Glossary

Trying out two different versions of a webpage or product listing to see which one performs better.

AI agents are computer programs that can act on their own to do tasks for people, like answering questions, organizing data, or improving product pages. They use artificial intelligence to learn, make decisions, and keep working without needing someone to tell them what to do each step of the way.

AI indexing is how AI systems scan and understand content to decide what to show in search or chat responses. Good product data makes it easier for AI to pull your products into those results.

AI Overviews are the AI-generated summaries that appear in search engine results, giving users quick answers. Retailers need to ensure their product and content data is clear and accurate so they’re included in these summaries.

Using artificial intelligence to automatically label and classify products.

A way for different software systems to talk to each other and share data.

Agentic e-commerce refers to an model of online retail where autonomous, AI-driven agents act on behalf of retailers, brands, and even consumers to streamline, personalize, and optimize the entire commerce lifecycle. Rather than relying on static systems or manual workflows, agentic e-commerce enables self-directed digital agents to handle tasks like product content enrichment, merchandising, pricing, inventory allocation, and even customer engagement in real time.

Artificial intelligence is the ability of computers and software to do tasks that usually need human thinking, like learning, problem-solving, or making decisions.

Matching product details from different systems so they line up correctly.

Making sure product attributes use consistent wording and formatting (e.g., "Color: Red" vs. "color = red").

Labels that help track where a click, visit, or sale came from.

Using software or AI to sort products into the right categories.

Using AI or software to create product descriptions and other info automatically.

Processes that run by themselves to save time, like enriching product data or updating prices.

Blocking certain products from being listed or advertised, often due to rules or strategy.

A simple path at the top of a webpage that shows users where they are and how to go back.

A payment option that lets customers get the product now and pay over time.

BTD measures the percentage of product detail page (PDP) views that convert into actual buyers. It is a late-funnel KPI that acts as a truth test for product content quality, PDP conversion effectiveness, and merchandising alignment. Raising it directly boosts revenue without needing more traffic.

Organizing and updating all the products you sell in one system.

Matching your product categories with those used by marketplaces or retailers.

Making sure your product content is fully set up and optimized for a specific sales channel.

Customizing your product content to fit the rules and best practices of each sales channel.

An agentic commerce scenario whereby a consumer's personal AI agent acts as their proxy, interacting with various merchant agents to fulfill a request. It can be thought of as a consumers personal shopping assistant.

Missing pieces of information, like a product that doesn’t have a photo or description.

Rules and workflows that ensure product content stays high-quality, accurate, and brand-approved.

Changing product info to fit local languages, customs, and rules in different places.

The ability to quickly grow or update product content as your business adds more items or expands.

Context Graph is a rule system that guides AI through complex problems. In the case of retail AI, it sets rules and guidelines for where to find product information and which details matter most, helping it pull cleaner and more accurate data.

The percentage of visitors who take an action you want, like buying something or signing up.

How a customer feels and what they experience when interacting with a brand.

Fixing mistakes, removing duplicates, and organizing messy product data.

Removing repeated product entries so your catalog stays clean and accurate.

Data drift happens when the information an AI system was trained on changes over time, so its results get less accurate. In e-commerce, this can mean outdated product content hurting search results and sales.

A step-by-step process that collects and improves product info automatically.

A list of problems in your product data feed, like missing fields or invalid values.

Settings that automatically change or fix product data before it gets published.

Changing your product data format so it fits the needs of different platforms or systems.

Rules and processes to keep product data accurate, safe, and following the right standards.

Connecting data fields from one system to another so everything lines up correctly.

Making sure product info follows the same format across all listings and systems.

Making sure product info stays the same across different systems or platforms.

A system that stores and organizes images, videos, and other files related to products.

How products appear and are shown online across e-commerce sites and marketplaces.

Using tech to improve how your business runs and sells online.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) is a business model where companies sell their products or services directly to customers, bypassing intermediaries like retailers, wholesalers, or distributors. This approach allows brands to have more control over pricing, customer experience, and marketing.

A way of selling where the retailer doesn’t keep stock, instead the supplier ships directly to the customer.

When the same product info appears in multiple places, which can hurt SEO and confuse customers.

Automatically changing prices based on factors like demand, competition, or inventory.

Software that lets businesses sell products online, like Shopify or WooCommerce.

A barcode used worldwide to identify products, especially in retail.

