Technology (Fintech)

a term used to describe innovations in the field of financial technology, which usually refers to companies and t...

Fulfilment

A third party service which takes care of warehousing, inventory management and delivery. They are usually charge...

Generation

providing sales, revenue or leads to a business

Google

The leading search engine provider. Google uses an algorithm which collects search results for keywords that user...

Google Analytics

The standard for analysis in online commerce. Google Analytics is a free tool that you can link to your website, ...

Google Webmaster Tools

the main channel website owners use for communicating with Google. Google Webmaster Tools provides feedback on yo...

Gross Profit

the value of the company's total sales minus the total cost of goods sold. Total sales are all goods sold by the ...

Hashtag

This is a label or phrase preceded by a hash symbol (#) used in social networks and microblogging services to ide...

HTML

short for HyperText Markup Language. Standardized encoding format used to change the style and color of text on p...

Hyperlink

A method of navigating between two pages of a website, indicated to the user by text highlighted and/or different...

ICR

Abbreviation for intelligent call routing; a system that automatically routes incoming calls to the person or dep...

IVM

Abbreviation for interactive voice messages; a broadcast message that uses speech or keyboard recognition to help...

IVR

Abbreviation for interactive voice response; An automated system that uses voice and keypad recognition to route ...

Impression

is the display of advertising material (usually a web banner) in online media. Whether the ad is clicked is not, ...

Inbound Link

An inbound link is referred to as a link from third-party websites which points to your website. In SEO terminolo...

Inbound marketing

attracting customers by creating and distributing specific marketing content such as emails, blogs, videos and re...

Influencer

term used to refer to a person in a particular niche or industry who has a strong influence on a specific target ...

Infographics

Infographics, also called information graphics, are graphical representations of information, data, or knowledge ...

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A provider of Internet access/connection

Inventory

The stock in your business. As your store progresses, you'll need to check inventory levels regularly to make sur...

IP address

a unique number that identifies a computer on the Internet. IP addresses consist of four groups of numbers separa...

Item

one unit of product. If a product has variants, the item is one unit of variant.

Javascript

A code used in the World Wide Web pages to create interactive functions in web browsers.

Keyword

There are two ways in which keywords or phrases are used on the web: 1) as search engine search terms and 2) word...

KPI

This is a metric which helps organizations measure success in achieving their key business goals. There are two t...

Landing Page

A landing page is a page which your customers will reach from either paid traffic or search, designed to maximize...

Lead

This is a marketing classification which describes a prospective user or organization that is interested in a bus...

Lead Nurturing

This is the process of constantly communicating and developing relationships with qualified customers who have no...

Lifecycle Stages

The stages of the e-commerce life cycle are mainly related to the stages which the product goes through before it...

Local Area Network (LAN)

A computer network in which a group of computers share the same connection.

Logistics

The process of turning purchased items into items you sell to your customers. Logistics is proving to be an incre...

Long Tail

Long Tail is a phrase used to describe individual, specific keywords and search terms which can significantly inc...

Lost Client

A term which describes someone who has started an online process, such as a registration or purchase, but abandon...

Margin

The percentage of profit from sales after the cost of goods and costs are reflected. Margin is an essential indic...

Marketing

Marketing is an activity of the company, which includes advertising, sale and delivery of products to customers. ...

Marketing Automation

The use of software to automate marketing processes in order to achieve more effective marketing of goods and ser...

mCommerce

The use of wireless handheld devices to buy and sell goods and services online. These wireless electronic devices...

Marketing Funnel

describes the path which guides the customer in their interactions with your business. From the initial stages, w...

Marketplace

an online platform or website where there are numerous buyers and sellers. (e.g. eBay, Amazon, Olx and others).

Merchant Account

A type of bank account which allows businesses to accept and process debit or credit card payments. A merchant ac...

Metric

an indicator for measurement in the context of SEO and data analysis. Metrics measure items such as revenue, keyw...

