Understanding some terminology can go a long way when investing in online businesses. That’s why we have put together this glossary to help you grasp all the important words and acronyms you’ll come across in the online business world.
Whether you are just starting out or already know a bit about digital markets, this guide will make sure you’re up to speed and ready to chat confidently about your investment and understand the quarterly reports you receive from WebStreet.
1. Ecommerce Acronyms and DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) Acronyms
1PD: First-Party Data
- Data collected from users by a company for its own use.
3PD: Third-Party Data
- Data collected, shared, and sold by companies that do not have a direct relationship with the end customer.
AOV: Average Order Value
- It describes the average dollar amount spent per order.
ASP: Average Selling Price
- The typical price at which a product is sold across different markets or channels. It is calculated by dividing total revenue by units sold.
AVS: Address Verification Service
- It’s a method to prevent eCommerce fraud by verifying the customer’s billing address to ensure the payment method is valid before completing the transaction.
BB: Buy Box
- It’s a widget visible on most Amazon product pages that allows a shopper to quickly purchase products they are looking for.
BOPIS: Buy Online Pickup In Store
- The BOPIS e-commerce model combines online shopping with in-store pickup. Customers order online, collect at local stores or via curbside pickup option, after being notified.
BORIS: Buy Online Return In Store
- Allows customers to purchase items online and return them at a physical store, offering convenience and flexibility in managing their purchases.
CPS: Cost Per Shipment
- Measures the average expense incurred for delivering each shipment in logistics and shipping operations.
CPT: Critical Pull Time
- The latest possible time an item can be pulled from inventory to meet a delivery or production schedule.
DEA: Dynamic eCommerce Ads
- Dynamic eCommerce Ads automatically show products to users based on their interests and previous interactions, optimizing online advertising for better engagement and sales.
DNR: Delivered Not Received
- A situation where items are marked as delivered but have not been received by the customer.
DNVB: Digitally Native Vertical Brand
- A company that operates primarily online and controls a portion of its supply chain and production.
DS: Dropshipping
- A fulfillment method where products aren’t kept in-house. When someone buys an item, the store purchases the product from a third seller and then it’s shipped directly to the customer.
DTC: Direct to Consumer
- D2C eCommerce eliminates intermediaries like wholesalers, selling directly to consumers via a brand’s website.
Ecommerce: Electronic Commerce
- Buying and selling of goods or services over the Internet.
HAC: High Adoption Category
- A product category with a high number of sellers and a high level of competition.
OPD: Zero-Party Data
- It’s the data shared by customers with a company that shows their preferences via surveys and quizzes.
P2P: Peer-to-Peer
- Digital marketplaces where users can purchase products directly from one another.
PCI DSS: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
- It’s a security standard ensuring all entities that process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.
PDP: Product Description Page or Product Page
- It showcases product details and purchasing options on an e-commerce site to inform and engage buyers.
PCOGS: Product Cost of Goods Sold
- The expense required to procure a product.
PLA: Product Listing Ad
- It’s an individual ad unit within Google Shopping consisting of photos, description, price and other extensions.
PLP: Product Listing Page
- It’s a webpage displaying a collection of products with information about each and option to buy.
POD: Proof of Delivery
- A document signed by the customer confirming item delivery.
TACOS: Total Advertising Cost of Sale
- Used to measure the effectiveness of advertising spend relative to the total revenue generated. It is calculated by dividing the total advertising spend by the total sales revenue, expressed as a percentage.
2. Operations & Supply Chain Acronyms
1PL: First-Party Logistics
- An eCommerce handling model in which the seller is responsible for warehousing, order processing, shipping, and delivery without any external support.
2PL: Second-Party Logistics
- An eCommerce model in which the seller handles warehousing and order fulfillment but relies on external partners for shipping and distribution.
3PL: Third-Party Logistics
- It describes the outsourced logistics services provider like shipments, storage, fulfillment, etc.
BOM: Bill of Materials
- List of the materials, parts, and components required to manufacture a product.
DPVR: Detail Page View Rate
- The frequency at which a product’s detail page is viewed by visitors on a website.
DSP: Delivery Service Provider
- A company that specializes in transporting packages and goods from sellers to customers.
ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
- A software that manages and integrates core functions like finance, HR, and supply chain management.
FCA: Free to Carrier
- It means that the seller is responsible once the shipment is handed over to the carrier.
FEFO: First Expired, First Out
- Inventory management method where items closest to expiration are sold or used first to minimize waste.
FIFO: First In, First Out
- With FIFO, the stock that was purchased first is the first to be sold and shipped out.
FOB: Free on Board
- Products that are FOB are the items for which the supplier is responsible for getting them from the factory to the port. This cost is added to the manufacturing cost.
IMS: Inventory Management System
- A software system used to manage and track inventory in a business.
ITR: Inventory Turnover Ratio
- It’s COGS divided by average inventory. A low ITR indicates slow stock movement; a high ITR suggests potential understocking relative to demand.
LIFO: Last In, First Out
- With LIFO, the most newly acquired stock is the first to be sold.
MMU: Minimum Marketable Unit
- Smallest unit of a product that can be sold and still be considered viable by the market.
MOQ: Minimum Order Quantity
- The minimum order size allowed by a manufacturer for a certain product.
MPN: Manufacturer Part Number
- It’s a unique alphanumeric identifier assigned by manufacturers to ensure customers find and purchase authentic products online.
OEM: Original Equipment
- A company that produces equipment and parts that may be marketed and sold by another manufacturer.
OMS: Order Management System
- It manages orders across various sales channels, connecting with website software or other platforms, distinct from in-store order management functions.
OOS: Out of Stock
- It indicates that the products are unavailable in retail stores.
PIM: Product Information Management
- Software used to ensure consistency, accuracy, and completeness of product details across all channels.
PL: Private Label
- A product packaged for sale under the name of the retailer instead of the manufacturer.
PLM: Product Lifecycle Management
- Overseeing a product from conception through design, manufacturing, delivery, and disposal.
RMA: Return Merchandise Authorization
- It’s a system that automates return processes, making it easy for customers to initiate returns, receive refunds or replacements, and streamlining merchandise processing for sellers.
SKU: Stock Keeping Unit
- It’s a machine-readable code that identifies a specific product. It varies from company to company.
STaaS: Storage as a Service
- STaaS separates storage from infrastructure, allowing users to buy digital storage capacity on-demand, eliminating the need to purchase and manage their own hard drives and data centers.
UPC: Universal Product Code
- It’s a machine-readable code that identifies a specific product and tracks basic information about the item.
WMS: Warehouse Management System
- It’s software that optimizes warehouse and inventory activities, including receipt, storage, procurement, and fulfillment, supporting scalable e-commerce workflows.
WOS: Wholesale Order System
- Software used to place and manage orders between wholesalers and retailers.
3. SaaS Acronyms
DaaS: Desktop as a Service
- DaaS provides a virtual desktop that users can access from any device, anywhere, offering cloud workspaces for remote users. The infrastructure, network resources, and cloud storage are hosted by the cloud service provider and streamed to the user’s device. All data and applications are accessible via a web browser or specific software.
DPA: Data Processing Agreement
- A data processing agreement is a contract between a company (the data controller) and a service provider (the data processor) that governs the processing of personal data for business purposes.
GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation
- GDPR is a regulatory framework that mandates how companies should protect and manage personal data. This data protection law enhances individual transparency and control over how businesses collect and use their information.
IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service
- IaaS is a cloud computing model that offers on-demand access to essential computing resources like storage, networking, and processing power.
MUP: Minimum Usable Product
- A SaaS product with the minimum features that make the product usable as intended for your intended public.
MVP: Minimum Viable Product
- A basic version of a product designed to meet essential needs, used to test and validate the concept with minimal resources.
PaaS: Platform as a Service
- PaaS is a platform that allows developers to build applications without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.
POC: Proof of Concept
- Proof of concept is a test to validate an idea by demonstrating its feasibility to determine if it warrants further investment and development.
RFP/RFI: Request for Proposal/Information
- An RFP outlines a project and its goals, inviting service providers to bid for its completion. It streamlines contractor selection by providing details on services, deliverables, and costs upfront.
SaaS: Software as a Service
- It’s a cloud-based subscription model that allows users to access software online without installing it on individual devices.