A code eBay uses to recognize and categorize specific products.

Software that helps manage business tasks like inventory, finances, and orders all in one system.

Extra product content (images, videos, storytelling) on Amazon to make listings more engaging.

Guidelines or automations that help fill in missing product info or improve quality.

Explainable AI is a way to make AI decisions easier for people to understand. Retailers use it to see why an AI system made a certain recommendation or content change, which helps with building trust and maintaining compliance.

A way to narrow down product searches using filters like brand, price, or rating.

Tools that check your product data feed for errors or warnings before it goes live.

Organizing, cleaning, and updating your product feed to keep it accurate and up to date.

Software that helps clean up and improve your product data before it goes live.

A staging area to test your product data feed before publishing it live.

Ads that pull product info directly from a data feed, often used in Google Shopping or Meta.

The first steps in getting a product from the seller or warehouse to the customer.

Information collected directly from customers, like from purchases or sign-ups.

Information collected directly from customers, like from purchases or sign-ups.

A spreadsheet-style format often used to upload product data in bulk.

A search that still works even if there are typos or slight mismatches in what the customer types.

A unique product number used worldwide to identify and track items (like a barcode).

A plan for how you’ll launch and promote products to reach the right customers.

Generative AI is technology that can create new things like text, images, or product descriptions instead of just analyzing data. In e-commerce, it’s often used to write product copy, generate visual assets, or suggest content at scale.

GEO refers to the practice of optimizing content for generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, Google's BERT, or other large language models, which are used to create or deliver search results, recommendations, or responses. GEO focuses on improving how content is understood, processed, and delivered by AI systems, ensuring that it ranks higher in AI-generated content scenarios.

A system where the online store’s look and feel are separate from the backend systems that handle sales and inventory.

Hyperpersonalization means using real-time data and AI to give each shopper a unique experience, like showing the right products, offers, or content based on their behavior and preferences.

Making product images look great and load fast without slowing down the page.

A smarter search feature that uses AI to understand what customers are really looking for.

Keeping track of how much stock you have, what’s selling, and when to reorder.

A KPI is a measurable/quantifiable value that demonstrates how effectively an individual, team, or organization is achieving a business objective. KPIs are used to track progress towards specific goals and help determine whether a strategy or process is working as intended. KPIs can vary depending on the industry, company, and goals but are typically aligned with key business outcomes.

Automating actions based on where a product is in its sales journey, like launching, discounting, or retiring.

Improving your product pages so they show up in search and convert better.

Markers used to adjust content for different countries, languages, or regions.

More specific search phrases (like “black leather waterproof hiking boots”) that often attract buyers ready to purchase.

The lowest price a retailer is allowed to publicly display, set by the brand or manufacturer.

A website where many sellers offer products, like Amazon or Shopee.

Making sure product listings follow the rules and standards of platforms like Amazon or Lazada.

Mistakes in a product listing (like missing fields or invalid values) that can cause delays or rejections.

Making sure product listings and sales data match up between your system and the marketplace.

An agentic commerce model that involves a retailer’s AI agent interacting with other merchant agents to perform tasks, extending a retailer's capabilities beyond its own operations. In this scenario, merchant agents interact with other retailers' agents to source products, complete transactions, and fulfill orders, which creates a smooth experience for consumers.

Extra info about product data that helps organize and find it, like tags or labels.

Making sure product pages look good and work well on phones and tablets.

Selling your products on several online and offline platforms at the same time.

Adding completely new products to your catalog with full content and data.

Selling products in many ways (online, in-store, mobile) that all work together smoothly.

A plan for delivering a consistent shopping experience across all sales channels.

Notifications that let you know when a product runs out of inventory.

How often people who land on a product detail page end up buying.

A visual tool showing where shoppers click or scroll on a product detail page.

Making a product detail page more useful, clear, and convincing so people buy.

Customizing the shopping experience based on user behavior or preferences.

Tracking competitors’ prices using automated tools.

How much of a product’s detail is filled in (like color, size, weight, material).

Specific details about a product like color, size, weight, or material.

Adding labels like “New,” “Best Seller,” or “Limited Edition” to make products stand out.

Grouping related products together to encourage customers to buy more in one purchase.

Putting products into the right categories to help shoppers find what they need faster.

How well a product and its content match the rules and buyer behavior of a specific channel.

