E-commerce Dictionary

An AI PIM is a product information management system where AI drafts descriptions, attributes, categories and translations, and people review the result before it is published.

An API-first PIM is product information management software built so every function is available through an API, which other systems use to read and write product data.

B2B marketing is marketing aimed at other businesses rather than consumers, using channels such as your website, search, email, LinkedIn and trade events to reach buyers and their teams.

Brand management involves overseeing the tangible and intangible elements of a brand to increase its perceived value. It ensures consistent messaging, visual identity, and customer experience across all touchpoints.

Brand consistency means your brand looks, sounds and describes its products the same way on every channel, from webshop to marketplace.

Channel-specific pricing means selling the same product at a different price per sales channel, such as your webshop, a marketplace or a B2B portal.

Composable commerce is an approach where you build your online store from separate, best-fit services such as checkout, search and PIM, connected through APIs.

A composable PIM is an API-first product information management system that works as one replaceable building block in a composable commerce stack.

Cross-selling in ecommerce is suggesting complementary products, such as accessories or matching items, to a shopper who is viewing or buying a related product.

A customer data platform (CDP) collects customer data from every source, such as your webshop, email and ads, into one profile per customer that other tools can use.

Customer-centric product data is product information written and structured around what shoppers need to decide, not only around internal specs.

Data residency is the physical or geographic location where an organization's data is stored, often chosen to meet laws, contracts or customer expectations.

A Digital Commerce Platform (DCP) is the comprehensive technology stack that enables businesses to sell products and services online, encompassing various e-commerce functionalities.

Digital Product Experience (DPX) refers to the entire digital customer journey and the role of rich product information in shaping it across all touchpoints.

A digital product twin is a complete digital version of a physical product, with its data, specs, media and, in industry, live data from the item in use.

A digital transformation strategy is a comprehensive plan to integrate digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how it operates and delivers value to customers.

Edge computing for PIM means serving or processing product data on servers close to the shopper instead of one central server, to make product pages and APIs faster.

A federated PIM is a setup where product data stays in several source systems and the PIM links and combines it, instead of copying everything into one database.

A globally unique 14-digit number used to identify trade items, crucial for product identification in e-commerce and logistics.

A headless PIM is a product information management system that delivers product data through APIs, without a built-in storefront, so any front end can use it.

A way to build commerce systems from Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless components that you can combine and replace one by one.

Ecommerce middleware is software that sits between your store and other systems, such as ERP, PIM and marketplaces, and moves and translates data between them.

A SaaS PIM is a product information management application you rent as an online service; in a multi-tenant setup, many customers share one platform with their data kept separate.

A PIM integration platform connects a product information management system to webshops, marketplaces, ERPs and feeds so product data moves between them without manual exports.

A product catalog is the structured list of all products a business sells, with names, SKUs, prices, descriptions, attributes, images and categories.

A product data hub is one central system where product information is collected, cleaned and shared with every team and sales channel.

Product information centralization means keeping all product data in one system, so every channel uses the same up-to-date version of each product.

A product information ecosystem is the set of sources, systems, people and channels through which product data is collected, managed and published.

Semantic PIM leverages semantic web technologies to understand the meaning and relationships between product data, enabling richer search, recommendations, and automation.

A single source of truth (SSOT) is the one agreed system where a type of data is maintained, so every team and channel uses the same version.