Getting started with an online Shopify is an easy task without any external help. But there are some terminologies that a new user may not always be familiar with initially, and a Shopify glossary is needed.
Since we started learning about Shopify, we felt the need to have a list of terms in front and decided to curate the same list for fellow users of the Shopify community.
700 million Shopify users are predicted to be part of Shopify by 2023, there will naturally be many users wondering what dropshipping, POS, SKU, and SSL mean. We took this as a sign and came up with 65 terms to ease the transition for new users.
Let’s learn more!
List of 65 Ultimate Shopify Glossary: Reference Guide
We curated this list of 65 terms related to a Shopify store below. The definitions are not official definitions of these terms but only a simplified explanation of what these terms stand for:
1. Abandoned Cart
An abandoned cart is when a customer picks something to buy from the store but does not purchase it. The reasons can be a change of mind, the customer was just browsing, or anything.
It is an essential parameter for Shopify business owners to understand what the customers are thinking and their likes and dislikes. This helps in boosting sales and improving the product.
2. Abandoned cart recovery
Abandoned cart recovery is related to retrieving customers who added items to their online shopping cart but left the website before completing their purchase.
It’s a highly efficient marketing strategy and involves sending reminders to the customer via email or display ads.
Shopify provides this service through automatic emails to keep users interested in incomplete purchases.
3. Add to cart
‘Add to cart’ is where a customer chooses an item to buy. Similar to a physical shopping experience, the user can choose to buy or skip the cart products at the time of checkout.
4. API
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and engage with each other.
The Shopify API facilitates users fetching product information, processing orders, tracking inventory, and coordinating their data with Shopify and other systems.
5. Average Order Value (AOV)
‘Average Order Value’ (AOV) is an important business metric. It states the average order placed with a merchant over a period.
6. Back end
The ‘back end’ of a Shopify store stands for the technical and behind the scene activities of a store. These can include SEO optimization, inventory management, shipping, and analytics.
7. Blog
A blog is a platform where individuals share their thoughts on a certain topic via articles on the internet.
On Shopify, users use the in-built feature to build good online content related to the product they are selling and eventually gain traction on their websites.
8. Bounce rate
‘Bounce rate’ is an analytical term that shows the percentage of visitors who visit a site and then leave almost immediately. A high bounce means that the visitors are not satisfied with the content.
9. Buy Button
Shopify’s ‘Buy Button’ lets you sell your product across sales channels like Instagram, blogs, newsletters, and websites.
10. Checkout
The checkout is the final phase of the buying cycle for the customer. A platform to verify their selections, shipping address, and payment methods Here, customers review their cart, enter shipping information, choose payment methods, apply discount codes, and complete the purchase.
11. Collection
In Shopify, ‘Collection’ is a selection of products of a certain type displayed together for easier user navigation. These can be based on a project, type, size, color, or weather too!
12. Conversion rate
‘Conversion rate’ represents the number of people who complete a certain process. This includes buying of a product, saving it in a list, joining a newsletter, etc.
13. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
This economic term represents the costs bared by the business in the entire manufacturing cycle of the product.
In business terms, this figure holds a high value because it helps calculate the gross profit earned by the company.
14. CSV file
A CSV (comma-separated values) file is a simple text file that organizes data in a table-like structure, with values separated by commas. Transferring large volumes of data (product or customer) for reporting is helpful.
15. Dashboard
The ‘dashboard’ is a representation of the Shopify platform, which gives users an overview of their performance. It shows updates on the sales, number of orders, and online store visitor analytics.
16. Discounts
Discounts allow store owners to offer their products at discounted prices. This creates an impression of value among the buyers.
Different discounts include a certain percentage off on a product or a particular type of collection.
17. Domain name
It is the identity of your website on the internet and mainly includes the store/website name and then the domain name. Some common domains on the internet are – .com, .org, .gov, .edu, .net and more.
Depending on the domain and the availability, Shopify offers custom domains at different rates(for example, choicehoodies.com)
18. Dropshipping
“Dropshipping” is a hot term associated with Shopify. One of the side hustles involves buying and selling a product without actually manufacturing, storing, or shipping a product.
Learn how to Dropship on Shopify effectively and start your dropshipping venture today here.
19. Ecommerce
It is short for ‘Electronic commerce,’ meaning having a business online over the Internet. It involves buying and selling goods and services in exchange for money.
Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms helping an entrepreneur launch their product to the whole world.
20. Email marketing
This involves reaching your potential or past customers via email. This is a great way to foster relationships via newsletters and other activities.
Shopify offers apps for the same purpose and provides its own ‘Shopify Email’ for users to integrate into their store.
21. Facebook pixel
‘Facebook pixel‘ is a code Facebook provides to business owners for valuable information for campaigns, to identify target audiences, and to understand user behavior.
