Ecommerce Terms: You’ll notice that every industry has its own language – often times, it’s a niche language that only the people living and working within a specific industry can understand. The words used in the technical industry are not only many, but also particularly complex. With the rise of eCommerce businesses, leaders and members of the field are having to quickly learn the language. Whether you are getting ready to launch your business or have been in the industry for a while, we thought it would be helpful to put together a glossary of terms used in the language of eCommerce. This glossary will be divided into various parts to keep you up to date with the latest terminology.

Application Programming Interface (API)

An API refers to a software intermediary that allows two software applications to interact and exchange data. Developers use APIs to create applications and add-ons for their softwares.

Average Order Value (AOV)

The AOV is the average amount a customer spends in your online store. It is calculated by dividing your total revenue by the number of orders made during a specific time period.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

The CTR represents the percentage of people who click on a link they view. It is calculated by dividing the total number of link impressions by the number of times that link was clicked.

Cloud-Based Platform

Cloud-based e-commerce platforms refer to the delivery of hosted services that you can access through a web browser. Cloud-based e-commerce platforms are often all-in-one systems that give you access to all the key features you need. Examples of such systems include Amazon Web Services and Shopify.

Customer Journey

The customer journey refers to the steps taken by the customers when they interact with your brand. It is the journey they take from showing interest in your brand to purchasing your product. The 5 most common stages in a customer’s journey are awareness, consideration, purchase/conversion, retention and advocacy.