The PIM & E-Commerce Glossary for Brands

Every corner of the market has its own “language.” In e-commerce today, that language has taken on the tonalities of product management within the dialect of 2021 e-commerce.

Once upon a time, there was a sort of “retail language” for department stores, manufacturers of yore. It’s that same business vocabulary that has since branched off into the e-commerce jargon we know today.

Except… DO we know it? To be successful in e-commerce, it’s crucial to get to grips with e-commerce and product information management (PIM) terminology.

To make sure you have the lexicon you need to understand the exciting world of today’s e-commerce, here’s a quick guide of the terms that will help you thrive.

E-commerce

Average Order Value (AOV)

This metric measures the average amount that customers spend on individual transactions over a specific period of time.

Bundling

Bundling is a sales technique where the sale of multiple projects as a “package” deal gives customers access to those products for a cheaper price than the products would be if purchased individually.

Checkout Process

The checkout process includes the steps customers take when completing an online purchase (from clicking the “buy” button all the way to the confirmation page).

Customer Acquisition

This is the process (and the strategy) of attracting new e-commerce customers, from acquiring the traffic to converting that traffic to buyers.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

The CLV is the estimated total spend a customer makes with an e-commerce brand over the span of the customer’s relationship.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC or D2C)

DTC e-commerce brands sell their proprietary products directly to consumers (without retailers or wholesalers acting as middlemen).

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a sales fulfillment method where an e-commerce store sells third-party manufacturer stock. It’s the manufacturer, then, that fulfills the order once purchased.

Interactive Product Visualization (IPV)

IPV tools enable customers to view or visualize products in greater detail, or in the context of the products’ intended environments, before buying. For example, 3D and AR are used to give customers a more lifelike experience with products they’re considering.

Marketplaces (E-Marketplaces)

Marketplaces are online platforms where third-party retailers and brands sell products. The transactions are processed by the marketplace operator then fulfilled by the individual sellers. Today, Amazon is the world’s biggest marketplace.

Payment Gateway

This is the technology that processes payments on e-commerce websites. Stripe and PayPal are examples of payment gateways.

Social Commerce

A subset of e-commerce, social commerce refers to the selling of products directly on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Visual Search

Visual search enables customers to use photos instead of keywords to search for products on an e-commerce website. Visual search engines use photo recognition technology.

Wish List

A “wish list” acts as an alternative to basket holding (filling an e-commerce shopping cart with “nice-to-have” items the customer does not plan to buy in the moment). Wish lists are also useful when sharing with family and friends who might be shopping for a gift for that consumer.

PIM (Product Information Management)

Attribute

Attributes are properties assigned to products and individual parts of product data. All attributes are classified as a “type” of data, like number, free text, or default value.

Catalog Format

Catalog files each have a specified catalog file format, such as BMEcat, XLS, CSV, and others. The catalog format is used to determine the catalog data’s compatibility with an e-commerce site before loading product data.

Cross Media Publishing (CMP)

CMP is the process of publishing “media neutral” data across channels. For example, your product descriptions might be optimized differently on Amazon than they are on Walmart.com. Perhaps the product photos, however, are the same. This makes the photos “media neutral” and enables you to easily publish neutral media on multiple channels at once.

Data Field

Data fields like “Description” and “Manufacturer” are where specific product data is input to each channel. Every channel will have its own structure of product listings and, therefore, of data fields.

Data Source

Data source refers to the columns or cells a platform pulls data from when loading catalog information to a website or software.

Data Type

The data type indicates the category of a data source, like “customers,” “suppliers,” “discounts,” or others.

Enhanced Product Data

Enhanced product data is a brand’s best tool to stand out and sell on any channel because it’s highly visual. Enhanced product data includes:

• Enriched product descriptions (adding things like callouts and CTAs)
• Virtual product tours and 360-degree tours
• “View inside” experiences
• Product comparison charts
• Instruction manuals
• AR-immersive experiences (like a “virtual try-on”)
• Product photos and videos

Essential Product Data

Most essential product data is text-based, making it crucial for getting listings found in the first place. Essential product data includes:

• Product titles
• Product descriptions
• Feature bullet points
• Hero product image(s)
• Metadata
• Weight, size, and other physical specifications
• Technical specifications like speed, megapixels, etc.
• And any other specific specs for certain products like ingredients or warnings

Take note that the hero image is the only graphic included in essential product data. (The rest of product visualization is considered “enhanced” data.)

Product Information Management (PIM) Software

A PIM is a central “single source of truth” for product data, ensuring the easy aggregation and optimization of product information for multiple e-commerce channels.

Product Details Page

A product details page (also known as a product page or product listing) displays all the information a potential buyer might need before making a purchase. Product details pages are increasingly including more product data, including interactive product visualization.

Product Discovery

This is the process of a user arriving at an e-commerce site and only then discovering the product (which they might not have known about) that they want to buy.

Product Filters

Product filters enable users to reduce a large product catalog down to certain criteria, like a product type, price range, or manufacturer.

Product Online Value Proposition (Product OVP)

This refers to the unique benefits that differentiate one product from similar products.

Workflow

This is a defined sequence of steps in an established process that guides a professional or a whole team to a specific goal.