Shop Circle e-commerce glossary
An A-Z of the most up-to-date terminologies for e-commerce merchants, brands, innovators, and experts.
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A
API (application programming interface) system
The enabling of an e-commerce platform to connect services to other applications, facilitate communication and share data. API systems have a wide range of capabilities for e-commerce brands and merchants, including managing and updating product catalogs, customizing checkout experiences, authenticating transactions, and many more.
Amazon S3 Bucket
This feature enables merchants to store extra information and files, such as images and videos, in the app provider's designated storage space on Amazon S3. Amazon S3 is a cloud storage service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It streamlines data management without requiring external storage setup.
Advanced Wishlist
A tool within the platform that extends the standard wishlist feature, providing enhanced functionalities like sharing options, user notifications, merchant analytics, and visual customizations. Designed to enrich the shopping experience and offer merchants insights into customer preferences.
Order Status Tracker App
A specialized application designed to integrate with a Shopify store to provide real-time tracking information on customer orders. Such apps enhance the shopping experience by giving both the store owners and their customers clarity on the whereabouts and status of their orders from the moment they're placed to the point they're delivered.
Auto Request Review
Auto Request Review refers to the automated process through which a Shopify store sends out prompts or requests to customers to leave reviews for products they've purchased. Typically executed after a set period from the purchase or delivery, ensuring the customer has had time to experience the product.
A/B testing
Also known as split testing; the practice of presenting half of a set of users with an alternate version of a visual e-commerce element — such as a a website, an e-mail, an app interface — with the goal of testing a particular variable and evaluating whether or not the alternate page achieves a higher conversion rate.
B
Best-of-breed solutions
Solutions made up of the best products of each category. E-commerce companies can then integrate them to suit their specific goals and address pain points, rather than choosing a large, single-vendor solution. This allows for specialization and offers a wider range of innovative capabilities, while optimizing output in the process.
Build-a-box subscription
A subscription model where brands and merchants offer a selection of products that customers can choose from, as well as configure how many items customers can add. This model allows for more customization and control, while also ensuring subscriptions remain fresh and interactive.
BODFS (buy-online-deliver-from-store)
Also known as buy-online-deliver-from-store; a method of fulfillment that treats physical store spaces as fulfillment centers, leveraging existing store inventory to complete orders. BODFS can help e-commerce retailers not only increase speed of delivery, but also reduce the need to discount merchandise at the end of season or end of life.
BORIS (buy-online-return-in-store)
Also known as buy-online-return-in-store; an e-commerce option that allows customers to make purchases online and have them delivered to their residence, with the added ability to return the items at a physical store — even if it’s a location they’ve never visited — if they’re unsatisfied with the items.
BOSS (buy-online-ship-to-store)
Also known as buy-online-ship-to-store; a backend e-commerce process that allows items to be shipped directly from a warehouse, and then customers can pick them up in-store. This ensures that retailers will never be out of stock, while also reducing store footprint size and eliminating the need for third-party delivery services.
Bulk Apply
A feature that allows store owners or managers to apply certain product options or attributes to a large group of products at once, rather than updating each product individually. For example, if a store added a new color option to its product line, "bulk apply" could instantly enable that color choice for all relevant products in the catalog. This streamlines the process of updating or adding new options, ensuring consistency across multiple products and saving significant time.
Built-in Social Media Login
An integrated feature in e-commerce platforms that allows customers to sign in or create an account using their existing social media credentials, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter. By leveraging these established accounts, users can avoid the traditional registration process, streamlining their login or signup experience. This not only simplifies access for the customer but can also increase conversion rates and user engagement for online retailers.
Bulk Discounts
A feature in a discount app empowers merchants to provide reduced prices for products or collections when customers make larger quantity purchases. These bulk discounts can be applied to specific products, variants, or entire collections, encouraging customers to buy more of a particular item in order to receive a discount.
Bulk Delete Metafields
This feature enables merchants to swiftly remove multiple custom data fields or metafields simultaneously. It proves valuable for tasks such as data cleaning, platform migration, or error correction, simplifying the management of additional product or store attributes that extend beyond the platform's default specifications.
