What does A/B Test mean?

Method for optimizing websites by testing two variants against each other to determine which converts better.

What does Above the Fold mean?

The visible area of a website without scrolling – particularly important for first impressions and call-to-actions.

What does Add-to-Cart Rate mean?

Percentage of website visitors who add a product to their shopping cart.

What does Affiliate Marketing mean?

Sales model where partners (affiliates) promote products and receive commissions on successful sales.

What does AI (Artificial Intelligence) mean?

Technology enabling computers to perform human-like tasks such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. Covers classic ML, modern LLMs, and autonomous agent systems.

What does AIDA Model mean?

Marketing model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

Technology for asynchronous data transfer that enables page updates without complete reloading.

What does Alt Text mean?

Alternative text for images, important for SEO and accessibility.

What does Analytics mean?

Collection and analysis of data about website visitors and their behavior.

What does Anchor Text mean?

The clickable text of a hyperlink – important for SEO.

What does AOV (Average Order Value) mean?

The average amount customers spend per order.

What does API (Application Programming Interface) mean?

Interface that enables different software systems to communicate and exchange data with each other.

What does ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) mean?

Average revenue per user – important metric for subscription models.

What does Attribution mean?

Assignment of conversions to the marketing channels that contributed to the purchase.

What does Augmented Reality (AR) mean?

Technology for overlaying the real world with digital content (e.g., virtual product try-on).

What does Automation mean?

Automating recurring tasks and processes through software and AI.

What does Autoresponder mean?

Automatically sent emails in response to certain actions or triggers.

What does B2B (Business-to-Business) mean?

Business relationships between companies, as opposed to B2C (Business-to-Consumer).

What does B2C (Business-to-Consumer) mean?

Business relationships between companies and end consumers.

What does Backlink mean?

Incoming link from an external website – important SEO factor.

What does Banner Blindness mean?

Phenomenon where users unconsciously ignore advertising banners.

What does Basket Analysis mean?

Analysis of shopping carts to identify purchase patterns and cross-selling potentials.

What does Behavioral Targeting mean?

Targeting audiences based on their online behavior.

What does Below the Fold mean?

The area of a website that only becomes visible after scrolling.

What does Benchmark mean?

Comparison value or reference point for evaluating own performance.

What does Big Data mean?

Large, complex datasets analyzed with special tools to discover patterns and insights.

What does Black Friday mean?

Major shopping day (Friday after Thanksgiving) with high discounts – start of the Christmas season.

What does Blockchain mean?

Decentralized, immutable database technology – basis for cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

What does Bounce Rate mean?

Percentage of visitors who leave a website without viewing another page.

What does Brand Awareness mean?

The degree of brand recognition by consumers.

What does Breadcrumb Navigation mean?

Navigation path that shows users where they are on the website.

What does Bundle mean?

Product package – multiple products offered together at a reduced price.

What does Buy Box mean?

The prominent purchase area on marketplace product pages (e.g., Amazon).

What does Buyer Persona mean?

Detailed profile of the ideal customer based on market research and data.

What does CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) mean?

The total cost of acquiring a new customer.

What does Cache mean?

Temporary storage for data to speed up loading times.

What does Call-to-Action (CTA) mean?

Prompt for action – button or link that encourages users to take action.

What does Canonical URL mean?

The preferred URL of a page for duplicate content – important for SEO.

What does Cart Abandonment mean?

When customers add products to their cart but do not complete the purchase.

What does Cart Recovery mean?

Measures to recover abandoned shopping carts (e.g., email reminders).

What does CDN (Content Delivery Network) mean?

Network of servers for fast delivery of website content worldwide.

What does Chatbot mean?

AI-powered program for automated customer communication via chat.

What does Checkout mean?

The payment process in an online shop where the customer completes their order.

What does Churn Rate mean?

Attrition rate – percentage of customers lost within a period.

What does Click & Collect mean?

Order online and pick up in store – popular omnichannel option.

What does CLV / CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value) mean?

The predicted total revenue from a customer over the entire business relationship.

What does CMS (Content Management System) mean?

Software for creating, editing, and managing website content without programming knowledge.

What does Cohort Analysis mean?

Analysis of user groups that share a common characteristic (e.g., registration date).

What does Composable Commerce mean?

Modular e-commerce approach with interchangeable best-of-breed components.

What does Content Marketing mean?

Marketing strategy based on valuable, relevant content for customer acquisition.

