E-commerce & Retail Abbreviations
75 abbreviations · part of Business & Finance Abbreviations
Abbreviations used by online sellers, marketplaces, payment providers and physical retailers, covering store performance metrics, checkout and payments, Amazon selling, pricing policies, promotions and the condition codes found in resale listings. Retail metrics such as AOV, UPT and like-for-like sales are explained with their formulas. Where practice differs by country, such as RRP in the UK, MRP in India or cash on delivery in South Asia and the Middle East, entries note the regional usage.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 3DS | 3-D Secure | Card authentication protocol that adds a verification step to online payments, such as approving in a banking app or entering a one-time code, shifting liability for… |
| ACoS | Advertising cost of sale | Amazon advertising metric equal to ad spend divided by sales attributed to ads, expressed as a percentage. |
| AOV | Average order value | Average amount a customer spends per order, calculated as total revenue divided by number of orders over a period. |
| ASIN | Amazon Standard Identification Number | Ten-character alphanumeric code Amazon assigns to each product in its catalog, used to identify listings, variations and advertising targets. |
| ASP | Average selling price | Average price at which units of a product or category actually sell, after discounts, calculated as revenue divided by units sold. |
| ATC | Add to cart | Button or action that places a product in an online shopping cart, and the metric tracking how often shoppers take that step. |
| ATV | Average transaction value | Average amount spent per transaction in a store or on a channel, calculated as total sales divided by the number of transactions, the in-store counterpart of average… |
| AVS | Address Verification Service | Card fraud check that compares the numeric parts of the billing address and postal code entered at checkout with those on file at the card issuer, returning a match… |
| BFCM | Black Friday Cyber Monday | Shopping period from Black Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving, through Cyber Monday, the following Monday, now the most important sales weekend of the year for many… |
| BIN | Buy It Now | Names the fixed-price option on eBay and similar auction sites that lets a buyer purchase immediately instead of bidding. |
| BNIB | Brand new in box | Resale listing shorthand for an item that is unused and in its original box, an emphatic form of NIB common in UK and gaming hardware listings. |
| BNPL | Buy now, pay later | Short-term financing offered at checkout that splits a purchase into installments, commonly four payments over six weeks with no interest if paid on time, provided by… |
| BNWT | Brand new with tags | Listing condition for unworn clothing or accessories with original labels attached, the British form of NWT used on eBay UK and Vinted. |
| BOGO | Buy one, get one (free) | Describes a retail promotion in which buying one item earns a second free or at a discount, as in "BOGO 50% off." Grocery stores, pharmacies and clothing retailers use… |
| BOPIS | Buy online, pick up in store | Fulfillment option in which shoppers order online and collect the items at a nearby store, often within hours, avoiding shipping fees and delivery waits. |
| BORIS | Buy online, return in store | Policy allowing customers to return online purchases at a physical store instead of shipping them back, saving return postage and often prompting an exchange or new… |
| BSR | Best Sellers Rank | Amazon's ranking of a product's recent sales relative to others in the same category, where a lower number means more sales. |
| COD | Cash on delivery | Payment method in which the customer pays the courier in cash, or sometimes by card or mobile payment, when the order is delivered, instead of paying online in advance. |
| CPG | Consumer packaged goods | Products that people use up and replace frequently, such as food, beverages, toiletries, cosmetics and household cleaners, sold in packages through supermarkets… |
| CRO | Conversion rate optimization | Systematic process of increasing the share of website or app visitors who complete a goal, such as buying or signing up, through research, analytics, usability testing… |
| DOA | Dead on arrival | Term for a person found to be dead when EMS arrives or when brought to the emergency department, with no resuscitation attempted or indicated. |
| EAS | Electronic article surveillance | Anti-theft system using tags or labels on merchandise that trigger an alarm at store exits unless deactivated or removed at checkout. |
| EDLP | Everyday low pricing | Retail pricing strategy that keeps prices consistently low instead of running frequent temporary sales, reducing advertising and promotional costs and making demand… |