C
Content Management System (CMS)
A software platform that allows e-commerce companies to create, edit and publish content on their website with no coding required. Users can change the look and feel of the online store in several ways, including modifying product page layout, adding new sections to promote specific products or services, or adding promotional banners to the site. E-commerce CMS software can be SaaS or cloud-based — which is hosted and managed by the software vendor without a separate server — or open source, which is often self-hosted and gives users total control over the website’s functionality.
Conversion rate optimization
An e-commerce strategy that aims to increase the percentage of customers who perform a desired action in a digital shopping experience. It is centered around calls-to-action, including purchasing a product, signing up for a service, clicking a link, downloading a file or filling out a form.
Conversion funnel
A visual representation of the different stages in a buyer’s journey towards making a purchase. The funnel also illustrates the gradual decline of the number of potential customers as they are guided along the conversion path. It’s often divided into “top of funnel” and “bottom of funnel” to drill down and identify specific opportunities where conversions can be increased through various marketing tactics.
Cross-selling
A sales strategy that encourages customers to spend more by buying a product or service that’s related to the one they’re already in the process of purchasing. Brands or merchants can identify products or services that satisfy additional or complementary needs that may be unfulfilled by the original item being purchased by the customers, or direct customers to products they are likely to have purchased anyway.
Customer experience
The perceptions and impressions customers have of an e-commerce brand or merchant as they go through the buyer’s journey. This includes all the cumulative effects of the interactions with the brand or merchant’s digital channels, products, systems and employees, and how it impacts bottom-line factors like revenue.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
The total amount a customer spends on an e-commerce company’s products or services over the entire duration of their relationship. CLV can be calculated by multiplying the average value of a purchase by the number of transactions per year by the average customer relationship length in years.
Customer segmentation
The process of dividing customers into groups based on common traits so that brands or merchants can tailor marketing efforts to each group effectively. Segmentation can be useful in both product development and communication, to create products and messages that resonate with specific customer subsets.
Call-to-Action (CTA)
A marketing instruction that indicates the next step a marketer wants its audience to take. This can be sales-focused — such as instructing the viewer to click a button to complete a sale — or be marketing funnel-focused — suggesting that the viewer subscribe to a newsletter or learn more about its products or services.
Contact us form
A dedicated section or page on an e-commerce website allows visitors and customers to communicate directly with the business. Typically, a 'Contact Us' form will include fields for the user to enter their name, email, subject, and a message. Upon submission, this information is sent to the business, facilitating inquiries, feedback, or other types of communication.
Cart Customization
The capability to customize the look, features, and layout of the shopping cart in an e-commerce platform is essential. This includes design adjustments to align with the store's branding, incorporating specific elements like promo code fields and gift options, or integrating extra tools such as upselling prompts. Through cart customization, businesses can offer a distinct shopping experience, address specific audience preferences, and potentially boost conversion rates.
Cookie Preference Management
Cookie Preference Management comprises tools and functionalities within a Shopify app that enable the merchant and the store's visitors to control which cookies are set and what type of data is collected during a user's session. It promotes transparency, choice, and compliance with regulations such as GDPR.
D
Dropshipping
An order fulfillment method where an e-commerce brand or merchant purchases inventory as needed from a third-party wholesaler or manufacturer to fill orders, rather than keeping products in stock. This method requires less upfront capital than a traditional retailer model, and also generally has lower overhead expenses.
Display Click Counts
A feature in an app that enables merchants to view and monitor the number of times visitors click on a particular link, button, or element within their Shopify store. This data proves invaluable for understanding user behavior, evaluating the effectiveness of calls-to-action, and making informed decisions about store design and marketing strategies.
E
E-commerce order management
The process used by e-commerce brands or merchants to manage and fulfill online orders, including order routing, shipping label printing, returns, and subscription management. By using an order management system, or OMS, products can make their way to customers with full visibility on the order through every step of the process.
F
Floating Widget
A fixed UI element on a Shopify store that remains consistently visible as users scrolls, providing immediate access to their wishlist. Often represented by an icon, it ensures continuous user engagement with saved items, regardless of page position. Functionality that enables the transfer of wishlist data to and from a Shopify store using the CSV (Comma-Separated Values) format, aiding in data analysis, backup, migration, or sharing
Free Shipping Bar App
A software application or plugin designed for e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, that displays a dynamic and customizable bar or banner at the top or bottom of the online store. This bar informs visitors about a free shipping offer and often shows the additional amount they need to spend to qualify for it.