Glossary | E-Commerce, AI & Web Explained

A

71 entries

A/B Test: Method for optimizing websites by testing two variants against each other to determine which converts better.
ABM (Account-Based Marketing): B2B approach tailoring marketing to a named list of target companies (often 50–500) rather than running broad persona campaigns.
Above the Fold: The visible area of a website without scrolling – particularly important for first impressions and call-to-actions.
ACF (Advanced Custom Fields): WordPress plugin for creating custom fields for flexible content structures.
ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability): Four properties a relational-database transaction must satisfy — foundation for consistent shop and financial data.
Action: Automatically executed task in response to a trigger.
Add-to-Cart Rate: Percentage of website visitors who add a product to their shopping cart.
Adversarial Attack: Targeted manipulation of inputs to deceive AI systems.
Affiliate Marketing: Sales model where partners (affiliates) promote products and receive commissions on successful sales.
Agency Selection: Structured process for identifying and evaluating agencies for e-commerce projects.
Agent Orchestration: Coordination and control of multiple AI agents for connected workflows.
Agentic AI: AI systems that can act independently, make decisions and execute complex workflows.
Agile: Project management methodology with iterative development, flexible planning and continuous improvement.
AI (Artificial Intelligence): Technology enabling computers to perform human-like tasks such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. Covers classic ML, modern LLMs, and autonomous agent systems.
AI Adoption: Process of introducing and integrating AI technologies in the company.
AI Agent: Autonomous AI system that can independently execute tasks, make decisions and interact with other systems.
AI Alignment: Ensuring AI systems act in accordance with human values and intentions.
AI API: Programming interface for accessing AI models and services.
AI Benchmark: Standardized tests for evaluating and comparing AI models.
AI Bias: Systematic distortions in AI models that can lead to unfair or discriminatory results.
AI Center of Excellence: Central unit in the company for coordinating and promoting AI initiatives.
AI Cloud: Cloud services specifically for AI workloads like training and inference.
AI Coding: Use of AI assistants to support software development.
AI Competitive Advantage: Competitive advantages through strategic use of artificial intelligence.
AI Consulting: Consulting service for strategic planning and implementation of AI projects in companies.
AI Content Generation: Automatic creation of marketing content, blog articles and social media posts by AI.
AI Customer Service: AI-powered customer support through chatbots, email automation and more.
AI Disruption: Fundamental change of industries and business models through AI technologies.
AI Email Marketing: AI-powered optimization of email campaigns, subject lines and send times.
AI Enablement: Enabling teams to effectively use AI tools and technologies.
AI Ethics: Ethical principles and guidelines for the development and deployment of AI systems.
AI Governance: Framework for the responsible and ethical use of AI, including guidelines and controls.
AI Hallucination: Phenomenon where AI models present false or fabricated information as facts.
AI Literacy: Basic understanding of AI concepts and capabilities for all employees.
AI Maturity Model: Maturity model for assessing a companys AI development level across various stages.
AI Pilot Project: Small, time-limited AI project for validating concepts and benefits.
AI Product Description Generator: AI tool for automatic creation of product descriptions.
AI Readiness Assessment: Systematic evaluation of how ready a company is for AI adoption.
AI Roadmap: Detailed plan for the step-by-step implementation of AI solutions in the company.
AI ROI: Return on Investment for AI projects – measuring the economic benefit of AI investments.
AI Safety: Research and practices to ensure AI systems work reliably and safely.
AI Scaling: Expanding successful AI pilot projects to the entire company.
AI SEO: Use of AI to optimize websites for search engines.
AI Strategy: Strategic planning for the deployment of artificial intelligence in the company, including roadmap, use cases and ROI calculation.
AI Transformation: Comprehensive change of business processes and models through the use of artificial intelligence.
AI Use Case: Concrete application case for AI in the company with defined problem, solution and expected benefit.
AI Vendor Selection: Systematic selection process for AI providers and platforms.
AI Watermarking: Invisible markings in AI-generated content for identification.
AI Workflow: Automated process that connects AI models with other systems and data sources.
AI-First Company: Company that considers AI as a core component of its strategy and products.
AI-First Development: Development approach where AI is planned as a core component of the application from the start.
AI-Powered Product Recommendations: AI-based product recommendations based on customer behavior and preferences.
AIDA Model: Marketing model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
Ajax: Technology for asynchronous data transfer that enables page updates without complete reloading.
Alt Text: Alternative text for images, important for SEO and accessibility.
Analytics: Collection and analysis of data about website visitors and their behavior.
Anchor Text: The clickable text of a hyperlink – important for SEO.
Anthropic: AI safety company and developer of Claude, founded by former OpenAI employees.
AOV (Average Order Value): The average amount customers spend per order.
API (Application Programming Interface): Interface that enables different software systems to communicate and exchange data with each other.
ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications): W3C standard for additional attributes giving dynamic UI elements semantic meaning for screen readers. Part of every WCAG implementation.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): Average revenue per user – important metric for subscription models.
Attention Mechanism: Core component of transformers that weights relevant parts of the input.
Attribution: Assignment of conversions to the marketing channels that contributed to the purchase.
Augmented Reality (AR): Technology for overlaying the real world with digital content (e.g., virtual product try-on).
AutoGPT: Experimental project for autonomous AI agents that independently complete tasks.
Automation: Automating recurring tasks and processes through software and AI.
Automation Workflow: Defined sequence of automated steps for processing data or executing tasks.
Autonomous AI: Fully independently acting AI without human intervention for defined task areas.
Autoresponder: Automatically sent emails in response to certain actions or triggers.
aws (Austria Wirtschaftsservice): Austrias federal promotional bank for start-ups and SMEs. Offers digitalisation grants, innovation loans and Founders Circle programmes.

B

30 entries

B2B (Business-to-Business): Business relationships between companies, as opposed to B2C (Business-to-Consumer).
B2C (Business-to-Consumer): Business relationships between companies and end consumers.
Backlink: Incoming link from an external website – important SEO factor.
Backlog: Prioritized list of all planned tasks and features of a project.
BAFA: German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control — the funding body for consulting grants (e.g. "Promotion of entrepreneurial know-how").
BaFin / MaRisk: German financial-services supervisor; MaRisk (Minimum Requirements for Risk Management) applies to banks and insurers — relevant for AI projects in finance.
Banner Blindness: Phenomenon where users unconsciously ignore advertising banners.
Basket Analysis: Analysis of shopping carts to identify purchase patterns and cross-selling potentials.
Batch Processing: Processing multiple AI requests simultaneously for efficiency.
Behavioral Targeting: Targeting audiences based on their online behavior.
Below the Fold: The area of a website that only becomes visible after scrolling.
Benchmark: Comparison value or reference point for evaluating own performance.
BFSG: German Accessibility Reinforcement Act — from June 2025, shops, banking, e-books and operating systems must meet WCAG 2.2 AA.
Big Data: Large, complex datasets analyzed with special tools to discover patterns and insights.
BigCommerce: Cloud-based SaaS shop platform, positioned between Shopify and enterprise solutions. Noticeably rarer than Shopify in DACH.
Black Friday: Major shopping day (Friday after Thanksgiving) with high discounts – start of the Christmas season.
Blockchain: Decentralized, immutable database technology – basis for cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
BM25: Classic keyword-ranking algorithm (Okapi BM25) for full-text search. In modern RAG setups, combined with vector search for hybrid retrieval.
BMD: Austrian ERP and accounting-software vendor from Steyr. The most common DATEV alternative among Austrian SMEs.
BMWK: Germanys Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Responsible for digitalisation programmes such as "Digital Jetzt", ZIM and go-digital.
Bolt.new: AI platform for developing full-stack web applications directly in the browser.
Bounce Rate: Percentage of visitors who leave a website without viewing another page.
Brand Awareness: The degree of brand recognition by consumers.
Breadcrumb Navigation: Navigation path that shows users where they are on the website.
BSI (Federal Office for Information Security): German IT-security authority; its "BSI-Grundschutz" catalogue is the de-facto standard for technical/organisational controls in the mid-market.
Build vs Buy: Decision between in-house development and purchasing AI solutions.
Bundle: Product package – multiple products offered together at a reduced price.
Business Process Automation (BPA): Automation of entire business processes for efficiency improvement.
Buy Box: The prominent purchase area on marketplace product pages (e.g., Amazon).
Buyer Persona: Detailed profile of the ideal customer based on market research and data.