STaaS: Storage as a Service
- STaaS separates storage from infrastructure, allowing users to buy digital storage capacity on-demand, eliminating the need to purchase and manage their own hard drives and data centers.
TCV: Total Contract Value
- The total value of all the contracts that a customer has with your company. It includes the annual contract value of all their active subscriptions, as well as any other one-time fees or charges.
4. Amazon Acronyms
A10:
- Amazon’s algorithmic search engine that determines the order of products appearing in search results
AA: Amazon Associate
- It’s an affiliate program where members earn commissions by promoting Amazon products and directing traffic to the Amazon website through personalized links.
AAP: Amazon Advertising Platform
- A platform that allows businesses to create and manage ads that appear on Amazon’s website and other places online, helping them reach more customers.
AAX: Amazon Advertising Express
- It’s a simplified advertising tool designed to help small businesses easily create and manage effective ads on Amazon’s platforms.
ACaS: Amazon Customer and Services
- The comprehensive support and service infrastructure Amazon provides to assist and satisfy its customers.
ACS: Amazon Creative Services
- ACS offers professional design and creative solutions to sellers on Amazon, enhancing product listings and promotional materials.
ADR: Amazon Delivery
- The logistics and delivery operations Amazon uses to ship products directly to customers’ homes or designated pick-up locations.
AFN: Amazon Fulfillment Network
- Amazon’s system of warehouses and distribution centers that handle the storage, packing, and shipping of seller products globally.
AFR: Amazon Fulfillment Referral
- A program where Amazon refers sellers to approved third-party logistics providers to help with storage and fulfillment needs.
AGS: Amazon Global Selling
- A program that helps sellers expand their business internationally by selling products on Amazon’s worldwide marketplaces with advanced Amazon advertising.
AMG: Amazon Media Group
- AMG offers advertising solutions across Amazon’s platforms and devices, helping brands reach targeted audiences effectively.
AMZ: Amazon
- Amazon is a global eCommerce and cloud computing giant that offers a wide range of products and services, including online retail, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence technologies.
AMZL: Amazon Logistics
- It’s Amazon’s shipping and delivery service that manages the distribution and delivery of packages directly to customers’ doorsteps.
APN: Amazon Partner Network
- A global community of partners who build solutions and services for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem.
ARA: Amazon Retail Analytics
- ARA provides sellers with detailed data and insights about their sales performance and customer behavior on Amazon’s platform.
ARAP: Amazon Retail Analytics Premium
- ARAP offers advanced data and analytics tools to sellers enhancing their ability to monitor performance and optimize strategies on Amazon. It’s available as an add-on through Amazon Vendor Central.
ARS: Amazon Robotics Sortable
- Advanced robotics technology is used by Amazon to automate the sorting and handling of inventory in its fulfillment centers.
ARSAW: Amazon Robotics Semi-Automatic Workstation
- Amazon fulfillment centers have robotics to assist employees with packaging and sorting tasks.
ASIN: Amazon Standard Identification Number
- It’s a unique 10-character string that identifies a specific product on Amazon.
ASC: Associate Safety Committee
- Safety specialists within Amazon Fulfillment Centers. ASC members are responsible for identifying hazards, broken equipment, and unsafe employee practices to ensure workplace safety.
ASN: Advanced Shipment Notification
- An electronic packing list that vendors send to Amazon before product delivery.
AWS: Amazon Web Services
- Amazon’s cloud platform that offers on-demand cloud computing resources and APIs for individuals, enterprises, and governmental entities.
AZN: Amazon’s stock ticker symbol
- Amazon’s ticker symbol used to identify Amazon’s stock on the stock market.
BIL: Build International Listing
- A tool that allows sellers to create listings for multiple countries.
BISS: Business Industrial & Scientific Supplies
- A specialized selling category on Amazon, often restricted to specific sellers.
BMVD: Books, Media, Video, DVDs
- Categories encompassing products available on Amazon’s marketplace.
BR: Brand Registry
- Amazon BR offers a suite of tools to fortify and safeguard brands, enhancing customer experiences.
BSA: Business Services Agreement
- A contract between Amazon and its sellers, outlining terms, conditions, payment parameters, fees, and policies governing product listings, sales, and fulfillment.