G
Google Captcha
A security service that protects websites from fraudulent activities and abuse, such as bots submitting forms. For e-commerce platforms like Shopify, trust is paramount. If customers see that there's a security measure in place (like CAPTCHA) when filling out forms, it can enhance their trust in the platform and the store.
Guest Wishlist
A feature within an advanced wishlist app for Shopify that allows unregistered or non-logged-in users (guests) to create and manage a wishlist. This wishlist is typically stored temporarily using browser cookies or sessions and provides guests with a similar wishlist experience as registered users, without the need for account creation or sign-in.
Geo-Location Based
Geo-location-based functionality in a Shopify app involves using a visitor or customer's geographical location to customize the shopping experience. By identifying the user's location, the app can deliver region-specific content, offers, or features, thereby creating a more personalized and relevant user experience.
H
Headless commerce
A type of e-commerce architecture that refers to the decoupling of the frontend — or consumer-facing — content of a store from the backend commerce capabilities. Separating the frontend — or “head” — from the commerce engine — or “body” — gives brands or merchants the freedom to use different technology for each end and customize each to enhance the shopping experience.
I
Interactive Dashboard
A user interface element within a Mobile App Builder that provides a centralized, interactive view of various metrics, tools, and functionalities. An interactive dashboard allows developers or business users to monitor and analyze key performance indicators, app usage statistics, user engagement metrics, and more.
Instant Checkout
A streamlined and expedited purchasing process that allows customers to bypass several traditional checkout steps, enabling them to complete their purchase with minimal clicks or input. Typically, instant checkout uses saved customer information, such as payment methods and shipping addresses, to facilitate a quicker transaction. Popularized by features like Amazon's "1-Click Ordering," it's designed to improve user experience, reduce cart abandonment, and encourage spontaneous purchasing decisions.
J
L
Lost Sales with Automated Alert
Lost Sales with Automated Alert refers to a system or feature that identifies potential sales that were not completed (often referred to as abandoned carts or missed opportunities) and automatically triggers alerts or notifications to either the merchant or directly to the customer. The goal is to recapture these potential sales or to understand the reasons behind them, enabling corrective or promotional actions.
M
Mobile optimization
The practice of providing an engaging and user-friendly experience for visitors accessing e-commerce websites from mobile devices. Brands or merchants can optimize a website for a customer’s specific device in several ways, including minimizing code and reducing redirects to boost page speed, designing more prominent navigation buttons, and prioritizing local search, among others.
Modular commerce
The construction of the functions of an e-commerce platform from a set of interconnected components, rather than a pre-packaged system. This allows brands or merchants to be more innovative and scale their business more efficiently, with integrated backend modules — such as A/B testing or personalization engines — delivering a seamless experience through the buyer’s journey.
Multi-currency Support
A feature in e-commerce platforms that allows merchants to present and process transactions in multiple currencies. Multi-currency support enables customers to view prices and make payments in their preferred or local currency, providing a more personalized and user-friendly shopping experience.
Mailchimp and Klaviyo Integration
Integration of Mailchimp and Klaviyo with apps refers to the establishment of a direct communication channel between a store and these email marketing platforms. This connection facilitates the automatic transfer of data between the systems, enabling merchants to segment, target, and personalize their email campaigns based on e-commerce activities.
Multi-Channel Alerts
Multi-Channel Alerts refers to the ability of a system, such as a app, to send notifications or alerts to users across multiple communication channels. These channels can range from email and SMS to push notifications on apps or social media messages. The aim is to enhance the reach and reliability of communication, ensuring that merchants and customers receive timely information regardless of the platform they're currently using.
N
O
One-click purchase
A transaction type triggered by a customer who has their card details saved on file with a brand or merchant. The details are then tokenized in order for the card to be charged without additional authentication whenever the customer makes a purchase by hitting a “pay” or “buy” button or carrying out a payment trigger action on the site or app.