C

61 entries

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): The total cost of acquiring a new customer.
Cache: Temporary storage for data to speed up loading times.
Call-to-Action (CTA): Prompt for action – button or link that encourages users to take action.
Canonical URL: The preferred URL of a page for duplicate content – important for SEO.
CAPI (Conversion API): Server-to-server interface (notably from Meta, TikTok, Pinterest) that reports conversions directly from the shop backend rather than the browser. Compensates for ITP and ad-blocker losses.
Cart Abandonment: When customers add products to their cart but do not complete the purchase.
Cart Recovery: Measures to recover abandoned shopping carts (e.g., email reminders).
Cart Value: The total value of all products in a customer's shopping cart.
CDN (Content Delivery Network): Network of servers for fast delivery of website content worldwide.
CDP (Customer Data Platform): Platform that merges customer data from shop, CRM, ads and support into a unified profile. Foundation for segmentation and personalised marketing.
Chain-of-Thought (CoT): Prompting technique where the AI model reveals its thinking process step by step.
Change Management: Structured approach to guiding change processes in organizations.
Chatbot: AI-powered program for automated customer communication via chat.
Checkout: The payment process in an online shop where the customer completes their order.
Child Theme: WordPress theme that extends a parent theme and safely protects customizations from updates.
Churn Prediction: AI prediction of which customers are likely to churn.
Churn Rate: Attrition rate – percentage of customers lost within a period.
CI/CD: Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment – automated software delivery processes.
Citizen Developer: Non-technical employees who create their own applications with no-code/low-code tools.
Claude AI: AI assistant from Anthropic, known for safety, long context windows and precise answers.
Click & Collect: Order online and pick up in store – popular omnichannel option.
Closed Source AI: Proprietary AI models whose architecture and training data are not public (e.g., GPT-5.2).
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Core Web Vitals metric: sum of layout shifts during page load. Google target: below 0.1.
CLV / CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value): The predicted total revenue from a customer over the entire business relationship.
CMO (Chief Marketing Officer): Marketing executive responsible for brand, performance and marketing operations. A common interim role during growth transitions.
CMS (Content Management System): Software for creating, editing, and managing website content without programming knowledge.
Coaching: Individual guidance and support for developing skills and competencies.
Code Completion: AI-powered suggestions for completing code while typing.
Code Generation: Automatic creation of program code by AI based on descriptions or examples.
Code Review AI: AI system for automatic code review for errors, security vulnerabilities and best practices.
Cohort Analysis: Analysis of user groups that share a common characteristic (e.g., registration date).
Composable Commerce: Modular e-commerce approach with interchangeable best-of-breed components.
Computer Use: Ability of AI models to see and operate computer interfaces like a human.
Computer Vision: Field of AI that enables computers to understand and analyze images and videos.
Content Marketing: Marketing strategy based on valuable, relevant content for customer acquisition.
Content Moderation AI: AI systems for automatic detection and filtering of problematic content.
Context Window: The maximum amount of text an AI model can process simultaneously, measured in tokens.
Conversational Commerce: Shopping experiences through chat interfaces and AI assistants.
Conversion: Converting a visitor into a customer or achieving a defined goal.
Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (e.g., purchase).
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Systematic improvement of websites to increase conversion rate.
Cookie: Small data file in the browser for storing user information and settings.
Core Web Vitals: Google metrics for loading time, interactivity, and visual stability – SEO ranking factors.
CPA (Cost per Acquisition): Cost per acquired customer – total campaign cost divided by conversions.
CPC (Cost per Click): Billing model in online advertising where payment is made per click.
CPL (Cost per Lead): Cost per generated lead – important metric in B2B marketing.
CPM (Cost per Mille): Cost per thousand impressions – billing model in display advertising.
CrewAI: Framework for creating multi-agent systems with specialized AI agents.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Strategies and software for managing customer relationships.
Cross-Border E-Commerce: Cross-border online trade with international customers.
Cross-Selling: Sales strategy offering complementary products to the original purchase.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): Programming language for designing and formatting websites.
CTO (Chief Technology Officer): Technical executive responsible for technology strategy, architecture and engineering teams. In interim engagements, often a bridge between founder teams and the scaling phase.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): Ratio of clicks to impressions for ads or links.
Cursor AI: AI-powered development environment (IDE) that accelerates programming through intelligent code completion and chat.
Cursor IDE: AI-native code editor that integrates Claude and GPT for intelligent development support.
Customer Journey: The complete journey of a customer from first brand contact to purchase and beyond.
Customer Retention: Measures for long-term retention of existing customers.
Customer Segmentation: Division of customers into groups based on common characteristics.
Customer Segmentation AI: Automatic grouping of customers through AI analysis of behavioral data.
Cyber Monday: Online shopping day on Monday after Thanksgiving with big discounts.

D

38 entries

D2C (Direct-to-Consumer): Business model where manufacturers sell directly to end customers without intermediaries.
DALL-E: OpenAIs AI system for generating images from text descriptions.
DAM (Digital Asset Management): Central management of images, videos and graphics with rights, variants and publishing workflows. The bridge between photographer, shop and ads.
Dark Pattern: Manipulative design practices that trick users into unintended actions.
Dashboard: Visual overview of the most important metrics and data at a glance.
Data Poisoning: Attack on AI systems through manipulation of training data.
Data-Driven Marketing: Marketing decisions based on data analysis rather than intuition.
DATEV: German cooperative software for tax advisors and accounting. A must-have interface for DACH shops connecting to their tax accountant.
Dawn Theme: Default theme of Shopify 2.0 with improved performance and customization options.
DDP / DAP (Delivered Duty Paid / At Place): Incoterms clauses: DDP = seller pays all duties and import costs, DAP = buyer pays import duties. Central for Switzerland deliveries from EU shops.
Dead Stock: Inventory that no longer sells and ties up capital.
Deep Learning: Advanced form of machine learning with neural networks.
Deepfake: AI-generated manipulated videos or images showing people doing or saying things they never did.
Demand Forecasting: Prediction of future product demand for better planning.
Design-to-Code: Automatic conversion of UI designs into functional code by AI.
DHL: Deutsche Post subsidiary; the largest parcel carrier in Germany. Mostly cross-border-relevant in Austria and Switzerland.
Diffusion Model: AI architecture for image generation that gradually transforms noise into images.
Digital Asset Management (DAM): System for central management of media files like images and videos.
Digital Shelf: The digital presentation of products on e-commerce platforms.
Digital Transformation: Comprehensive redesign of business processes and models through digital technologies.
Discovery: Structured project start phase where goals, scope, risks, data situation and next steps are clarified before delivery or a quote is finalized.
Display Advertising: Image-based online advertising like banners, videos, or rich media.
DNS (Domain Name System): System for translating domain names into IP addresses.
Docker: Platform for containerization of applications for consistent development and deployment.
Documentation AI: AI-powered creation of code documentation and technical explanations.
Domain Authority: SEO metric that evaluates the strength and trustworthiness of a domain.
Double Opt-In: Two-step registration process for newsletters for legally compliant consent.
DPA (Data Processing Agreement): GDPR Art. 28 contract between controller and processor. Without a signed DPA, no lawful data upload to third-party services.
DPD: European parcel carrier (Geopost group). A frequent DHL alternative across DACH; the B2C volume leader in Austria.
DPIA (Data Protection Impact Assessment): Structured risk analysis for high-risk processing (large-scale tracking, automated AI decisions). Mandatory under GDPR Art. 35 before go-live.
Drip Campaign: Automated email sequence sent to subscribers over time.
Dropshipping: Fulfillment model where the retailer holds no inventory and has products shipped directly from the supplier.
DSB (Austrian Data Protection Authority): Austrian supervisory authority for data protection; in Germany the role is split across state authorities, in Switzerland it sits with the FDPIC.
DSP (Demand-Side Platform): Platform for programmatic display and video buying (DV360, The Trade Desk). Typically worthwhile from six-digit monthly budgets.
Due Diligence: Careful examination and analysis of a company or project before making a decision.
Dwell Time: The time a user spends on a page.
Dynamic Pricing: Automatic price adjustment based on demand, competition, and other factors.
Dynamic Pricing AI: AI-controlled automatic price adjustment based on demand, competition and inventory.

