Ecommerce glossary

A useful tool to take the guesswork out of making changes to your website, it involves comparing two versions of a webpage, or piece of content, against each other to find out which one performs better. It is also referred to as split testing, because you split the experience in two and let the users 'decide' for you. 

A project management methodology that emphasises flexibility, collaboration and iterative progress through small, manageable chunks of work. Agile is used by software development teams to group work into two or three week blocks, then release the changes to the live website before tackling the next set of tasks. 

An online platform where third-party sellers can list and sell products directly to customers using Amazon's Seller Central platform and customer database. Items listed on the marketplace appear alongside items sold from Amazon directly. 

Amazon's cloud computing infrastructure makes resources like servers and data centres accessible online. It gives businesses the ability to scale apps, ecommerce platforms and software as a service (SaaS) on a pay as you go basis, which helps deal with spikes in demand.

A set of rules and protocols that enable different systems to communicate by constantly pinging each other. APIs allow features like payment processing, stock management and customer relationship management (CRM) to be connected and automated across platforms.

To calculate your average order value, simply divide the the total revenue by the number of orders. It is worth monitoring this metric at least weekly, as a dip can indicate you are discounting too heavily and may struggle to make a profit. AOV from different channels may vary as well, helping you to tailor your communications per channel. 

Microsoft's cloud computing service offers a variety of solutions including virtual machines, databases and AI capabilities. For ecommerce, Azure equips developers with scalable hosting, a core part of a website build.

Software that is built, but not ready to launch to everyone, goes into a beta phase. This pre-release version can then be tested by a limited audience to identify any bugs or improvements before the final release. 

A popular ecommerce platform that lets businesses create, manage and scale their online stores with customisable templates and lots of built-in features. They offer tiers for small businesses, right up to large enterprise clients and have one of the better feature sets for wholesale (B2B). 

A call to action (CTA) is a marketing term that refers to the next step or the action that the marketer wants the consumer to take. For example 'shop now', 'add to basket' or 'find out more' are CTAs that may appear on a button or banner. Choosing the correct copy, design and  placements for your CTAs can have a big impact on your sales. 

A medium through which products or services are marketed and sold, such as online marketplaces, social media or physical stores.

A group of customers who share a common characteristic or experience within a defined time period, often used for analysis in marketing. For example, customers who bought sale items during December could be grouped into a cohort. 

A content management system (CMS) is software that allows ecommerce store owners to create, edit and publish website content without needing to write any code. Most ecommerce platforms come with some sort of in-built CMS, but larger stores with more complex needs may use WordPress, Drupal or a headless CMS such as Contentful.  

CRO is a set of tactics used to improve the percentage of conversions (desired actions, such as making a purchase) that take place on your website. A big part of the process involves generating ideas for elements that can be improved, then validating those hypotheses through testing to see if they make a positive difference.

An advertising metric that measures how much digital advertisers pay each time their ad is clicked on by a user. The advertising model itself is called pay per click (PPC) so sometimes these terms are used interchangeably.

Cost per mille or thousand impressions represents the cost a marketer will pay for every one thousand impressions of a digital ad. An impression basically means the ad was displayed, for example in their Instagram feed, but the user may not have engaged with it. 

A metric that tracks the total revenue generated from a single customer over their entire relationship with the business. It involves both monitoring what real customers have spent (historic), and forecasting potential CLTV (predictive) to help set targets and plan retention marketing campaigns. 

Software that pulls in and organises customer data from various sources to provide a single customer view. This helps CRM managers to group customers and develop strategies that are more tailored, rather than sending emails or SMS to the whole database. 

Any strategy that uses data to build, improve and manage customer relationships can fall under the umbrella of CRM. The term is most commonly used to refer to CRM software systems such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Mailchimp, which provide tools to collect and manage information about people that matter to your business.

The overall perception a customer has of your brand after interacting with your business across the buyer's journey, which could include using your website, contacting you on social media platforms, via WhatsApp or live chat and receiving an ecommerce parcel to their home. 

The practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks aimed at accessing, changing or destroying sensitive information. Some of the risks in ecommerce include: API attacks, DoS and DDoS attacks which can crash a website, and stealing card information for financial fraud. 

Data basically just means information. In ecommerce the most common types are product data which is essential for buying or manufacturing products to sell, customer data relating to who you are selling to and understanding how to marketing to them, and analytics data which looks at how users (potential customers) interact with your website and marketing communications. 

A denial of service (DoS) attack is an attempt to overload a website or network, with the aim of degrading its performance or crashing it completely. DDoS is a more effective version as it comes from more than one source, and is more likely to take down your website.     

A unique name that identifies a website on the internet, such as branch9digital.com, the website you're on right now. If you launch your own ecommerce store rather than listing on a marketplace such as Amazon or Etsy, you will need to buy a domain name. They start at around £12 a year though so can be very affordable.

DNS acts as the internet's phone book by translating domain names into IP addresses. This universal system enables web browsers to quickly locate and load the correct web pages, often in less than a second. To ensure your ecommerce site is accessible, secure and performs well, make sure your DNS records are correctly set up​. 

Email marketing can boost traffic, drive sales and improve customer relationships. Given the rise of email marketing and increased competition, best practice now involves segmenting your database and sending emails to smaller chunks of your list, less often, rather than sending the same message to everyone all the time (batch and blast) which is now considered outdated and ineffective. 