Order fulfillment
The total number steps an e-commerce brand or merchant takes between receiving a new order and delivering the order to the customer. These steps include warehousing, selecting and packing the product, shipping and sending an email to the customer to inform them that the order is en route to their specified location.
Optimized Search
A feature that enhances the search functionality within an online store, allowing customers to quickly and efficiently find products, categories, or information. Optimized Search employs techniques such as autocomplete suggestions, spelling corrections, synonym recognition, and filtering options to provide relevant and tailored results.
One-click Import/Export
The one-click import/export function refers to a streamlined feature within a Shopify app that allows merchants to effortlessly import or export data with a single click. This function simplifies data management, migration, and backup processes, making it more efficient for store owners to handle large volumes of data.
P
Product research
The process of gathering information about a product's purpose in order to determine how to develop it according to market fit. This can be conducted through surveying customers at key stages in the product lifecycle — pre-launch, testing, feedback, soft launch, and post-launch — to understand their needs and demands.
Pay-per-click (PPC)
A form of digital advertising where the advertiser pays a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. PPC ads can come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, consist of text, images, videos, or a combination of the three, and appear on search engines, websites, social media platforms, and other commerce interfaces.
POS Support
An app's capability to seamlessly integrate with Shopify's Point of Sale (POS) system is crucial. This integration guarantees that any custom product options, variants, or attributes managed by the app are accurately reflected and can be processed when in-person sales occur at physical retail locations using Shopify's POS.
Page Customization
The ability within an app for administrators to modify the layout, design, and content of specific pages, ensuring they align with the store's branding and desired user experience. A suite of tools and permissions within an app is granted to store administrators, allowing for customization, data management, and configuration to align the app with store-specific needs and objectives.
Pop-Up Geographical Settings
The "Pop-Up Geographical Settings" feature in a app refers to the ability to display specific pop-up messages or content to visitors based on their geographical location. Using the IP addresses of site visitors, the app can determine their location and show targeted pop-up content accordingly. This caters to regional preferences, promotions, or legal compliance requirements.
Promotion Countdown Bar
The "Promotion Countdown Bar" feature in an app refers to a visual element displayed on a store, usually at the top or bottom of the webpage, which shows a countdown timer for a specific promotion, sale, or event. Its purpose is to create a sense of urgency among website visitors, encouraging them to take advantage of the promotion before it ends.
Product Reviews App
A Product Reviews App enables merchants to easily collect, manage, display, and respond to product reviews on their online store. These apps often come with additional features that help in enhancing the authenticity, visibility, and utility of reviews, driving trust and conversions.
Popup Customization
Refers to the ability to modify the appearance, content, and behavior of pop-up notifications or windows that appear to the user. These pop-ups can serve various purposes, such as reminding customers of their previous orders, suggesting reorders, offering discounts on repeat purchases, or simply providing information.
Personalized Survey Forms
The "Personalized Survey Forms" feature allows merchants to design and present surveys tailored to the unique preferences, behaviors, or purchasing history of their customers. Instead of generic, one-size-fits-all forms, these surveys are adapted to resonate more closely with individual users.
Q
Quantity Breaks
A pricing strategy where the cost per unit of a product decreases as the quantity purchased increases. Retailers offer these tiered discounts to incentivize bulk purchases. Quantity breaks encourage larger order volumes, benefitting both the customer, who receives a discount, and the retailer, who increases their sales.
R
ROPIS (reserve-online-pickup-in-store)
Also known as reserve-online-pickup-in-store; an e-commerce option that allows customers to shop on a website, select and reserve items, and then come into a physical store location to decide whether or not to purchase the items. This gives customers the freedom to shop around and also help guarantee they will receive their desired items.
Regional Restriction
Regional restrictions refer to the limitations placed on the availability or functionality of certain apps in the Shopify App Store based on the geographical location of the merchant or their store. These restrictions can be due to various reasons, including legal regulations, licensing issues, or the app's operational capabilities.
S
SERP (search engine results page)
Also known as search engine results page; the list of results returned by a search engine in response to a specific word or phrase query. The listings include the URL, the linked webpage’s title, a brief description of the page’s content, and sometimes links to points of interest on the page.