E

17 entries

E-Commerce: Electronic commerce – buying and selling goods and services over the internet.
EAN (European Article Number): European article number – barcode standard for product identification.
eCPM (Effective Cost per Mille): Actual cost per thousand impressions across different billing models.
Edge AI: Execution of AI models directly on end devices instead of in the cloud.
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange): Structured B2B data exchange (EDIFACT, ANSI X12). Still standard for wholesale and supplier setups across marketplaces.
Elementor: Popular page builder for WordPress with drag-and-drop functionality for page design.
ElevenLabs: AI platform for high-quality text-to-speech and voice cloning.
Email Marketing: Marketing strategy via email communication with prospects and customers.
Embeddings: Numerical vector representations of text, images or other data for machine learning and similarity search.
Engagement Rate: Interaction rate – ratio of interactions to reach (especially social media).
EPS (eps transfer): Austrian online-banking payment method from Erste Bank, Raiffeisen and others. Direct bank transfer in checkout — the DACH equivalent of Sofortüberweisung.
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Company-wide software for planning and controlling all business processes.
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load): Data-integration pattern: extract data from sources, transform into target schema, load into a data warehouse. Foundation of BI and reporting.
EXIST: German BMWK start-up funding programme (EXIST founder scholarship, EXIST research transfer). University-adjacent pre-seed funding for tech-leaning startups.
Exit Intent Popup: Popup that appears when the user is about to leave the website.
Exit Rate: Percentage of visitors who view a specific page as the last before leaving.
Explainable AI (XAI): AI systems whose decisions and predictions are understandable and explainable to humans.

F

23 entries

Facebook Pixel: Tracking code for Facebook advertising for conversion measurement and retargeting.
Faceted Navigation: Filterable navigation to narrow search results by attributes.
Facial Recognition: AI-based recognition and identification of faces.
FADP (revDSG): Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (revised 2023), comparable to the GDPR. Relevant for any business processing Swiss user data.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions): Section for answering typical customer inquiries.
Few-Shot Learning: Learning technique where the AI model is given a few examples to understand a task.
FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency): The national funding body for applied research in Austria (innovation vouchers, basic programme, COMET). The most common funding source for digital innovation projects.
FinanzOnline: Austrian tax-authority portal. Shops selling into Austria need FinanzOnline-compliant accounting and POS interfaces.
Fine-Tuning: Adapting a pre-trained AI model to specific tasks or data for better results.
FinTech: Short for "financial technology"; companies reinventing financial services with software (neo-banks, payment start-ups, robo-advisors).
First-Party Data: Self-collected customer data – more valuable than third-party data.
Flash Sale: Time-limited discount promotion for revenue boost.
Flat Rate Shipping: Uniform shipping costs regardless of order weight or size.
Fly.io: Edge computing platform for global deployment of applications.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Fear of missing out – psychological trigger in marketing.
Foundation Model: Large pre-trained AI model that serves as a basis for many different applications (e.g., GPT, Claude, Gemini).
Fraud Detection AI: AI-based detection of fraudulent transactions and activities.
Free Shipping Threshold: Minimum order value for free shipping – effective strategy for AOV increase.
Frequency Capping: Limiting the display frequency of advertising for individual users.
Frontend: The user-visible part of a website or application.
Fulfillment: All processes from order to delivery: storage, picking, packaging, shipping.
Function Calling: Ability of LLMs to call external functions or APIs to perform actions.
Funnel: Representation of the customer journey from initial awareness to purchase.

G

30 entries

GA4 (Google Analytics 4): Current version of Google Analytics with event-based tracking.
GAN (Generative Adversarial Network): AI architecture with two competing networks for generating realistic content.
Gap Analysis: Analysis of the difference between current and desired state to identify need for action.
Gateway Page: Entry page of a website, often optimized for certain keywords.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): EU regulation for the protection of personal data.
GEMA / SUISA: Music rights collecting societies for Germany (GEMA), Austria (AKM) and Switzerland (SUISA). Required licensing for publicly broadcast music in videos or ads.
Gemini: Googles multimodal AI model that can process text, images, audio and video.
Generalization: Ability of a model to apply learned knowledge to new, unseen data.
Generative AI: AI systems that can independently create new content such as texts, images, code or music.
Geo-Targeting: Location-based targeting of users with localized advertising.
Ghost Cart: Abandoned shopping cart of an unregistered user.
Gift Card: Gift card with credit for shopping in the store.
Git: Distributed version control system for software development.
GitHub: Microsoft-owned platform for code hosting, pull requests and CI/CD automation. The industry standard for source-code management.
GitHub Copilot: AI-powered coding assistant from GitHub/Microsoft that provides real-time code suggestions.
GitLab: Self-hostable alternative to GitHub with built-in CI/CD runner. Common with clients facing EU-data-protection or on-premise requirements.
GLS: General Logistics Systems, European parcel carrier. The second-largest B2B parcel carrier in Austria after Post AT.
GMV (Gross Merchandise Value): Total value of all goods sold through a platform.
GoBD: German "Principles for the Proper Keeping of Books in Electronic Form"; mandates legally sound archiving of receipts and shop data for tax audits.
Google Ads: Google advertising platform for search ads, display, and shopping.
Google Merchant Center: Google platform for managing product data for shopping ads.
Google Shopping: Product comparison service from Google with shopping ads.
GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer): Family of AI language models from OpenAI that form the basis for ChatGPT.
GPU: Graphics Processing Unit – hardware for parallel calculations, essential for AI training and inference.
Grounding: Technique for anchoring AI responses in verifiable facts and sources to reduce hallucinations.
Growth Hacking: Creative, data-driven marketing strategies for rapid growth.
GTM (Google Tag Manager): Google tag-management system for centrally deploying tracking pixels, conversion tags and scripts without code changes. Foundation for server-side tagging setups.
Guardrails: Safety mechanisms that prevent AI systems from producing harmful outputs.
Guest Checkout: Purchase completion without creating a customer account – reduces cart abandonment.
Gutenberg Editor: Block-based visual editor from WordPress for creating page content.