22. Flipping
Another popular Shopify side hustle includes buying a store, putting it through maintenance work, running an audit, improving its performance, and selling it at a higher price than the buying price.
This is a great secondary revenue source for seasoned Shopify users seeking additional income.
23. Fulfillment
Fulfillment is fulfilling a user order in E-commerce. It involves all the users’ stages, from buying to receiving.
24. Front end
The front end is the face of a Shopify store. It involves the visual aspects of the store and the aesthetic and usability elements.
25. Gift Card
This is a promotional coupon offered to a customer that holds a specific value. They can encash the same at the time of checkout for a discount on the product price.
These can hold a one-time credit or act as a debit card for multiple uses.
26. Gross profit
Gross profit is a financial term that represents a company’s financial performance over a period of time, excluding operational costs, interest, and taxes.
It’s calculated by subtracting the costs of goods sold from the generated revenue.
27. HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a standard language for creating web pages. It uses small codes guiding web browsers to display content on a webpage called ‘tags.’
28. Inventory management
Inventory management refers to tracking the commodity stock whenever it is manufactured or sold. It involves proper data keeping and management of stock and its movement.
Shopify provides an in-built inventory management tool within your Shopify store. It helps a user easily track their manufacturer lead and delivery time.
29. Landing page
A landing page is a webpage where a user arrives after clicking an advertisement with the intention of making the user take action.
These include signing up for a free trial, mailing list, or stock update alerts.
30. Merchandising
‘Merchandising’ is the promotional activity of existing products. Some of these activities include showcasing a product, samples and giveaways, product demonstrations, and associations with celebrities.
31. Multichannel selling
This refers to selling the products on multiple platforms and channels. These include your Shopify store, a brick-and-mortar store, and social media stores like Amazon and Facebook.
This provides a broader customer base and lets the user sell their product wherever the customer feels comfortable buying it.
32. Navigation
Navigation is the track that a user follows while visiting a website. It’s the way that a customer chooses to explore the website.
This includes going to the homepage, selecting a product, checking the variations, inserting shipping details, and processing payment on the checkout page.
33. Net profit
Net profit means the net income or earnings left after deducting all the operating expenses like shipping, Shopify fees, workforce, and other operating costs of the company.
34. Niche
A niche is basically a unique segment that exists in a market – which can cater to market demand. This allows brands to create their own identity within a crowded market and drive popularity by being unique and targeting a specific audience.
An example of a niche product is apparel made from recycled plastics.
35. Order management
Order Management refers to the cycle of a product. This includes stages like payment, shipping, tracking, and delivery.
It is the process to ensure the smooth flow of all the stages and execute the order as per the company standards.
36. Page views
This is a term to track the website’s visits from internet users. This helps understand how much time a user likes to spend on a particular page and website.
37. Payment gateway
This is a process to validate their purchase, process payments via credit cards for the product bought, and link credit card carriers with the Shopify store.
Shopify payment getaways support many payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, WorldPay, and Amazon Pay. You can also use Shopify’s own payment getaway to skip the transaction fees.
38. Plugins
These are extensions that help you add more to existing software, like browser extensions for reading, searching, and entertainment purposes.
With Shopify, plugins essentially mean the apps that are available on the Shopify app store that can handle additional tasks like email and marketing for a business owner.
Bonus: Get the best out of your Shopify store with our handpicked selection of Shopify apps.
39. Point of Sale (POS)
“Point of Sale” (POS) refers to the physical location of your Shopify store where products and payments are exchanged physically.
BONUS: Check our detailed Shopify POS Review here.
This makes selling your product easier at places like pop-ups, exhibitions, and promotional events. allowing users to take payments.
40. Print on demand
Another way to start a Shopify side hustle is print on demand, which refers to all the print on demand related businesses that a Shopify store owner can run.
These can include custom T-shirts, mugs, posters, or any other customized goods with very low risk and lesser cap.
41. Product Description
This refers to the field that includes the details and specifications of your product. In Shopify, this is really important as it helps the user decide on the product and make a purchase.
Shopify offers an AI-assisted feature that lets users select the mood and product features to generate a description.
42. Product feed
A feed that contains all your product info. It is useful in helping users decide on comparison pages of an online shopping platform like Google Shopping and Facebook marketplace.
43. Product page
This is a webpage for the product with all the necessary details like the product name, material, images, variants, price availability, and features.
44. Product variant
A variant is an option available for a particular product (e.g., product size, colors, pattern). Shopify lets you create 3 options for a product and a product variant within that option.
45. Retargeting
This refers to reaching out to potential customers through ads and their cookie history. This is a common digital marketing approach to gain the interest of lost customers once again.
46. Return on Investment (ROI)
A common term is used to gauge a particular investment’s profitability or benefit. This is calculated by taking the difference between the amount spent and the benefited amount, dividing the result by the amount spent, and multiplying it with 100 for a percentage value.
47. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This process showcases a product on a search engine with an organic approach. This is achieved with the effective use of keywords and relevant information to that particular keyword and other strategies to gain the search engine’s attention.
Check some of the interesting SEO statistics here.
For Shopify, SEO is important as it helps your product to be displayed above your competition. The more visibility for a product, the greater the chances of conversions.
Bonus: Here is our comprehensive checklist to do SEO on Shopify.
48. Shipping
Inside e-commerce, ‘Shipping’ plays a primary role as it helps in the transit of the product from the manufacturer to the buyer’s doorstep.
Choosing the right shipping partner is really important for a Shopify store, and the shipping charges for an order vary depending on the location and merchant.
49. Shipping zones
These refer to the geographical areas where your products can be delivered. Depending on the zone, the logistics and the commercials would depend.
50. Shop Pay
This is Shopify’s feature to accelerate a user’s purchase. This helps store a customer’s email, delivery, billing, and card info to facilitate future purchases by the customer.
51. Shopify analytics
This is a tool offered by Shopify within its features. This helps track the brand performance, get you statistical data about users, inventory, budgets, and spending.
This is a great asset for locating the strengths and weaknesses of a Shopify store and is also helpful for report generation and presentations.
52. Shopify Email
An e-mail tool provided by Shopify for you to create your emailing lists for any promotional content you publish, newsletters, stock updates, and important announcements. For more information on email marketing, check our researched baked statistics here.
This also lets you send automated communications to the customer depending on the buying stage that they are in.
53. Shopify Flow
This is an application offered by Shopify to create smooth workflows and automate repetitive tasks. It is a free tool that integrates with Slack, Gmail, Google Docs, Trello, Asana, and Klaviyo.
Shopify Flow helps straighten the process of orders, tracking inventory, managing customers and their payments, and promotional activities for your store.
54. Shopify Plus
It is a premium service offered by Shopify catering to large-scale vendors or businesses. It provides advanced features with greater freedom for automation and customization.
See if buying a Shopify Plus subscription is the right choice for your business with our comparison of Shopify vs Shopify Plus.
55. Side hustle
A side hustle is a way to generate a secondary source of income along with an existing full-time job or business.
This is a trending way to generate income as this requires little to no extra effort for an individual. These side hustles are often related to their primary income source. This allows greater flexibility to work and earn on your terms.
If you are curious to learn more, you can check out our Shopify side hustles to start in 2023.
56. SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, a distinct code used to tag a product. This helps identify the product with its size, color, and variants.
These are not visible to a buyer and are only relevant to the backend operators and users.
57. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
‘SSL’ stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a technology that provides secured encrypted links that allow secure payment processes.
58. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
An SOP is a guideline to do a particular task, mainly procedures that are to be followed daily. An SOP provides a piece of step-by-step information with all the DOs and DONTs related to the procedure.
This ensures higher efficiency, consistency, a smooth workflow and acts as a cheat sheet for any trouble faced.
59. Templates
A template in Shopify refers to a set layout or guideline for a website. This refers to how the website interacts with the buyer, the ratios of website elements, their use, and how they react to customer interaction.
60. Theme
A theme is also a template with colors and moving parts that appeal to the website’s aesthetic. For e.g., on a homepage, the theme elements involved can be – colors, fonts, font style, image layouts and header, welcome banner, and footer placements.
61. Third-party apps
These apps crafted by developers other than Shopify give an extra arm to your Shopify Store.
These include administration, email, marketing, and analytical tools that would elevate your Shopify experience.
62. Transaction fee
For users not using the Shopify payments getaway, Shopify charges a certain percentage rate for each transaction processed.
The transaction fees for the Shopify plans for – Basic, Shopify, and Advanced are 2%, 1%, and 0.5%, respectively. What’s more, you can signup for Shopify free trial from here.
63. Upselling
Upselling is a sales technique to increase the user’s spending on a particular product. This involves mastered techniques like showcasing premium products first to the customer, suggesting outfit ideas, and showing accessories and product care equipment.
64. User Experience (UX)
User Experience – UX means the feeling a user gets after using a particular product. In e-commerce, UX covers all the website-related aspects, like the look and feel of the website, the sound effects, the website design, listed products, and their variations.
A smooth UX affects the user mindset and eventually builds a sense of trust and likeability toward the product.
65. Wish list
A wish list is a way that a user can bookmark his/her favorite products that they want to review later. This list provides insight into the customer’s mind and helps understand their behavior.
Bonus reads:
These are some of the key terms that you, as a new Shopify store owner, would come across under the E-commerce umbrella. Keep this list handy or stuck on your workboard for quick access.
New users can often find themself stuck and overwhelmed with all the technicalities while starting their e-commerce venture. This list can help you learn the ropes quicker and be a knowledgeable member of the e-commerce community.
We got comfortable with Shopify only when we actually started using it. Read our thoughts on Shopify and how we liked it.
Happy learning!