ERP systems are central to an organisation's software setup. When implemented and used correctly, they greatly improve efficiency by automating processes and providing joined up reporting across departments such as production, accounting and operations. Examples include Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP Business One, Oracle NetSuite and Brightpearl by Sage.

One of the largest wholesale marketplaces, Faire.com is designed to connect independent wholesale sellers with retail buyers. Many smaller makers and manufacturers list their items on Faire.com as part of their online selling strategy as it gets them in front of buyers and is quicker than setting up their own online store. 

If you run an ecommerce business with EU customers, you'll need to get clear consent before collecting their data, keep it secure and use it only for the agreed purposes. Make sure your customers can access and correct or delete their data and make your privacy policy clear and easy to find. Train your team on GDPR compliance to avoid any fines from the ICO.

Ecommerce businesses can send product data feeds to Google, containing key information such as title, price and a link. Google will then promote these products for free, and will prioritise your listings if you sponsor your products as part of an ad campaign (called Performance Max). This can be a very effective way to drive traffic to your website and generate sales. 

GTM is like a box you add to your website to store and manage your marketing tags, which are snippets of code or tracking pixels from third-party tools. In theory it simplifies small configurations without needing a web developer. However, for larger websites with many tags and complex tracking needs, it's best to work with a data specialist or developer to test and verify changes.

The header is the top section of a website containing the logo, navigation menu and search bar and contact information. The footer is the bottom section that often includes links to important policies, contact details and returns information. Generally the same header and footer display throughout ecommerce stores, but some businesses choose to simplify (or enclose) them during checkout to keep users focused on completing their purchase. 

One of the key steps to launching an online store to find a hosting company to store the text, images and code used to make your website visible to online visitors. The host works with a browser (such as Chrome or Safari) to relay that information to anyone landing on your ecommerce storefront. Some ecommerce platforms such as BigCommerce and Shopify offer hosting as part of their services. 

Ecommerce KPIs are benchmarks you set to gauge how well you are achieving your business goals. Whether you're an entrepreneur or managing a team, KPIs help track progress and ensure everyone's time is well spent. Think sales, traffic, conversion rate and average order value - these metrics give you a clear picture of your performance.

A landing page is where users 'land' after clicking a link, often designed specifically for marketing campaigns. It provides detailed information to support adverts or email communications. An obvious example is a competition page with entry details, T&Cs and a sign-up form.

One of the most visible parts of an ecommerce storefront, a mega menu is a wide, horizontal drop-down menu that displays a list of product categories all at once, so you don’t have to scroll. Thanks to the extra space, mega menus often feature images and themed subcategories, making it easy for customers to find what they're looking for.

NPS measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking on question, "On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product/company to a friend or colleague?" The scores help businesses improve their service, support and delivery to increase customer loyalty.

PCI includes organisations that store, process and transmit cardholder data for both debit and credit cards. For ecommerce stores, PCI compliance means adhering to a set of policies and procedures designed to protect card transactions and prevent the misuse of customers' personal information, ensuring a secure shopping experience.

Product information management (PIM) is all about handling the data needed to market and sell your products online. A PIM solution acts as a central hub where you can gather, manage and enrich your product information, create a detailed product catalogue and share it with your sales and ecommerce channels. This helps keep everything consistent and accurate, making your life a lot easier.

Performance Max (PMax) is a Google Ads campaign type that uses machine learning to generate ads on the fly from your content. It's designed to boost conversions and expand product visibility, making it perfect for ecommerce businesses. Just keep in mind, PMax needs a substantial budget to learn and optimise effectively, so it's not the best fit for smaller budgets.

Recommerce or reverse commerce, refers to selling or renting pre-owned items online for others to reuse or resell. Popular items include clothes, jewellery, electronics and furniture. Many big retailers now let customers buy and sell second-hand items directly on their sites. As an ecommerce business, this can help you tap into a growing sustainable market and attract eco-conscious shoppers.

SEO involves making your website more visible on search engines like Google and Bing. By tweaking your content, structure and relevance, you can attract more visitors naturally and boost your sales. It's a process of fine-tuning your online presence to make sure people can find you easily when they search for what you offer.

Server-side tracking, used for more advanced measurement, sends user data from the server to an analytics platform for detailed analysis. It captures activities like page views, clicks, purchases and demographic info directly from the server. This method tracks data from various sources, including backend systems, but is more costly and complex, requiring additional expertise.

SaaS is a popular software model today, delivered via the cloud on a subscription basis. This ensures continuous access to the latest features and updates without manual upgrades. Shopify and BigCommerce are examples of SaaS ecommerce platforms. In contrast, WooCommerce is an open-source plugin, requiring the site owner to handle hosting, maintenance and security.

Shopify is a one of the best-known ecommerce platforms, noted for its user-friendliness. It has powered many small to medium-sized businesses to rapidly launch online stores in a way that wouldn't previously have been possible. Shopify continues to add advanced features and third-party integrations to cater to larger enterprises, enticing them away from other platform providers.

UI refers to the visual and interactive parts of a website or app, like the surface layer for users to control and communicate with the software underneath. This includes buttons like 'Add to basket', menus for browsing products and layouts like product grids and checkout forms, all designed to make shopping simple and intuitive.

Ecommerce UX shapes how users experience shopping on a website or app. From the first visit, users gauge how intuitive and effective the site is. Every detail, from scrolling to checkout forms, influences their perception and likelihood of returning to your store. UX design takes place early on in a website build project and is all about creating easy and enjoyable interactions.