BSR: Best Seller Rank
- It’s a comparison to the same category of products, showing how well the product is selling. The lower it is, the better
BTR: Born to Run (Vendor Central Replenishment Code)
- An Amazon Vendor Central Program allowing sellers to speed up the introduction of new products on Amazon.
CCR: Counterfeit Complaint Rate
- The frequency at which sellers receive complaints about the authenticity of their products regarding counterfeits.
CD: Continuous Deployment
- In Amazon’s Marketplace Web Services, CD refers to the practice of automatically preparing and deploying code changes to production with minimal manual approval.
COW: Consumer Order Workflow
- The complete process from when a buyer adds a product to their cart and completes the checkout.
CPU: Contracts Per Unit
- CPU measures customer service performance by tracking the number of order-related inquiries Amazon handles for each self-fulfilled unit shipped by the seller.
CRAP: Can’t Realize Any Profit
- Amazon labels a product as CRAP when it fails to generate profit because of high shipping costs, excessive inventory, or pricing issues.
CWGR: Compound Weekly Growth Rate
- CWGR calculates the weekly investment growth rate over a specific period, showing the weekly earnings from investments during that time.
DDP: Delivered Duty Paid
- It means that the supplier is responsible for delivering the goods, clearing for import and all applicable tariffs and duties.
DPMO: Defects Per Million Opportunities
- This metric measures the error rates and accuracy of a process by calculating the number of defects per million opportunities in a sample.
EAN: European Article Number
- AKA International Article Number. It’s a 13-digit string used to identify a product traded globally.
EBC: Enhanced Brand Content
- It’s a feature on Amazon that allows sellers to add images and text to their listings to convey a brand’s story.
EFN: European Fulfillment Network
- An option available for Amazon’s European sellers that allows them to sell in other Amazon marketplaces while fulfilling their orders from fulfillment centers in their home location.
EXW: EX Works
- It means that the seller is responsible for covering shipping costs from the factory or wholesaler while other transportation costs and risks are borne by the buyer.
FBA: Fulfillment By Amazon
- An Amazon program that allows third-party sellers to store their inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. When someone buys that product on Amazon, Amazon picks, packs, ships, and handles customer service on behalf of that third-party seller.
FBM: Fulfillment by Merchant
- FBM sellers are responsible for storing, picking, packing, shipping, and providing their own customer service to buyers.
FC: Fulfillment Center
- A large warehouse where products are stored, prepped, and shipped on behalf of Amazon and its third-party sellers.
FNSKU: Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit
- A 10-character string that identifies products unique to a seller.
GL String:
- Amazon’s GL String is a codification system for allocating costs accurately to the relevant Profit and Loss category.
GTIN: Global Trade Item Number
- Globally unique 14-digit identifier utilized to distinguish items, products, and services.
HBR: Hard-Bought Return
- A return that is not eligible for Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee.
HHT: Handling Time
- The time a seller needs to ship the product after receiving an order.
HSW: High-Sales Weighted
- A category of products with a high number of sales and a high level of competition.
IC: Inventory Central
- A tool that allows sellers to manage their inventory levels in Amazon’s warehouses.
ICQA: Inventory Control Quality Assurance
- A department at Amazon warehouses that is responsible for overseeing inventory to ensure accurate storage and accounting of stocks.
IPI: Inventory Performance Index
- A metric that measures the availability and accuracy of a seller’s inventory.
IRDR: Inventory Record Defect Ratio
- Inventory count comparing virtual and physical quantities. High IRDR means there are discrepancies between the recorded inventory and the actual inventory.
IUI: Item Under Inventory
- A product that is being investigated by Amazon for violations like counterfeiting.
LBB: Lost Buy Box
- It happens when Amazon’s algorithm prefers another seller’s offer causing a product to lose the Buy Box button.
LPL: Low Price Listing
- A product listing that is priced lower than other listings for the same product.
LTH: Long-Term Hold
- A product that is being held in Amazon’s warehouses for an extended period.
MCF: Multi-Channel Fulfillment
- Amazon’s MCF program extends FBA’s 3PL benefits to other channels, handling storage, shipping, and returns. Subscribers use consolidated inventory for both Amazon and external sales and incur fees.