H

9 entries

Hallucination (AI): When an AI model presents factually incorrect or fabricated information as facts.
Headless Commerce: E-commerce architecture where frontend and backend are separate and communicate via APIs.
Heat Map: Visual representation of user interactions on a website (clicks, scrolling).
Hero Image: Large, prominent image in the upper area of a website.
HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security): Security header that forces browsers to use HTTPS only for a domain. Standard in any production setup.
HTTP/3: Current version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, running on QUIC (UDP) instead of TCP. Faster connections especially on mobile and lossy networks.
HTTPS: Encrypted transmission protocol for secure websites – ranking factor.
HubSpot: CRM and marketing-automation platform for B2B mid-market with sales, marketing and service hubs. The most common Marketo competitor in the DACH mid-market.
Hyperautomation: Enterprise-wide approach to maximizing automation through combination of various technologies.

I

24 entries

Image Generation: Creation of new images by AI based on text descriptions or other inputs.
Image Recognition: AI ability to recognize objects, people or patterns in images.
Image Segmentation: Dividing images into meaningful areas or objects.
Image-to-Image: AI transformation from one image to another (e.g., sketch to photo).
Impression: Single display or view of an advertisement or content.
In-Context Learning: Ability of LLMs to learn from examples given in the prompt without retraining.
Inbound Marketing: Marketing strategy that attracts customers through valuable content rather than actively approaching them.
Indexing: Inclusion of a website in the search engine index.
Inference: Execution of a trained AI model to generate predictions or responses.
Influencer Marketing: Marketing through people with large reach and influence on social media.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint): Core Web Vitals metric since 2024: latency between user interaction and visual response. Google target: under 200 ms.
Inpainting: AI-powered reconstruction or replacement of image areas.
Intelligent Automation: Combination of RPA with AI for more complex, decision-based automation.
Interim Management: Temporary takeover of management tasks by external managers during vacancies or transformations.
Inventory Management: Monitoring and optimization of stock levels.
Inventory Optimization AI: AI for optimizing inventory levels and demand forecasting.
Inventory Turnover: How often inventory is sold in a period.
IONOS: German hosting provider (formerly 1&1). A frequent starting point for shops and WordPress sites before performance migrations.
iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service): Cloud platform for integrating various applications and data sources.
ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration): Combination of SSG with on-demand updating of individual pages.
ISTQB: International Software Testing Qualifications Board — the standard software-tester certification with foundation and advanced levels.
Iteration: Repeated run through a development cycle for gradual product improvement.
Iteration Speed: Speed at which new versions or features can be developed and delivered.
ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention): Safari mechanism that blocks third-party cookies and caps first-party cookie lifetime at 7 days. The main reason server-side tracking and CAPI have become standard.

J

5 entries

Jailbreaking: Attempts to bypass the security restrictions of AI models.
JAMstack: Modern web architecture based on JavaScript, APIs and Markup.
JavaScript: Programming language for interactive website functions.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation): Data format for exchanging structured data.
JSON-LD: Googles preferred format for embedding Schema.org data as JSON rather than inline microdata. Placed in the <head> and not render-critical.

K

7 entries

Kanban: Visual project management method with boards and cards to represent workflows and task status.
Keyword: Search term for which a website should be found in search engines.
Keyword Density: Frequency of a keyword relative to the total text.
Keyword Research: Research of relevant search terms for SEO and SEA.
Knowledge Transfer: Systematic sharing of knowledge and experience from experts to other team members.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): Key metric for measuring the success of business activities.
Kubernetes: Open-source system for orchestration of containerized applications.

L

28 entries

Landing Page: Specially designed target page for marketing campaigns with focused call-to-action.
LangChain: Open-source framework for developing applications with Large Language Models.
LangGraph: Python framework from LangChain for stateful multi-step agents with explicit graphs instead of ad-hoc chains. An alternative to pure chain composers for complex agent logic.
Laravel: PHP framework for custom web applications, APIs and portals with structured architecture, routing, database access and security building blocks.
Large Language Model (LLM): Large language model trained on massive amounts of text that can understand and generate natural language.
Last-Click Attribution: Attribution model that values the last touchpoint before conversion.
Latency: Delay time in data transmission – important for loading times.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Core Web Vitals metric: time until the largest visible element (image, headline) is painted. Google target: under 2.5 seconds.
Lead: Potential customer who has shown interest in a product or service.
Lead Generation: Measures to acquire prospects and their contact details.
Lead Magnet: Free offer (e.g., e-book) in exchange for contact details.
Lead Nurturing: Nurturing leads through relevant content until purchase readiness.
Link Building: Building backlinks to increase domain authority.
LinkedIn: Microsofts B2B social network. The leading DACH channel for B2B thought leadership, employer branding and decision-maker ads.
Liquid: Shopify's template language for customizing themes and dynamically displaying shop content.
LiteSpeed: Commercial web server as an Apache/Nginx alternative with aggressive page caching for WordPress and WooCommerce. Often pre-installed on shared hosting.
Live Chat: Real-time chat function for direct customer support on the website.
Llama: Open-source language model from Meta that can be run locally and is suitable for many applications.
LlamaIndex: Framework for connecting LLMs with external data sources for RAG applications.
LLM (Large Language Model): Large language models like GPT – basis for modern AI chatbots and assistants.
LLMOps: Specific MLOps practices for Large Language Models.
Lookalike Audience: Target group with similar characteristics to existing customers for advertising.
Loss Leader: Product with low or negative margin for customer acquisition.
Lovable: AI tool for rapid creation of web applications through natural language descriptions.
Low-Code: Development platforms that require minimal programming for application development.
Loyalty Program: Customer loyalty program with rewards for repeat purchases.
LTV (Customer Lifetime Value): Projected total revenue per customer over the business relationship. Counterweight to CAC and the basis for sustainable marketing budgets.
LTV:CAC Ratio: Ratio of customer lifetime value to acquisition costs – important profitability metric.