| EPOS | Electronic point of sale | British and European term for a computerized checkout system that scans items, processes card payments, prints receipts and records sales and stock movements in real… |
| EUC | Excellent used condition | Grades a used item as showing little or no wear, common in marketplace, parent-group and resale-app listings for clothing, baby gear and furniture. |
| FBA | Fulfillment by Amazon | Amazon program in which sellers send inventory to Amazon warehouses, and Amazon stores, picks, packs, ships and handles customer service and returns for those orders… |
| FBM | Fulfilled by merchant | Amazon selling option in which the seller stores and ships orders from its own facility or a third-party logistics provider, rather than using Amazon's warehouses. |
| FMCG | Fast-moving consumer goods | Low-priced products sold quickly and in high volumes, such as packaged food, drinks, toiletries and over-the-counter medicines, with thin margins per unit but large… |
| FNSKU | Fulfillment network stock keeping unit | Amazon-assigned barcode that identifies a specific seller's units in Amazon fulfillment centers, printed on labels applied to each item sent to FBA. |
| FOC | Free of charge | Indication on invoices, quotes and shipping documents that goods or services are supplied at no cost, such as samples, replacements or promotional items. |
| G&S | Goods and services | PayPal payment type for buying items or paying businesses, which includes Purchase Protection for the buyer and charges the seller a fee, as opposed to sending money to… |
| GMROI | Gross margin return on inventory investment | Retail profitability ratio equal to gross margin dollars divided by average inventory at cost, showing how many dollars of gross profit each dollar tied up in inventory… |
| GMV | Gross merchandise value | Total value of goods sold through a marketplace or e-commerce platform over a period, before deducting fees, discounts, returns, cancellations and shipping costs. |
| GWP | Gift with purchase | Promotion in which customers receive a free item, such as a cosmetics bag or travel-size products, when they buy a qualifying product or spend above a threshold. |
| HTF | Hard to find | Describes a collectible, discontinued product or rare variant that seldom appears for sale, often to justify a higher price in listings. |
| ISO | In search of | Opens a post by someone looking to buy, borrow or find something, as in "ISO crib" or "ISO roommate." It is common in local buy-sell groups, forums and housing boards. |
| LFL | Like-for-like sales | Year-over-year change in sales from stores or channels that were trading in both periods, excluding new openings and closures, so that underlying performance is not… |
| LP | Loss prevention | Retail function that reduces "shrink," the loss of inventory to shoplifting, employee theft, fraud, damage and administrative errors, through security staff, cameras… |
| MAP | Minimum advertised price | Lowest price at which a manufacturer allows its authorized retailers to advertise a product, used to protect brand image and dealer margins. |
| MDR | Merchant discount rate | Fee a merchant pays on each card or digital payment, expressed as a percentage of the transaction, covering interchange paid to the card issuer, network fees and the… |
| MOQ | Minimum order quantity | Smallest number of units a supplier or manufacturer will accept in a single order, set to cover setup, materials and handling costs. |
| MoR | Merchant of record | Legal entity that sells a product to the customer, appears on the card statement and takes responsibility for collecting and remitting sales tax or VAT, handling… |
| mPOS | Mobile point of sale | Smartphone or tablet used as a point-of-sale terminal, usually with a small card reader or built-in tap-to-pay, letting market traders, tradespeople and store staff… |
| MRP | Maximum retail price | Highest price, inclusive of all taxes, at which a packaged product may be sold to consumers in India and some neighboring countries, printed on every package by law. |
| NIB | New in box | Describes an item that is unused and still in its original packaging, a key condition code in marketplace and collector listings. |
| NRFB | Never removed from box | Collector term for a toy, doll, figure or model kept sealed in its original packaging since purchase. |
| NWOT | New without tags | Describes clothing or accessories that are unworn or nearly so but no longer have their retail tags, ranking just below NWT in resale condition grades. |
| NWT | New with tags | Describes clothing or accessories that are unworn and still carry the original retail tags, a top condition grade on resale apps and in thrift listings. |
| OBO | Or best offer | Follows an asking price in classified ads to show that the seller will consider lower offers, as in "$300 OBO." It signals that the price is negotiable. |
