E-commerce glossary — All terms explained

CMS & Platforms

PrestaShop: French open-source e-commerce CMS launched in 2007. Particularly suited for complex catalogs (>500 products), B2B, multi-store. Current versions: 8.x and 9.x. Maintained by PrestaShop SA. PHP/Symfony codebase. Guide: migrating to PrestaShop 8 →
Shopify: Canadian SaaS platform (2006) hosting the store. Monthly subscription model (€30 to €2,000/mo). Ideal for fast launch, B2C, DTC marketplaces. Back-office customization limited. Shopify vs WooCommerce →
WooCommerce: Free e-commerce plugin for WordPress (acquired by Automattic in 2015). Ideal for medium catalogs (<300 products) combined with editorial content. Very large plugin ecosystem. Shopify vs WooCommerce →
Magento / Adobe Commerce: Robust e-commerce CMS for large structures (revenue >€5M). Steep learning curve, expensive hosting. Adobe Commerce is the commercial cloud version. E-commerce projects delivered →
Headless commerce: Architecture where front-end (storefront) is decoupled from back-end (catalog, cart, orders) via APIs. Enables ultra-custom and performant UI (Next.js, Nuxt) with a robust CMS for management. More complex, recommended above €1M annual revenue. Premium package (headless) →

Performance & Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals: Three performance metrics defined by Google that directly influence SEO since 2021: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint, must be <2.5s), INP (Interaction to Next Paint, <200ms), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift, <0.1). Guide: optimising performance →
LCP: Largest Contentful Paint: time for the largest visible element (hero image, H1) to render. Target: <2.5s. Above 4s, it's red in Search Console. Guide: optimising performance →
INP: Interaction to Next Paint (since 2024, replaces FID). Measures site responsiveness to user interactions (click, scroll, typing). Target: <200ms. Penalizing if above 500ms. Guide: optimising performance →
CLS: Cumulative Layout Shift: measures unexpected visual shifts during loading (image pushing text, cookie banner shifting layout, late ad). Target: <0.1. Guide: optimising performance →
Lighthouse: Free Google audit tool (built into Chrome DevTools) that evaluates Performance, Accessibility, SEO, and Best Practices. Score 0–100. For serious e-commerce, aim for >90 on mobile. Guide: optimising performance →
CDN: Content Delivery Network. Geographically distributed server network delivering static assets (images, CSS, JS) from the nearest point to the user. Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, AWS CloudFront. Essential above a few thousand visits/day. Guide: choosing hosting →
WebP / AVIF: Modern image formats 30–70% smaller than JPEG/PNG at equivalent quality. WebP is universally supported; AVIF (even more efficient) at 95%.

SEO

SEO: Search Engine Optimization. Techniques to improve site ranking on Google and other engines. Three pillars: technical (speed, structure, mobile), content (keywords, quality, length), popularity (backlinks, social signals). Guide: local SEO →
Schema.org / JSON-LD: Structured data vocabulary (microdata) describing page content in a search-engine-friendly way. JSON-LD is the recommended format. Essential for rich snippets (stars in results, prices, expandable FAQ, etc.).
Search Console: Free Google tool showing how your site is indexed (impressions, clicks, position, queries). Essential for monitoring Core Web Vitals, submitting a sitemap, identifying indexing errors.
GA4: Google Analytics 4. Successor to Universal Analytics (since July 2023). Event-based model, no longer session-based. More complex to configure but much more powerful for e-commerce.
Sitemap: XML file listing all site URLs, their modification dates and priorities. Submitted to Search Console to speed up indexing. On PrestaShop, the gsitemap module generates this file automatically.
Backlink: Inbound link from another site to yours. Major ranking factor. One quality backlink (authoritative site in your topic) is worth more than hundreds of low-quality ones. Guide: local SEO →
Core Update: Major Google algorithm update (3–4 per year, named like 'March 2024 Core Update'). Can win or lose 30–70% of traffic in days. Unpredictable, managed by editorial quality and domain authority.

