E-commerce Dictionary

Ecommerce merchandising is how an online store selects, arranges and presents products, through categories, sorting, search, product pages and promotions, so shoppers find and buy them.

E-commerce merchandising automation uses technology to automatically arrange, display, and promote products on digital storefronts, optimizing for sales.

An e-commerce personalization engine is software that changes product recommendations, search results and content for each shopper based on their behavior and profile.

Ecommerce platform integration is connecting your online store platform to other systems, such as a PIM, ERP or marketplace, so products, stock and orders move between them automatically.

Product listing optimization (PLO) is improving titles, descriptions, images and attributes of a product listing so it ranks higher and converts better on a shop or marketplace.

E-commerce search experience is how easily shoppers find products with a webshop's search bar, from typing a query to filtering and choosing from the results.

Ecommerce performance analytics is collecting and analyzing store data such as traffic, conversion rate, order value and revenue per product to decide what to improve.

An e-commerce platform connector is a ready-made integration that moves product data, stock or orders between a webshop platform and systems like a PIM or ERP.

E-commerce product content guidelines are a written standard for product titles, descriptions, attributes and images, so every product page is consistent.

A central system that stores all your e-commerce product information, from titles and specs to images and prices, and feeds it to every sales channel.

An overarching plan defining how product data is acquired, managed, enriched, and distributed to achieve e-commerce business goals.

ESG Reporting is the disclosure of environmental, social, and corporate governance data to provide transparency into a company's sustainability and ethical impact.

ETIM is an open classification standard for technical products that assigns each product a class with fixed features, values and units, so suppliers and wholesalers describe products the same way.

A framework setting environmental sustainability requirements for products in the EU, introducing the Digital Product Passport (DPP) to improve circularity and transparency.

Ecommerce SEO is the work of getting an online store's category and product pages to rank in unpaid search results through keywords, product content, technical fixes and links.

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.

Error handling is how a system detects, reports and recovers from problems such as invalid data, failed imports or rejected channel updates, so one error does not stop the whole process.

Ethical product data is information about how a product affects people, animals and the environment, such as materials, origin, working conditions and certifications.

Event-driven architecture is a software design in which systems react to events, such as a price change or a new order, instead of polling each other for data.

Faceted search enables users to refine product listings by applying multiple filters based on product attributes. This improves product discovery and user experience in online stores.

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.

Feed delta processing sends only the products and fields that changed since the last update, instead of the full catalog feed.

A first-party data strategy is a plan for collecting, combining and using the data customers share directly with your store, such as purchases, site behavior and email signups.

Fuzzy matching finds text or records that are similar but not identical, using a similarity score to catch typos, abbreviations and word order differences.

GS1 Digital Link is the GS1 standard that puts a product's GTIN into a web address, so one QR code works at the checkout and opens product information on a phone.

Generative AI for product descriptions uses large language models to write product copy from your product data, such as attributes, specs and keywords.

Ghost products are listings that stay visible in a webshop, feed or search result after the product was removed, sold out or changed at the source.

A ghost SKU is a product record that still exists in a system after the product itself is gone, discontinued or was never real.

GDSN is GS1's network of certified data pools through which suppliers share standardized product master data with retailers once, and keep it in sync.

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

A golden record is the single, trusted version of a data entity, such as a product or customer, built by combining and cleaning data from several systems.

GraphQL for PIM means using GraphQL, a query language for APIs, to fetch exactly the product fields a frontend or channel needs from a PIM in one request.

A guided selling experience uses product information to help customers find suitable products by answering questions or applying filters based on their needs.

A Headless CMS is a back-end only content management system that acts as a content repository, making content accessible via an API for display on any device or platform.

Headless commerce separates the storefront shoppers see from the commerce backend, which connect through APIs so each can change on its own.

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.

Hyper-personalization is tailoring products, content and offers to each individual shopper using behavioral and real-time data, rather than to broad customer segments.

E-commerce image optimization makes product images load fast without visible quality loss, with the right format, size, file name and alt text.

Import validation checks product data against rules during import, so wrong prices, missing fields and invalid codes are caught before they reach your channels.

An influencer-generated content (IGC) workflow is the process for briefing, collecting, checking, licensing and publishing photos and videos that influencers create for a brand.

Interactive product content is product media that shoppers can act on, such as 3D viewers, AR previews, configurators and clickable hotspots, instead of only looking at it.

Inventory management is the process of tracking, ordering, storing and selling stock so you have the right products in the right quantity at the right time.

Inventory optimization is keeping enough stock to meet demand without overstocking, using forecasts, lead times and safety stock to set reorder points per product.

A product knowledge graph stores products, attributes and their relationships as connected facts that search, recommendations and AI assistants can follow.

A large language model (LLM) is an AI model trained on large amounts of text; for product data it drafts descriptions, extracts attributes, translates and classifies.

Ecommerce localization is adapting your store and product content to a country or language, from translation to currency, units, sizes, payment methods and local search terms.

A localization strategy is a plan for adapting products, content, prices and payment methods to the language, culture and rules of each market you sell in.

Long-tail SEO for product pages targets specific, multi-word searches with detailed titles, descriptions and attributes, bringing shoppers who are ready to buy.