M

37 entries

Machine Learning (ML): Subset of AI where systems learn from data and improve without explicit programming.
Machine Translation: Automatic translation of text between languages by AI.
Make (Integromat): Visual automation platform for complex workflows with branching and loops.
Margin: Profit margin – difference between selling price and costs.
Market Basket Analysis: Analysis of purchase combinations to optimize cross-selling.
Marketing Automation: Software for automating marketing tasks like emails and social media.
Marketplace: Online platform where multiple retailers can offer their products (e.g., Amazon, eBay).
Markup: Price markup – difference between purchase and selling price in percent.
MCP (Model Context Protocol): Protocol developed by Anthropic for standardized connection of AI models with external data sources and tools.
Meta Description: Brief description of a page for search results – important for CTR.
Meta Tags: HTML elements with metadata about a web page for search engines.
Meta-Prompting: Technique where an AI model is instructed to improve or generate its own prompts.
Metafield: Custom data field in Shopify for storing additional information for products, customers or orders.
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication): Two- or multi-step login with password + TOTP/passkey/hardware key. Required for admin access to shops, CMS and cloud accounts.
Micro-Conversion: Small conversion steps on the way to the main goal (e.g., newsletter signup).
Micro-Moment: Brief moments when users want to fulfill an immediate need.
Microservices: Architecture style where an application consists of small, independent services.
Midjourney: AI image generator known for artistic and creative image creation.
Mistral: European open-source AI model known for high efficiency with smaller model size.
MLOps: Practices for operationalizing machine learning models in production.
MMLU: Massive Multitask Language Understanding – benchmark for measuring knowledge of language models.
MMM (Marketing Mix Modeling): Statistical method estimating each marketing channels contribution to revenue using time-series data rather than click tracking. A cookie-independent attribution alternative.
Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce): E-commerce via mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Mobile First: Design approach that optimizes for mobile devices first.
Mockup: Visual design of a website or product.
Model Distillation: Technique for compressing large AI models into smaller, more efficient versions.
Model Hosting: Provision of AI models for production applications.
Model Registry: Versioned management of AI models in the development process.
Model Security: Protection of AI models from theft, manipulation and misuse.
Monorepo: Repository structure where multiple projects are managed in a single repository.
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): Monthly recurring revenue – important metric for subscription models.
Multi-Agent System: System where multiple AI agents work together to solve complex tasks.
Multichannel: Sales strategy across multiple channels that are not interconnected.
Multimodal AI: AI systems that can process different data types such as text, images, audio and video.
Multivariate Test: Testing multiple variables simultaneously for optimization.
Music Generation AI: AI systems for automatic creation of music and soundtracks.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product): First functional product version with minimal features to quickly gather feedback.

N

16 entries

N8N: Open-source workflow automation with self-hosting option for maximum data control.
Named Entity Recognition (NER): Identification of proper names, places, organizations etc. in texts.
Native Advertising: Advertising that seamlessly blends into the surrounding content format.
Natural Language Processing (NLP): AI technology for processing and analyzing human language – basis for chatbots and voice assistants.
NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement): Confidentiality agreement; standard before data-room access or discovery in consulting and interim mandates.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): Metric for customer satisfaction and loyalty based on recommendation willingness.
Neural Network: Computing system inspired by the structure of biological brains that can recognize patterns.
Newsletter: Regularly sent email with news, offers, or content.
Next.js: React framework for production-ready web applications with Server-Side Rendering, Static Site Generation, and optimal performance.
Niche Market: Specialized market segment with specific customer needs.
NLG (Natural Language Generation): Automatic generation of natural language text by AI.
NLP (Natural Language Processing): Field of AI that enables computers to understand and process human language.
NLU (Natural Language Understanding): Subfield of NLP that focuses on understanding the meaning of language.
No-Code: Development platforms that enable software creation without programming knowledge.
Nofollow Link: Link with attribute instructing search engines not to follow it.
NVIDIA: Leading manufacturer of GPUs for AI applications and training.

O

25 entries

Object Detection: Identification and localization of objects in images or videos.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition): Technology for recognizing and digitizing text in images and documents.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results): Goal-setting method with measurable key results.
Omnichannel: Seamlessly integrated sales strategy across all channels for a unified customer experience.
OMS (Order Management System): System for order processing across channels and warehouses. The link between shop, ERP and fulfilment.
On-Page SEO: SEO measures directly on the website (content, meta tags, structure).
On-Premise AI: Operation of AI models on own servers in the company.
Onboarding: Introduction process for new employees, customers or partners to systems and processes.
One-Click Checkout: Purchase completion with a single click thanks to saved data.
One-Shot Learning: AI learns from just one example how to solve a task.
OOH (Out-of-Home): Classic outdoor advertising — posters, city lights, digital-out-of-home (DOOH). Still relevant for brand building despite digital dominance.
Open Rate: Percentage of opened emails.
Open Source AI: AI models and tools whose source code is publicly available and can be freely used.
OpenAI: AI research company and developer of ChatGPT and GPT models.
OpenRouter: API aggregator providing access to LLMs from multiple providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, …) through a unified interface. Useful for model agnosticism and fallback logic.
Orchestration Layer: Software layer that connects AI models, tools and data sources into complex workflows.
Order Management System (OMS): System for central management and processing of orders.
Organic Traffic: Website visitors from unpaid search results.
ORM (Object-Relational Mapping): Abstraction layer between application code and database (Prisma, Doctrine, Eloquent). Provides type-safe SQL access and avoids boilerplate.
OSS (One-Stop-Shop VAT): EU-wide filing scheme for cross-border B2C distance sales; a merchant declares all EU VAT centrally via its home country instead of country-by-country.
Out of Stock: Product no longer in stock – important for inventory management.
Outbound Marketing: Traditional marketing with active customer outreach (advertising, cold calling).
Outpainting: AI-powered extension of an image beyond its original boundaries.
Overfitting: When a model is too specialized on training data and fails on new data.
OWASP (Open Worldwide Application Security Project): Non-profit whose "OWASP Top 10" is the reference catalogue of major web security risks. Baseline for any security checklist.