Microsite

A web page or small cluster of pages which acts as a supplement to the main website. This is a site with specific...

Middle of the Funnel

A stage where marketers publish and distribute content which is connected to the needs of the buyer in order to e...

Mobile Optimization

This is a practice to ensure that visitors of your site who use mobile devices have an excellent user experience ...

MRR

This is referred to as estimated revenue. Income that every business is obliged to receive consistently every mon...

Multi-Channel Ecommerce

The sale of goods and services in many different channels and devices, including online and mobile.

Native advertising

A type of online advertising in which the content is created for paid brand promotion on a media site, but resemb...

Navigation

a term used to describe the action taken by users when viewing and navigating through different web pages or indi...

Net Profit

The part of the income that is left after tax deduction.

Net Promoter Score

an indicator that measures the willingness of customers to recommend the company's products or services to others...

News Feed

Also called Web Feed, it is a service that provides users with frequent transmission of content from updates and ...

Newsjacking

this is a term interpreted by David Scott in his book Newsjacking. According to Scott, "newsjacking" is the proce...

Niche Marketing

highly specialized and targeted form of advertising. Through marketing niches, businesses promote their products ...

Outsourcing

Hiring third parties to manage elements or functions of your business on your behalf, outsourcing is common in e-...

On-Page Optimization

all measures taken within the website to improve its position in search engine results. This is one of the first ...

Off-Page Optimization

all measures taken outside the actual website to improve its position in search engine results. Off-page optimiza...

Online

using a computer, tablet, or mobile phone for working on internet-related tasks

Open Rate

Percentage of the number of people in an email list who have opened a specific email campaign. This percentage is...

Open source

open source software is usually available for free - which means that the customer can download, install and star...

Optimization

improving the processes so that they are as efficient as possible according to the goals set.

Organic

the way users find a website through a search query. The results are filled in based on the relevance of the sear...

Pageviews

they are part of web analysis and are also called "page impressions". Each time a visitor visits a page on the we...

Page Rank

a metric for measuring a page and how it ranks on Google or another search engine. A scale between 0 and 10 is us...

Partial Shipment

delivery option, where you send only one part of the order to the customer and fulfill the rest of the order in s...

Payment Address

the address used in the customer's credit card statement.

Payment Gateway

the method of processing transactions in your e-commerce store. It can be integrated on or off your website, depe...

Payment Provider

a type of e-commerce service that allows online stores to accept and process multiple payment methods, such as cr...

Payment system

system for secure execution of financial transactions - payment for products or services between a client and a p...

Performance Marketing

refers to online marketing and advertising programs in which advertisers and marketing agencies receive payment w...

Phishing

attempt to steal someone's personal information by imitating legitimate organizations. It is usually in the form ...

POS

This is where the customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or services. The point-of-sale (...

Positioning

the customer's perception of the offered product and brand compared to that of the competitors.

PPC

A form of advertising and internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee for each click on one of their ads. G...

Promo Code

code, usually a short sequence of numbers and / or letters that online shoppers provide when paying for special o...

Px

the smallest unit of a point on a display device. It is usually used to measure the size of a graphic image.

QR Code

machine-readable two-dimensional barcode consisting of an array of black and white squares. It is usually used to...

Qualitative Metrics

in online marketing, quality indicators seek to measure the quality of interaction with customers and can be subj...

Quantitative Metrics

in online marketing, quantitative indicators are those measures that can be represented as numbers. Clickthrough ...

Ratio

quantity or measure compared to another quantity or measure. For example, conversion rate = number of people who ...

Recurring Payment

a type of transaction in which a customer allows an online store to automatically charge his credit card for regu...

Recurring Transaction

A transaction in which the customer has given permission to the trader to charge for goods / services according t...

Remarketing

a method for promoting products and services, reaching customers who have already shown interest in them. Remarke...