Payment & Security

Stripe: Payment platform (USA, founded 2010), leader for developers. Clean API, powerful dashboard, native support for subscriptions, marketplaces (Stripe Connect), 3DS2. Fees: 1.4% + €0.25 in Europe.
3DS2: 3-D Secure 2: strong authentication standard (since 2019, mandatory in EU since 2021 via PSD2). Customer validates the transaction via mobile/biometrics/SMS. Reduces fraud but can increase abandonment if poorly integrated.
PSP: Payment Service Provider. Provider managing payment collection (Stripe, PayPlug, Mollie, Adyen). Different from bank gateway (Banque Populaire, CIC). Modern PSPs integrate everything: gateway + dashboard + anti-fraud.
PCI DSS: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Mandatory security standard for all sites processing card data. Going through a PSP like Stripe covers you without certification (SAQ-A mode). Guide: securing your site →
RGPD: General Data Protection Regulation (May 2018). Applies to any site processing European user data. Requirements: explicit consent, access/erasure rights, processing register, DPA with sub-processors. Fines up to 4% of global revenue. GDPR e-commerce checklist →
CNIL: French data protection authority. Issues recommendations and GDPR fines. Very active on cookies and tracking since 2021. GDPR e-commerce checklist →

Hosting & Infra

Shared hosting: Multiple sites share one server. Economical (€3–15/mo) but limited in performance and CPU. Suitable for a showcase site or an e-commerce site with <100 visits/day. OVH, o2switch, Infomaniak.
VPS: Virtual Private Server. Dedicated virtualized server, guaranteed resources (CPU, RAM, SSD). €5–200/mo depending on resources. Suitable for e-commerce sites with 100–5,000 visits/day. OVH, Hetzner, DigitalOcean. Guide: choosing hosting →
Managed cloud: High-performance hosting with auto-scaling, monitoring, backups included. E-commerce specialized platforms: Platform.sh, Cloudways, Hipex (FR). €50–500/mo. Recommended above €100K annual revenue.
SSL / TLS: HTTPS encryption certificate. Mandatory in 2026 (Google demotes HTTP sites). Let's Encrypt provides free certificates renewed every 90 days. Essential for SEO and trust. Guide: securing your site →

Marketing & Conversion

Conversion rate: Percentage of visitors who place an order. E-commerce average: 1–3% (standard B2C), 0.5–1.5% (B2B), 3–5% (well-optimized DTC). Above 5%, you're very good or have ultra-qualified traffic.
Panier moyen: Average order value (AOV). Major growth lever: increasing AOV by 20% often has more impact than growing traffic by 20%. Tools: cross-sells, upsells, free shipping above €X. Guide: abandoned cart recovery →
Cart abandonment: Percentage of customers who add to cart then leave without ordering. Industry average: 70%. Main causes: surprise shipping costs, lengthy checkout, lack of payment methods, no guest checkout.
A/B testing: Testing method where two page versions are randomly shown to 50/50 of visitors to measure which converts better. Tools: Google Optimize (discontinued 2023), VWO, AB Tasty, Optimizely. Requires at least 1,000 conversions per variant for statistical significance.
CAC / LTV: CAC = Customer Acquisition Cost. LTV = Lifetime Value. Healthy LTV/CAC ratio: >3. Below 1, you lose money on every customer.

Tech & Dev

PHP: Dominant server-side language in e-commerce (PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Magento are PHP). Current stable version: PHP 8.3. PrestaShop 9 requires PHP 8.1+.
Symfony: French PHP framework (SensioLabs, since 2005). Technical base for PrestaShop 8/9, Drupal, eZ Platform. Solid architecture, robust ecosystem.
API REST: Standard architecture for inter-system communication via HTTP. Each resource has a URL, manipulated via GET/POST/PUT/DELETE. Essential for integrations (ERP, CRM, marketplaces, headless).
Webhook: URL automatically called when an event occurs in a third-party system (Stripe, PayPal, Brevo). Allows real-time reaction without polling.
Git: Version control system, created by Linus Torvalds. Essential for any serious project. GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket are the main hosts.
CI/CD: Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment. Automated pipeline that tests and deploys code on every commit. GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins. Standard practice since 2020.

E-Commerce-Glossar.

CMS & Platforms

Performance & Web Vitals

SEO

Payment & Security

Hosting & Infra

Marketing & Conversion

Tech & Dev

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