P

37 entries

Page Speed: Loading speed of a website – important SEO and UX factor.
Pagination: Division of content across multiple pages.
Parameters: Learnable values in an AI model – more parameters often mean more capabilities.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Advertising model where payment is made per click on an ad.
Payment Gateway: Technical interface for secure processing of online payments.
PayPal: Global payment platform with high consumer trust in DACH. Often must-have in B2C checkouts and the dominant one-click path for mobile buyers.
PDP (Product Detail Page): The page displaying all information about a product.
Personalization: Individual customization of content, product recommendations, and offers based on user behavior and preferences.
Personalization Engine: AI system for individual adaptation of website content for each visitor.
PHP: Server-side programming language on which WordPress and WooCommerce are based.
PII (Personally Identifiable Information): Personal data in the GDPR sense — name, email, IP, customer ID. In AI contexts: the fields that must be masked before prompting or fine-tuning.
PIM (Product Information Management): System for central management of all product information and data.
Pixel: Tracking code for capturing user behavior for advertising platforms.
Platform Economy: Economic model based on digital platforms connecting providers and consumers.
PLP (Product Listing Page): Product overview page showing multiple products of a category.
Plugin: Extension module for adding software functions.
PMF (Product-Market Fit): State in which a product has demonstrable organic demand in a clearly defined market. Scaling marketing before PMF typically burns budget.
POS (Point of Sale): Point of sale – physical or digital location of purchase completion.
Post-Training: Additional training after pre-training to improve specific capabilities.
PostgreSQL: Powerful open-source relational database for enterprise applications.
Pre-Training: Initial training of an AI model on large amounts of data to develop general capabilities.
Predictive Analytics: Use of data and AI to forecast future trends and behaviors.
PrestaShop: Open-source e-commerce platform from France, widespread in southern-European markets. Rare in DACH but still present in migration projects.
Price Elasticity: How demand changes with price changes.
Prisma: Modern ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) for Node.js and TypeScript.
Privacy-Preserving AI: AI techniques that ensure data protection (e.g., Federated Learning).
Product Feed: Structured product data for shopping platforms and comparison portals.
Profit Margin: Share of profit in revenue.
Progressive Web App (PWA): Website with app-like features such as offline use and push notifications.
Promo Code: Discount code for price reductions at checkout.
Prompt: Input text or instruction to an AI model to obtain a desired response.
Prompt Engineering: The art of formulating effective prompts for AI models to achieve optimal results.
Prompt Injection: Security risk where malicious inputs manipulate the behavior of an AI system.
Prompt Template: Reusable template for prompts with placeholders for variable content.
Proof of Concept (PoC): Feasibility demonstration showing whether an idea or technology works.
Psychographic Segmentation: Target group division by lifestyle, values, and interests.
PWA (Progressive Web App): Web application with app-like features such as offline support and push notifications.

Q

3 entries

Quality Score: Google rating of ad and keyword quality for Ads auctions.
Quantization: Reduction of precision of model weights for faster inference and memory savings.
Quick Commerce (Q-Commerce): Ultra-fast delivery within minutes to hours.

R

33 entries

RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation): AI technique that connects a language model with external data sources to generate current and specific answers.
Rapid Prototyping: Quick creation of prototypes for early validation of concepts and designs.
React: JavaScript library by Meta for building user interfaces with reusable components.
Reasoning: Ability of AI models to draw logical conclusions and solve problems systematically.
Recommendation Engine: AI system for automatically generating personalized product recommendations.
Red Teaming: Systematic search for vulnerabilities and risks in AI systems.
Refactoring AI: AI-powered improvement and restructuring of existing code.
Referral Marketing: Marketing through recommendations from existing customers to new customers.
Refund Rate: Percentage of orders that are refunded.
Reinforcement Learning: Learning method where an agent learns optimal behavior through rewards and punishments.
Remarketing: Re-engaging users who have already interacted with the brand.
Replit Agent: AI agent in Replit that can create complete applications from descriptions.
Resend: Modern email API for developers with React Email support.
Responsible AI: Approach to developing AI systems that are fair, transparent, safe and explainable.
Responsive Design: Web design that automatically adapts to different screen sizes.
REST (Representational State Transfer): Architectural style for web APIs over HTTP with resource-oriented URLs and standard methods (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE). The de-facto standard for shop integrations.
Retargeting: Advertising strategy that re-targets previous website visitors with specific ads.
Return Rate: Percentage of returned orders.
Revenue: Total income from sales before deducting costs.
Review Analysis: Automatic analysis of customer reviews to detect trends and issues.
Reviews: Customer reviews – important for social proof and SEO.
RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary): Customer-segmentation method based on last purchase, purchase frequency and monetary value. Standard for retention and email programmes.
RFM Analysis: Customer analysis by Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value.
RFP (Request for Proposal): Formal tender or request for proposal to potential service providers for a project.
Rich Snippet: Enhanced search result display with additional information.
RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback): Training method where AI models are improved through human feedback.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Ratio of revenue to advertising spend – measures advertising campaign efficiency.
Robots.txt: File with instructions for search engine crawlers.
ROI (Return on Investment): Return on capital – ratio of profit to invested capital.
RoPA (Record of Processing Activities): Mandatory document under GDPR Art. 30 listing all personal-data processing. The basis for any data-protection audit (German: VVT).
RPA (Robotic Process Automation): Software robots that automate repetitive tasks in user interfaces.
RUM (Real User Monitoring): Continuous performance measurement from real-visitor browsers (vs. synthetic lab tests). Shows Core Web Vitals the way Google measures them.
Runway: AI platform for video and image generation with creator focus.