MCI: Multi-Country Inventory
- An option at FBA that allows sellers to choose various countries where they want to send their inventory and have orders fulfilled by Amazon’s local fulfillment center.
MCF: Multi-Channel Fulfillment
- Amazon’s MCF program extends FBA’s 3PL benefits to other channels, handling storage, shipping, and returns. Subscribers use consolidated inventory for both Amazon and external sales and incur fees.
MWS: Amazon’s Marketplace Web Services
- A portal for Amazon sellers from where they can access their API key.
OM: Operations Manager
- Refers to an Amazon warehouse employee overseeing the daily operations of a specific department.
PDA: Product Display Ads
- A display advertisement where a product’s ad appears on Amazon’s category and product pages.
PNOV: Preliminary Notice of Violation
- An Amazon notification to sellers for potential rule violations.
PPV: Product Price Variance
- It occurs when a seller’s invoice item price differs from Amazon’s system data.
SC: Seller Central
- The web interface certain Amazon marketplace sellers use to manage their Amazon accounts. These sellers are considered to be third-party sellers.
SFP: Seller Fulfilled Prime
- It’s an Amazon Prime badge that FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant) sellers can earn by adhering to Amazon’s timeline for fast shipping, usually by Amazon’s approved carriers.
TOT: Time Off Task
- Any break an Amazon worker takes from scanning packages that is too long.
VA: Virtual Assistant
- A person who provides administrative support, such as bookkeeping, data entry, research, etc., while working remotely.
VC: Vendor Central
- Sellers who are members of Vendor Central are considered first-party sellers. They sell their products in bulk to Amazon, which then acts as a distributor for that seller.
5. Ebook Publishing Acronyms
APS: Amazon Print on Demand
- A feature offered by Amazon that allows authors to sell custom-designed books, which are printed and shipped only after a customer places an order.
IA: Indie Author / Independent Author
- An author who publishes their work themselves.
IP: Intellectual Property:
- Refers to work-for-hire based on a publisher or company’s specifications. It also includes themed series that are ghostwritten by multiple authors under a single pen name.
ISBN: International Standard Book Number
- A 10 or 13-digit string that identifies a specific book or an edition of a book.
KDP: Kindle Direct Publishing
- It refers to Amazon’s self-publishing platform.
KU: Kindle Unlimited
- It’s Amazon’s book subscription service. It includes self-published books that give Amazon exclusive ebook rights. If your book is enrolled in KU, you will receive payment based on the number of pages read by subscribers.
MG: Middle Grade
- It’s an age category targeted at readers from ages 8 to 12.
MMP: Mass Market Paperback
- Small paperback editions that are often produced more cheaply than other editions.
MS: Manuscript
- It refers to a complete book or the file containing said book.
MSWL: Manuscript Wishlist
- It’s a list of genres of a book that an agent or editor is currently looking for.
NA: New Adult
- It’s a contentious age category, intended for readers aged approximately 18 through their early-to-mid-twenties.
Royalty
- A percentage of each book’s sale price that is paid to the author.
RWA: Romance Writers of America
- It’s an organization of romance writers.
SFF: Sci Fiction and Fantasy
- An acronym for these genres.
YA: Young Adult
- An age category targeted toward readers from ages 12 to 18.
6. Mobile/Web Application Acronyms
API: Application Programming Interface
- A code that allows two software programs to communicate with one another.
CDN: Content Delivery Network
- A network that speeds up internet content delivery by distributing it across multiple geographically dispersed servers.
CMS: Content Management System
- It enables users to create, manage, and modify content on a website without needing specialized technical knowledge. E.g. WordPress.
CSV: Comma Separated Values
- It’s a simple data export format. Easily convertible by spreadsheet programs.
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets
- It’s a style sheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in HTML or XML.
DAM: Digital Asset Management
- DAM systems organize, store, and retrieve rich media and manage digital rights and permissions efficiently.
DNS: Domain Name System
- A DNS translates domain names (like www.example.com) into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other.
FTP: File Transport Protocol
- It refers to a cloud-hosted server for transferring files between parties with proper credentials.
IP: Internet Protocol
- IP is a set of rules governing the format of data sent via the internet or local network. Essentially, it’s how computers identify and communicate with each other. Search on Google or use an online tool to check IP.
