Ecommerce glossary: sales and promotion terms for shop owners

The average amount spent per order: revenue divided by the number of orders in the same period.

A shop that took $6,000 from 120 orders last month has an AOV of $50.

The share of visitors who complete an order: orders divided by visitors (or sessions), as a percentage.

2,000 visitors and 40 orders is a conversion rate of 2%.

The share of shopping carts that are created but never paid for: one minus paid orders divided by carts created.

1,000 carts and 280 paid orders is an abandonment rate of 72%.

The share of customers who ordered more than once in a period.

Of 500 customers this year, 110 ordered twice or more: a repeat purchase rate of 22%.

The total a customer is expected to spend with you over the whole relationship, often counted as profit rather than revenue.

A buyer who orders $50 three times a year for two years is worth $300 in revenue.

The share of issued codes or prizes that are actually used at checkout or at the counter.

200 winning codes and 64 used before expiry is a redemption rate of 32%.

What is left from the selling price after the cost of the product, as a percentage of the price. A discount comes straight out of it.

A $40 product that costs you $24 has a 40% margin; 20% off leaves $8, a margin of 25%.

A word or string of characters that a shopper enters at checkout to get a discount or a free item.

WELCOME10 gives 10% off a first order.

A coupon code that works for one order only and is usually unique to one person, so it cannot be shared or reused.

A prize winner gets K7Q2-MX9P; once an order uses it, the code stops working.

A percentage discount takes a share off the price; a fixed discount takes off a set amount. Fixed amounts cost the same on every order, percentages grow with the basket.

On an $80 order, 10% off is $8, the same as a $8 fixed discount; on a $200 order, 10% is $20.

The order amount above which delivery is free. Set a little above the typical order, it nudges buyers to add one more item.

Typical baskets are $40, so the shop offers free delivery from $50.

A discount that grows with the size of the order, in steps.

10% off above $60, 15% off above $100.

Products that are used together, sold as one item for one price, usually a little cheaper than buying them separately.

Shampoo and conditioner together for $18 instead of $10 each.

Offering a bigger, better or more complete version of the product the shopper is already choosing.

A 500 ml bottle for $14 next to the 250 ml one for $9.

Offering a different product that goes with the one being bought.

A phone case and screen protector shown in the cart next to a phone.

A free item added to orders that meet a condition, usually a minimum amount.

A free tote bag with every order over $75.

A short, time-limited discount, usually a few hours to two days, announced shortly before it starts.

25% off all summer stock, Saturday only, from 10:00 to 22:00.

The shopping weekend from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, the busiest sales period of the year for many online shops.

In 2026 BFCM runs from Friday 27 November to Monday 30 November.

An EU rule from the Omnibus Directive: when a shop announces a price reduction, the earlier price it shows must be the lowest price of the previous 30 days.

A coat sold at $90 for a week and $120 before that can be advertised as reduced from $90, not from $120.

Using game elements, such as chance, points or a reveal, in marketing or shopping to make an offer more engaging.

Instead of a plain 10% pop-up, the visitor spins a wheel to find out their discount.

A prize wheel the visitor spins once to win a discount or a gift, often shown as a website pop-up.

Segments for 5% off, 10% off, free delivery and a free sample.

A digital card the player scratches with a finger or the mouse to reveal whether they won and what.

A QR code on the receipt opens a scratch card for the next visit.

A game where the player picks one of several closed boxes and opens it to reveal a prize.

Three gift boxes on screen; the one chosen holds a free coffee.

A promotion where the player learns straight away whether they won, instead of waiting for a draw at the end.

A wheel, a scratch card and a mystery box are all instant win games.

The chance that one play wins a prize. It sets the average cost of a promotion, not the maximum.

A 20% win rate means about one winner in five plays over many plays; a short campaign can land above or below that.

A hard limit on the total value or number of prizes a promotion can give away. In DealCraft the server stops awarding prizes once the cap is reached.

A campaign with a $500 prize budget and 100 winners at most can never cost more than $500, however many people play.

A rule that anyone can enter a prize promotion without buying anything. In many countries it is what keeps a prize game from counting as a lottery; check the local rules.

The game's terms page says that no purchase is needed to play.

An offer that starts when a customer scans a printed QR code, on a table, a receipt, packaging or a poster.

A café prints a QR code on cups that opens a wheel with a free pastry as the top prize.

Collecting a visitor's contact details, usually an email address, in exchange for something of value.

A pop-up offers 10% off the first order for an email address.

A sign-up where the subscriber confirms their email address by clicking a link in a first email before they get any marketing. In Germany and some other countries it is the expected standard.

A visitor enters their email, gets "Please confirm your subscription" and is added only after clicking.

A message shown when a visitor seems about to leave the page, for example when the mouse moves toward the browser tabs.

As the visitor heads for the close button, a box offers free delivery on the cart.

An automatic email sent to a shopper who added products to the cart and left without paying.

One hour after leaving, the shopper gets a reminder with a photo of the product and a link back to the cart.

The ongoing work of changing a site so that a larger share of visitors buy, based on data and tests rather than taste.

Removing three checkout fields and showing delivery costs on the product page.

Showing two versions of a page or offer to two random groups of visitors at the same time and comparing the results.

Half of visitors see "10% off", half see "free delivery"; the version with more paid orders wins.

A share of visitors who are deliberately not shown a promotion, so you can measure what it added compared with doing nothing.

The prize wheel is shown to 90% of visitors; the other 10% are the holdout, and their sales are the baseline.