A way for customers to see how different products stack up side by side.

Making sure your products meet legal and platform-specific requirements.

Adding more details like descriptions, pictures, and specs to make product info better and clearer.

Product Content Management (PCM) is the process of creating, managing, and distributing all product-related content. This can include descriptions, images, and specifications published across various sales channels to ensure consistency, accuracy, and completeness. It helps retailers present products effectively, enhancing customer experience and searchability.

Product data activation is the process of using prepared product data in live systems. It occurs after product data has been cleaned, structured, and enriched, and involves applying that data to channels, tools, and workflows where it is needed to operate, sell, or analyze products.

Product data architecture (PDA) is the structure that organizes all the information about your products so it stays clean, complete, and easy to use across your business.

Making product info consistent across systems, especially when importing from different sources.

How accurate, complete, and reliable your product information is across channels.

A document that lists all the important specs and features of a product.

Tools that help send and update product info across many sales channels at once.

Keeping track of changes made to product info over time.

A written summary that tells shoppers what the product is and why they might want it.

The webpage where customers see all the details about a product.

Info about a product’s size, weight, or packaging, used for shipping and display.

The process of helping shoppers find the right products quickly and easily.

Sending product data from one system to another, usually in a file format like CSV or XML.

A group of related products that vary slightly, like color or size.

A file that lists product info (like name, price, image, etc.) and is used to share data with other platforms.

Setting times for when your product data updates automatically.

Checking your product data to make sure it’s correct and formatted properly before uploading.

Uploading product data into a system or platform from a file or feed.

Pre-made formats that help sellers fill in product data consistently.

A tool that keeps all product details in one place to make sure info is correct and up to date everywhere it’s used.

Managing a product from the idea stage all the way through to when it’s no longer sold.

The current phase a product is in such as launch, growth, or retirement.

Finding the same or similar items across different platforms to sync product info or compare listings.

Extra behind-the-scenes info about a product that helps with search and organization.

The process of adding new products and making sure all their content is correct and complete.

The percentage of visitors who leave a product page without clicking or buying.

A structured format that helps search engines better understand your product info.

Keeping tabs on where a product is in its journey from onboarding to live listing.

Sending product info out to lots of online stores and sites automatically.

A delay between updating product info and seeing it reflected across sales channels.

Adding labels or keywords to products to help organize them and make them easier to find.

A way to group products into categories and subcategories to keep things organized.

A visual breakdown of product categories and subcategories in a hierarchy.

Improving product names so they’re clear, keyword-rich, and easy to understand.

Adding new product info to a website, platform, or database.

The process of checking that product info is complete, correct, and ready to go live.

A version of a product that differs in size, color, or other features.

How easy it is for customers to find your products online.

Checking product info carefully to make sure it’s accurate and complete before it’s shown to customers.

Product info changes (like price or stock) that update instantly across platforms.

Switching from one e-commerce or tech system to another.

Software that automatically adjusts your prices based on rules or market changes.

Tools and reports that help you understand product performance and shopper behavior.

Sharing enriched product content with retailers so they can display it correctly.

Ads and promotions shown inside online stores to help products get noticed and sell better.

A platform or login area where sellers manage their products on a retailer’s site.

An AI technique that improves accuracy by retrieving specific, trusted source content such as documents, tables, or pages and using that information directly when extracting or generating results. This approach reduces errors, prevents data mixing, and ensures outputs remain grounded in the original source material.

High-quality visuals like videos, 360° images, or interactive content used to showcase products online.

Ways to help product pages show up higher in search engine results like Google.

A unique code used to identify each individual product for tracking inventory and sales.

How well an individual product is selling or converting across channels.

Reviewing your product lineup to remove poor performers or duplicates.

Looking at sales and performance data for each specific product.

Controlling how products show up in search results based on strategy, not just relevance.

How closely a product matches what someone is looking for in a search.

The percentage of stock that actually sells over a certain time period.

Product info that hasn’t been updated in a while and may be outdated or inaccurate.

Organized info (like specifications or features) that helps search engines understand your products purpose, features, and benefits.

Automatically sharing product info across different online stores and marketplaces.

A site where other companies or individuals can sell their products, like Shopee or Amazon.

A 12-digit code used mainly in North America to track and identify retail products.

How easy and enjoyable it is for people to use a website or app.

A product made by one company but sold under another brand’s name.