QR Code: Quick Response Code
- It’s a type of barcode that stores information as a series of pixels in a square grid that is readable by digital devices.
RSS: Really Simple Syndication
- It’s a format for delivering regularly updated web content directly to subscribers through an RSS feed reader.
SSL: Secure Sockets Layer
- It’s a technology that encrypts data exchanged between a user’s browser and a website, ensuring secure and private online communications.
VAN: Value-Added Network
- It’s similar to FTP for transferring files, especially EDI documents, offering enhanced management features like configurable alerts and settings.
VPN: Virtual Private Network
- VPN creates a secure, encrypted connection over the internet, allowing private browsing and access to restricted networks from anywhere in the world.
XML: Extensible Markup Language
- XML files, more complex than CSVs, structure data using hierarchical parent and child “nodes” marked by opening tags (e.g., <Inventory>) and closing tags (e.g., </Inventory>). This allows for organized, nested data representation.
7. Marketing & Advertising Acronyms
A/B Testing: A (Control) vs B (Variant)
- A method to compare two versions of a copy, landing page, app design, etc, to determine which one performs better.
ACOS: Advertising Cost of Sales
- It’s an average percentage of how much you’ve spent on advertising regarding sales.
BR: Burn Rate
- The rate at which a company spends its cash reserves before achieving profitability.
CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost
- It’s the sum of all the costs associated with acquiring a customer, such as warehousing, fulfillment, marketing, and labor.
Churn Rate:
- The percentage of customers or users who stop using a company’s products or services over a given period.
CLV: Customer Lifetime Value
- The total profit from a customer, considering all associated costs. It informs marketing strategies like retention and upselling to scale e-commerce.
CPA: Cost Per Action
- A pricing model for paid promotions in which an advertiser pays for specified action such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
CPC: Cost Per Click
- It measures the expense of a click in a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign against sales conversions.
CPM: Cost Per Thousand Impressions
- A promotion method in which you pay each time a thousand people view your ad.
CR, CVR: Conversion Rate
- A percentage of website visitors or app users who take a desired action. CR = Users who took action divided by total number of visitors/users.
CRC: Customer Retention Cost
- The expenses incurred to keep existing customers engaged and continuing to use a service or product.
CRO: Conversion Rate Optimization
- It enhances sales by optimizing websites, listings, and marketing to improve user experience and reduce abandoned carts, boosting sales.
CSE: Comparison Shopping Engine
- A search engine that allows shoppers to compare product prices from several sellers.
CTA: Call-to-Action
- It directs customer actions in listings, websites, ads, and emails, guiding them through the sales funnel.
CTR: Click-Through Rate
- It’s a percentage of shoppers who see your ad and click on it. CTR = total clicks / total impressions.
DAS: Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Spend
- Amount of money spent on advertising directly to consumers, rather than through retailers or distributors.
DFA: Data Feed Optimization
- It means to improve structured product data for channels such as Amazon, Google Shopping, or Facebook.
ESP: Email Service Provider
- A platform that offers small marketing or communication services.
GA, GAU: Google Analytics (Universal)
- A tracking service offered by Google that reports website visitors, bounce rate, and other useful metrics.
GA4: Google Analytics 4
- It’s a Google’s event-based update to GA released in late 2020 and replaced GA in July 2023.
GTM: Go-to-Market
- A strategy outlining how a company will reach customers and achieve competitive advantage when launching a new product.
ICP: Ideal Customer Profile
- The characteristics of a company’s most valuable customers to target similar prospects effectively.
LTV: Customer Lifetime Value
- It’s a measure of the total profit a business expects from a customer throughout their relationship.
LTV:CAC: Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost Ratio
- The lifetime value of a customer compared to the cost of acquiring them.
MAU: Monthly Active Users
- The number of unique users who engage with a platform within a given month.
MER: Marketing Efficiency Ratio
- It measures the return on investment from marketing by comparing revenue generated to marketing spend.
MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service
- It allows sending messages that include multimedia content like images, audio, and video between mobile devices.
MQL: Marketing Qualified Lead
- A prospect who has interacted with a company’s marketing efforts and is more likely to become a customer based on specific engagement criteria.