| OMS | Order management system | Software that captures orders from all sales channels, checks inventory, decides which warehouse or store fulfills each order, and tracks it through shipping, delivery… |
| OOS | Out of stock | Status of an item that is unavailable for sale because inventory has run out, whether on a store shelf or on a website. |
| OSA | On-shelf availability | Percentage of time a product is present and available on the store shelf when shoppers look for it, the positive counterpart of the out-of-stock rate and a common… |
| OTB | Open to buy | Merchandise budget showing how much inventory a buyer can still purchase for a period, calculated from planned sales, planned markdowns and planned end-of-period… |
| P&P | Postage and packing | British and Commonwealth term for the charge added to cover mailing and packaging an order, the counterpart of the American S&H. |
| PDP | Product detail page | Web page for a single product in an online store, showing images, title, price, variants, description, specifications, reviews, delivery information and the add-to-cart… |
| PIM | Product information management | Software and processes for storing, enriching and distributing product data such as titles, descriptions, specifications, images and translations to websites… |
| PL | Private label | Products made by one company and sold under a retailer's own brand, such as store brands and own-label goods, typically priced below national brands while giving the… |
| PLP | Product listing page | Category or search results page in an online store that shows a grid or list of products with filters and sorting, leading shoppers to individual product detail pages. |
| PLU | Price look-up code | Four- or five-digit number on stickers attached to fresh produce, letting cashiers identify the item, such as 4011 for standard yellow bananas, and scales to price it… |
| POD | Print on demand | Production model in which items such as T-shirts, mugs, posters and books are printed only after a customer orders them, so the seller holds no inventory. |
| POS | Point of sale | Place and moment where a retail transaction is completed, and the hardware and software that handle it, including the register or tablet, card terminal, barcode… |
| PSP | Payment service provider | Company that lets merchants accept card, wallet and bank payments online or in store, handling processing, security, fraud screening and settlement, such as Stripe… |
| PWP | Purchase with purchase | Promotion offering an additional item at a special discounted price when a customer buys a qualifying product, common in cosmetics and in Southeast Asian retail. |
| ROPO | Research online, purchase offline | Shopping pattern in which consumers research products online but buy them in a physical store, also called webrooming. |
| RPV | Revenue per visitor | Total revenue divided by the number of visitors in a period, combining conversion rate and average order value into one figure that is useful for judging tests and… |
| RRP | Recommended retail price | Price a manufacturer suggests retailers charge for a product, used in the UK, Ireland, Australia and other countries and often printed on packaging or used as the… |
| RTO | Return to origin | Shipment sent back to the seller after delivery fails, because the customer refused it, was unreachable or gave a wrong address, a major cost in Indian e-commerce… |
| S&H | Shipping and handling | Charge added to an order to cover delivery costs plus the seller's packing and processing, shown separately from the product price on US orders and invoices. |
| SPSF | Sales per square foot | Annual sales divided by selling space in square feet, a measure of how productively a retailer uses its stores and a key figure in shopping mall leasing. |
| SRP | Suggested retail price | Price a manufacturer or distributor suggests for retail sale, widely used in the US and in the Philippines, where the government also sets SRPs for basic goods. |
| SSS | Same-store sales | Year-over-year growth in sales at stores open for at least a set period, often 12 or 13 months, used by US retailers and restaurant chains to show growth that does not… |
| TACoS | Total advertising cost of sale | Amazon seller metric equal to ad spend divided by total sales, including organic sales, showing how dependent a product's revenue is on advertising. |
| UPT | Units per transaction | Average number of items customers buy per purchase, calculated as total units sold divided by number of transactions. |
| VGUC | Very good used condition | Grades a used item between excellent (EUC) and good (GUC) used condition in resale listings, meaning it shows light wear but no significant flaws. |
| VM | Visual merchandising | Practice of designing store layouts, window displays, fixtures, signage and product presentation to attract shoppers and increase sales, and the team that does it. |
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