Responsive Design

an approach to web design that aims to make the visualization and interaction with web pages optimal and suitable...

Retention rate

marketing term, which refers to the degree of customer retention for a certain period of time. It is calculated b...

Retargeting

a method of reaching previous visitors to your website or mobile app, often by displaying ads or sending emails. ...

Return on Investment

measures the profit or loss generated by an investment relative to the cost of the investment. It is usually expr...

Robot

a type of software that is designed to crawl web pages on a website to obtain information about what is located o...

RSS

a web feed that allows users and applications to access website updates in a standardized, computer-readable form...

SaaS

business applications and software services are provided via the Internet and web protocols, and the application ...

Search Engine Marketing SEM

promoting websites by increasing their visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs), primarily through paid ...

SEO

The process of creating your website and building Google-optimized links to ensure that your website is given the...

SERP

The page that is generated by searching for a phrase on Google. SEO involves moving up the SERP so that your webs...

Service Level Agreement

a formal contract signed between the service provider and the customer, which documents the services expected by ...

Shipping

the process of transporting a product from the seller's warehouse to the customer's delivery address.

Shopping Cart

the consumer or customer adds different types of products when they go shopping. When you go shopping in Fantasti...

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

an online shopping indicator that shows the percentage of potential customers who leave a site before completing ...

Social Proof

a psychological phenomenon that creates a positive influence when one accepts the actions and attitudes of anothe...

Social Signals

Google ranking factor, prepared by social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. Like links, they al...

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Pinterest and others. Social media are platforms in which businesses c...

Social Media Marketing

a form of internet marketing that uses social media as a marketing tool. SMM's goal is to produce content that co...

Sole Proprietorship

a type of business entity that is owned and managed by one person and in which there is no legal distinction betw...

Split Testing

A method used by website development companies when comparing two web pages. There are two variants of the web pa...

Supply Chain

a term meaning the tracking of the movement of goods in the accounts and management - from suppliers of materials...

Target market

a group of clients within the existing available market to which the business directs its marketing efforts and r...

Time Lag

in e-commerce terminology, this is the number of days between visits before the visit, which completes the multi-...

Traffic

The levels of visitors that come to your site from different sources. Traffic is the "input" part of the e-commer...

Transaction

archive of actions taken for each customer order.

Trend

A topic that is the subject of many posts by people on social media. This could be a website or an application fo...

Top of the Funnel

This is the first stage of the purchase process. The top of the funnel is called any first point of contact betwe...

Unique Users

In web marketing, a unique user is an individual who has visited a website for a certain period of time or has re...

Upselling

A sales technique that persuades a customer to buy something extra or more expensive while making their initial p...

Usability

The ease and efficiency with which your customers can use and interact with your website. Basic for quality and c...

User Experience

the overall experience of visitors when using a particular product, system or service, especially in terms of how...

User Interface

the way everything is designed to make it easier for users to interact with an app or website. This is also known...

Website

an online location that stores, visualizes, and processes content on one or more web pages.

Web Analysis

a set of strategic methodologies for collecting, measuring, analyzing and reporting data from the website to unde...

Web Hosting

the place where data is stored for e-commerce sites and more. This network of computers allows customers to acces...

Whitepaper

an official document providing information or proposal for a specific project, business or organization, the set ...

Wholesale

Stage of the supply chain before retail - wholesale in bulk. You can buy or buy goods in bulk.

WordPress

WordPress is a free open source blogging platform used as a basis for setting up e-commerce stores and a number o...

XML Sitemap

The site map is a text-based hierarchical model of the content pages on the website. The list is provided with li...

200 OK

this response code indicates that the request was successfully completed

301 Moved Permanently (301 redirect)

a way to notify search engines and site visitors that a web page has been moved to a new address. Customers who o...

404 Not Found (Error 404)

an error message received when trying to access content that the server could not find. For example: opening a pa...

500 Internal Server Error

server error message