MTA: Multi-Touch Attribution
- It analyzes the impact of each marketing touchpoint on a customer’s decision to convert, optimizing marketing efforts.
nCAC: New Customer Acquisition Cost
- It measures the expense incurred to acquire a new customer through marketing and sales efforts.
PMF: Product-Market Fit
- When a product satisfies strong market demand, demonstrated through high customer satisfaction and consistent growth.
PPC: Price Per Click, or Pay Per Click
- Also known as cost-per-click. A promotion that charges each time a seller’s ads gets clicked.
PPS: Pay-Per-Sale
- A promotion model charges sellers only when ads lead to sales, minimizing risk by ensuring ad costs are offset by revenue.
PQL: Product Qualified Lead
- A prospect who has shown interest or engagement with a product, indicating potential for conversion.
QBR: Quarterly Business Review
- A brief strategic assessment during which you analyze the past three months, assess the advancement of your objectives and devise a practical strategy to achieve each goal.
ROAS: Return on Ad Spend
- It’s a metric that gauges the effectiveness of an advertising campaign showing how much revenue is generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
SEM: Search Engine Marketing
- It’s a combination of paid ads, like Google Ads, and organic efforts to achieve higher placement on search engine results pages (SERPs).
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
- It encompasses strategies to improve search result rankings and accuracy on search engines and individual webpages.
SERP: Search Engine Results Page
- It displays the list of results returned by a search engine in response to a query.
SMS: Short Message Service
- It enables the sending and receiving of text messages between mobile phones using standardized communication protocols.
SQL: Sales Qualified Lead
- A prospect that has been evaluated and confirmed ready for direct sales follow-up.
SSM: Social Media Marketing
- It involves promoting products, services or brands through social media platforms to engage audiences and drive traffic.
UC: Unified Communications
- UC integrates various communication tools like email, voice, and video into a seamless system for more effective collaboration.
UGC: User-Generated Content
- It refers to any content created by users rather than brands.
WCS: Web Content Service
- Services, tools and platforms for creating, managing, and delivering content over the internet to enhance digital experiences.
WOM: Word of Mouth
- It refers to the sharing of information about a product or service through personal communication and recommendations.
8. General Business Acronyms
ATC: Average Transaction Cost
- The average expense incurred per transaction.
AUR: Average Unit Retail
- The average selling price of a single unit of a product.
B&M: Brick-and-Mortar
- It refers to a brick-and-mortar store, a physical retail location of a business.
B2B: Business-to-Business
- A business that is conducted between companies.
B2C: Business-to-Consumer
- A business that sells products directly to consumers.
BD: Business Development
- Process of finding new revenue opportunities.
CPO: Certified Pre-Owned
- It refers to used products that have been inspected, refurbished, and certified by the manufacturer.
DST: Direct Sales Team
- A team of individuals who focus on selling a company’s products or services directly to consumers without intermediaries.
EDI: Electronic Data Interchange
- It standardizes transactions like orders and invoices, offering enhanced security, speed, scalability, and cost savings.
GMV: Gross Merchandise Volume
- It represents the total sales value of a product sold through a marketplace over a specific period.
IPO: Initial Public Offering
- When a company first sells its shares to the public on a stock exchange.
MAP: Minimum Advertised Price
- Manufacturers with a MAP policy obligate retailers not to sell their products below the designated price.
NSO: New Store Opening
- Launch and initial operation phase of a brand new retail location.
OTB: Open-to-Buy
- Budgeting and planning tools that retailers use to manage inventory purchases and control merchandise spending.
PO: Purchase Order
- It’s an agreement in which a buyer commits to paying a supplier for specific goods or services, detailing the types, quantities, and prices.
POS: Point of Sale
- It refers to when and where a transaction happens, whether in-store or online. POS systems address challenges in managing both.
SLA: Service-Level Agreement
- It sets terms between a company and a vendor, establishing accountability and quality control to mitigate third-party risk.
SOC: Service Organization Control
- An SOC report verifies that an organization adheres to industry-specific best practices. It builds trust by requiring an assessment from a certified public accountant, ensuring independent validation.
SSS: Same-Store Sales
- Sales performance of a company’s stores that have been open for over a year.