Shopping cart optimization
The process of improving a shopping cart’s design and usability in order to increase conversion rates while lowering cart abandonment rates. Consistency and reliability in branding and layout through the buyer’s journey builds trust and delivers a seamless customer experience.
Shopify tags
The labels used to categorize a range of Shopify-related items, such as products, customer data, orders, transfers and returns. These tags — invisible to the customer — allow e-commerce brands or merchants to easily organize, search and add filters to a drop-down menu, without losing any important information in the process.
Shipping calculator
A software solution that displays shipping rates and other details for customers who are considering making a purchase at an online store. This automates the shipping process in a way that would otherwise need to be manually calculated internally or by a 3rd-party shipping service.
Split Products
In e-commerce and retail, product fragmentation involves splitting a single product into multiple sellable units or variations, each assigned a unique SKU or option. This division allows for detailed customization in terms of size, color, or configuration, offering precise control over inventory and pricing while giving customers a flexible array of choices.
SEO Friendly Tracking Page
An SEO Friendly Tracking Page refers to a page within a store (often facilitated by an app) where customers can track the status of their orders, and which is optimized for search engine visibility and ranking. Such a page is not only designed for user functionality but also structured to be easily indexed and ranked by search engines like Google.
SMS Customization
SMS customization refers to the ability of a Shopify app to tailor the content, design, and delivery of text messages (SMS) sent to customers or store administrators. This functionality allows merchants to communicate with their audience in a personalized and relevant manner, enhancing the user experience and effectiveness of the messages.
Smart AI Approval
Smart AI Approval refers to the use of artificial intelligence algorithms within an app to automatically approve or disapprove specific actions or content based on predefined criteria or learned patterns. Essentially, it minimizes manual intervention by making decisions using AI-driven insights.
Social Share
Feature within an app that allows merchants, customers, or visitors to easily share products, content, or other store-related information on social media platforms. This feature aims to increase visibility, drive traffic, and potentially boost sales for a store by leveraging the power of social networks.
Styling Subscription Plus
The approach to designing, customizing, and ensuring visual coherence of subscription-related features within a Shopify store. This process involves the use of design principles, tools, and techniques to ensure that the subscription functionalities not only align with the store's overall aesthetic and branding but also offer an intuitive and seamless user experience
T
Target Selector Block
An app feature allows merchants to select specific product variants or attributes for customization with precision. By utilizing the target selector block, merchants can make changes such as custom pricing, special attributes, or unique options to individual products or variants without impacting the entire product lineup.
3 Tier Conditional Logic
A hierarchical system of rules governs product options. Choices made at one level dictate the available options at the next. This system comprises three interconnected decision layers, ensuring contextual relevance. For instance, selecting "Clothing" at the first tier might lead to "T-shirt" as a second-tier option, which in turn offers third-tier choices like specific sizes and colors.
Tag-Based Discount
A promotional pricing strategy where discounts are applied to products based on specific tags or labels assigned to them. Within a volume boost app, this feature allows merchants to offer tiered pricing or bulk discounts to products grouped under a particular tag, encouraging customers to purchase more to avail of the discount.
U
Upselling
A sales technique that encourages customers to spend more by buying a premium or higher-end version of the item they’re in the process of purchasing. Upgraded products are often shown in the form of comparison charts to help customers visualize the greater value they will receive by ordering a higher-priced item.
Abandoned Cart Push Notification
A proactive alert is sent to potential customers, usually on their mobile devices or desktops, reminding them of items they've added to their shopping cart but haven't purchased. These notifications are triggered when a user adds products to their cart and leaves the site without completing the transaction. By providing timely reminders or offering incentives, such as discounts, e-commerce businesses aim to recover potential lost sales and encourage users to finalize their purchases.
Unlimited Custom Statuses
Unlimited Custom Statuses refers to the ability for merchants to create and manage an infinite number of unique order or product statuses, beyond the default statuses provided by Shopify. This allows for more granular control and customization of the shopping and post-purchase experience based on the store's specific needs and workflows.
V
W
WCAG Compliance
Adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set by the W3C, ensuring online content is accessible to all, including individuals with disabilities. Organized around four main principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, with varying levels (A, AA, AAA) indicating depth of accessibility.
