Mastering the Language of Online Retail: A Guide to eCommerce Terminology
In today’s technologically dependent world, understanding eCommerce terminology — the unique language of online retail — is not just beneficial but an essential requirement for business success. The eCommerce industry is ever-expanding and becoming more complex. As such, if you are a business owner, a digital marketer, or a general internet user, you must understand what this unique lexicon means. With this comprehensive guide, we aim to simplify and clarify the broad and often bewildering eCommerce glossary.
Building a solid foundation in eCommerce terminology will not only enhance your understanding of the online retail industry but also provide you with the language necessary to communicate effectively and strategically maneuver within the market. We’ll start with the basics.
Understanding the Basic eCommerce Terminology
At its simplest, eCommerce (electronic commerce) refers to the buying and selling of goods or services over the internet. What separates eCommerce from traditional brick-and-mortar retail is its digital component. Understanding the following terms will help you grasp the basic functioning of eCommerce.
1. Shopping Cart – An online feature that allows buyers to collect items they wish to purchase from an online store.
2. Checkout – The final step in completing an online transaction where buyers provide payment details and confirm their purchase.
3. Payment Gateway – A software that authenticates online transactions, allowing you to process and approve payments made through various methods like credit/debit cards or digital wallets.
4. SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) – SSL is a protocol that encrypts and secures data transferred between the user’s browser and the website, ensuring a safe transaction.
5. Fulfillment – The process of completing an order which includes packaging, shipping, and delivering the product to the customer.
Diving Deeper into the eCommerce Glossary
Once you’ve understood the basic eCommerce terminology, it’s time to dive deeper into the glossary and familiarise yourself with terms that deal with more complex concepts, such as:
1. M-commerce – Mobile commerce; it refers to any transaction made using mobile devices.
2. Cross-selling – The strategy of selling products related to the ones the customer is already buying.
3. Upselling – The practice of enticing customers to purchase a more expensive, upgraded or premium version of the chosen item or other add-ons.
4. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – It involves strategically optimizing online content or websites to rank higher in search engine getResult’s to maximize organic traffic.
5. A/B testing – Typically used for web page optimization, it’s a technique where two versions of a site or page are compared to see which performs better.
6. ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend) – A marketing metric that measures the efficacy of a digital advertising campaign.
7. CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) – A practice of optimizing your website or landing page experience based on visitor behavior to help improve specific KPIs or conversions.
8. Cookies – Small pieces of data stored on the users’ computer by their web browser while browsing a website, typically used to remember user’s activities and preferences.
Advanced eCommerce Terminology
As you adapt to the language of eCommerce, you might come across advanced terms that may initially seem puzzling but are crucial to understanding and successfully operating an online business.
1. Omnichannel – A sales strategy that provides a seamless customer experience irrespective of whether the shopping is from a mobile device, desktop or a physical store.
2. Dropshipping – A retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer.
3. SaaS (Software as a Service) – a business model that hosts applications over the internet and makes them available to customers over a network.
By understanding these expressions in the eCommerce glossary, you’ll be able to navigate through the complex landscape of online retail. This comprehension of eCommerce terminology will also let you make informed decisions, devise effective strategies, and eventually succeed in the digital marketplace.