TAM: Total Addressable Market
- An estimate of the overall revenue opportunity available for a product or service in a market.
TOS: Terms of Service
- It documents outline the obligations and permissible actions of both service providers and users within a business arrangement, with violations potentially leading to penalties or termination.
UPT: Units Per Transaction
- Average number of items purchased in a single transaction at a retail store.
9. Customer Service and User Experience Acronyms
CCC: Customer Care Center
- A department within a company that is responsible for providing customer service and support.
CDP: Customer Data Platform
- A CDP collects, organizes, and manages customer data from various sources to create a unified customer profile.
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
- CRM systems manage customer details, behaviors, and communications, supporting customer service, repeat business, and improving Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) in e-commerce.
CRR: Customer Retention Rate
- Percentage of customers a company retains over a specific period.
CS: Customer Support
- Helping customers, answering their questions, and resolving their complaints.
CX: Customer Experience
- Overall experience of a customer with a brand from initial contact to post-purchase.
NPS: Net Promoter Score
- Measures customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend a company’s product or service to others.
QA: Quality Assurance
- Ensuring that a product or service meets specified requirements and standards.
QC: Quality Control
- Ensuring that a product or service meets specified requirements and standards.
UI: User Interface
- Visual and interactive elements of a website, application or any other digital product through which users interact.
UX: User Experience
- All aspects of a user’s interaction with a company’s products or services, focusing on ease and enjoyment.
10. Financial Performance Acronyms
ACV: Annual Contract Value
- Average annual revenue generated from a single customer contract in a subscription-based business.
ARPA: Average Revenue Per Account
- Revenue generated per account, typically measured monthly or annually in a business.
ARPU: Average Revenue Per User
- Revenue generated per user or subscriber over a specific time.
ARR: Annual Recurring Revenue
- Yearly revenue expected from recurring subscriptions or contracts in a business model.
CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate
- The average annual growth rate of an investment over a specified period.
CAPEX: Capital Expenditures
- Funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, and maintain physical assets.
CM: Contribution Margin
- Sales revenue remaining after deducting variable expenses associated with producing a product.
CMRR: Committed Monthly Recurring Revenue
- Projected monthly revenue from all active and contracted subscriptions in a business.
COGS: Cost of Goods Sold
- It’s an accumulated total of all costs used to create a product which has been sold. This may include cost of materials, packaging, shipping, duty taxes, etc.
CPA: Cost Per Acquisition
- It covers all costs from brand awareness to sale completion, crucial for evaluating e-commerce marketing effectiveness and calculating accurate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
DAU/WAU/MAU: Daily/Weekly/Monthly Active Users
- Measures user engagement over different time spans.
EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization
- A company’s profitability before deductions for all non-operating expenses and losses from assets that deteriorate over time.
GMROI: Gross Margin Return on Investment
- A company’s ability to turn inventory into cash above the cost of inventory.
KPI: Key Performance Indicator
- These are metrics assessing the success of a business, product, or campaign.
mDAU: Monetizable Daily Active Users
- Daily users who can view or engage with ads on a platform.
MER: Minimum Effective Rate
- The lowest interest rate that still provides a lender with a desired profit margin.
MRR: Monthly Recurring Revenue
- Projected income a company expects from customers monthly.
NDR: Net Dollar Retention
- The revenue retained from existing customers over time.
NRR: Net MRR Retention
- Monthly recurring revenue generated from existing customers after accounting for upgrades, downgrades, and churn.
OPEX: Operating Expenses
- Costs related to running a business on a day-to-day basis.
P&L: Profit and Loss
- P&L reporting indicates profitability per sale, channel, product, or campaign, and Sellercloud tracks P&L across an entire omnichannel business.
ROI: Return on Investment
- ROI = (Gain from investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment. It’s the measurement of the profitability of a marketing action.
TTM: Trailing Twelve Months
- The past 12 consecutive months of a company’s financial performance data.
VAT: Value-Added Tax
- AKA Goods and Service Tax. It’s a consumption tax applied to products as value accumulates at each stage from production to sale.
YOY: Year Over Year
- YOY compares data from one period to the same period in the previous year to assess how business performed at that time.
YTD: Year-to-Date
- Period starting from the beginning of the current year up to the current date.
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