S

65 entries

SaaS (Software as a Service): Software delivery model where applications are offered as a service over the internet.
SAP Business One: SAPs ERP for SMEs (up to around 250 employees). A standard interface in mid-market DACH shop projects.
Schema Markup: Structured data for better understanding by search engines.
Schema.org: Joint initiative by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Yandex defining structured-data types (Product, LocalBusiness, FAQPage). Basis for rich results and AI citations.
Screenshot-to-Code: AI tool that generates functional code from screenshots or images.
Scrum: Agile project management method with sprints and iterative development.
SEA (Search Engine Advertising): Paid advertisements in search results.
Search Intent: The goal behind a search query.
Seasonality: Recurring demand fluctuations throughout the year.
Segmentation: Division of target groups into homogeneous subgroups.
Semantic Search: Search method that understands the meaning of queries instead of just searching for keywords.
Sentiment Analysis: Automatic detection of moods and opinions in texts.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Measures to improve organic visibility in search engines.
SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area): EU-wide standard for euro transfers and direct debits. Foundation for B2B invoice payment and subscription billing.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page with search results.
Serverless: Cloud computing model where the cloud provider manages the server infrastructure.
Serverless AI: AI inference without own server management – pay-per-use model.
Session: Single visit of a user to a website.
Shipping Rate: Shipping costs for delivering orders.
Shop Audit: Systematic review of an online shop regarding technology, UX, conversion and SEO.
Shopify: Leading e-commerce platform for online shops of all sizes.
Shopify App: Extension for Shopify shops that adds additional features like marketing, shipping or analytics.
Shopify Flow: Automation tool for Shopify Plus that allows creating workflows without programming.
Shopify Markets: Shopify feature for international selling with localized pricing, currencies and domains.
Shopify Plus: Enterprise version of Shopify for large merchants with advanced features, higher limits and dedicated support.
Shopify POS: Shopify's point-of-sale system for retail with synchronization to the online shop.
Shopify Scripts: Ruby-based scripts for Shopify Plus to customize checkout, discounts and shipping.
Shopify Theme: Design template for Shopify shops that determines the appearance and functionality of the frontend.
Shopping Cart: Virtual cart for collecting products before purchase.
Showrooming: Customers test products in store but buy online cheaper.
Single Page Application (SPA): Website that loads as a single page and dynamically loads content.
Sitemap: Overview of all pages of a website for search engines.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): Unique identifier for each product in inventory.
SLA (Service Level Agreement): Contractually guaranteed service level with response and recovery times (RTO/RPO), often with penalties on breach. A standard retainer building block.
Slider: Changing images or content on the website.
Small Language Model (SLM): More compact language models with fewer parameters that are more efficient and can run locally.
Smart Shopping: Automated Google Shopping campaigns with machine learning.
SMS Marketing: Marketing via text messages to mobile devices.
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): XML-based API protocol still common in ERP and banking systems (SAP, DATEV). Heavier-weight than REST.
Social Commerce: Selling products directly through social media platforms.
Social Listening: Monitoring social media channels for brand mentions and trends.
Social Proof: Social evidence like reviews that influence purchase decisions.
Soft Bounce: Temporarily undeliverable email (e.g., full mailbox).
Sora: OpenAIs AI model for generating videos from text descriptions.
Speech-to-Text: Conversion of spoken language into written text.
SpeedCurve: Synthetic and real-user-monitoring tool focused on web performance. A continuous-monitoring alternative to WebPageTest.
SPF / DKIM / DMARC: Email authentication trio. SPF authorises sending servers, DKIM signs messages cryptographically, DMARC specifies how unauthorised mail is handled. Required by Gmail and Yahoo since 2024.
Split Test: Synonym for A/B test – comparison of two variants.
Sprint: Time-limited development phase (usually 1-4 weeks) in agile project management.
SQL (Structured Query Language): Standard language for querying and modifying relational databases (Postgres, MySQL/MariaDB, SQL Server).
SSG (Static Site Generation): Generation of static HTML pages at build time for optimal performance.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): Encryption protocol for secure data transmission.
SSR (Server Side Rendering): Server-side rendering of web pages for better performance and SEO.
Stable Diffusion: Open-source AI model for generating images from text.
Stakeholder: All persons or groups who have an interest in the project or are affected by it.
Stock Management: Inventory management and stock control.
Streaming: Gradual output of AI responses during generation, instead of waiting for complete response.
Stripe: Payment platform for online payments, subscriptions and financial infrastructure.
Style Transfer: Transfer of the artistic style of one image to another by AI.
Subscription Model: Business model with recurring payments for regular deliveries.
Supabase: Open-source Firebase alternative with PostgreSQL database, auth and storage.
Supervised Learning: Machine learning with labeled training data (input-output pairs).
Supply Chain: All steps from production to end customer.
Synthetic Media: Any AI-generated or manipulated media content.
System Prompt: Background instruction that defines the behavior and role of an AI assistant.

T

41 entries

T&C (Terms and Conditions): Standardised contractual terms (AGB in German); mandatory in imprint and checkout, only legally sound with lawyer review.
Tailwind CSS: Utility-first CSS framework for fast and consistent UI design.
Target Audience: The group of people to be addressed with marketing.
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): Total system cost across its lifecycle — licensing, implementation, operations, decommissioning. The decision basis for vendor selection.
Technical Debt: Long-term costs from short-term technical compromises in software development.
Temperature: Parameter that controls the creativity/randomness of AI responses. Low = precise, high = more creative.
Test Generation: Automatic creation of software tests by AI based on source code.
Text Classification: Automatic categorization of texts into predefined classes.
Text Summarization: AI-powered creation of summaries of long texts.
Text-to-3D: Generation of 3D models from text descriptions by AI.
Text-to-Image: Generation of images from text descriptions by AI.
Text-to-Speech: Conversion of written text into spoken language.
Text-to-Video: Generation of videos from text descriptions by AI.
Third-Party Logistics (3PL): External logistics service providers for storage and shipping.
Throughput: Number of requests an AI system can process per unit of time.
TikTok: ByteDance short-form video social network. For DACH DTC brands, one of the strongest organic and paid channels for younger audiences.
Time on Site: Average time spent on the website.
Time-to-Market: Time from product idea to market launch – AI can drastically reduce this.
Title Tag: HTML element for the page title in search results.
TKG (Telecommunications Act): National statutes in AT and DE regulating consent for email/SMS marketing and tracking (§ 174 TKG AT, § 7 UWG DE).
Token: Smallest text unit processed by AI language models – usually word parts or characters.
Tokenization: Breaking down text into smaller units (tokens) for processing by language models.
Tool Use: Ability of AI models to use external tools like search engines, calculators or APIs.
Top-P (Nucleus Sampling): Sampling method for LLMs that only considers the most likely tokens.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Total costs of an AI solution including development, operation and maintenance.
Touchpoint: Point of contact between customer and brand along the customer journey.
TPU: Tensor Processing Unit – specialized AI hardware developed by Google.
Tracking: Tracking user behavior and marketing activities.
Traffic: Visitor volume on a website.
Train-the-Trainer: Training format where internal employees are trained as trainers to pass on knowledge.
Training Data: Data used to train AI models.
Transaction: Single purchase or business transaction.
Transfer Learning: Transfer of knowledge from a trained model to related tasks.
Transformer: Neural network architecture that forms the basis for modern language models like GPT and Claude.
Trigger: Event that starts an automated workflow (e.g., new order, email).
Trust Badge: Trust seal to increase credibility (e.g., Trusted Shops).
TTDSG: German Telecommunications-Telemedia Data Protection Act, regulating cookie consent and device-storage access in addition to the GDPR.
TTFB (Time to First Byte): Time from request to first server byte. Indicator of server and CDN performance; target: under 200 ms on EU hosting.
TWINT: Dominant mobile payment method in Switzerland (bank consortium). Without TWINT, no serious Swiss shop localisation.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Two-factor authentication for increased account security.
TypeScript: Typed extension of JavaScript for more robust and maintainable codebases.

U

12 entries

UGC (User Generated Content): Content created by users such as reviews, photos, or videos.
UI (User Interface): User interface – visual design of interaction elements.
Unique Visitors: Individual visitors to a website (without multiple counting).
Unit Economics: Profitability at the level of individual units (e.g., per customer).
Unsupervised Learning: Machine learning without labeled data for pattern recognition.
Upselling: Sales strategy offering a higher-value product or upgrade.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator – web address of a page.
Usability: How easy a website is to use.
User Flow: The path users take through a website or app.
User Story: Brief description of a feature from the user perspective for development.
UTM Parameter: URL parameters for campaign tracking in analytics.
UX (User Experience): The overall experience of a user when interacting with a website or app.

V

18 entries

v0.dev: Vercels AI tool for generating React components and UI designs from descriptions.
VAE (Variational Autoencoder): AI model for generating new data by learning a compressed representation.
Value Proposition: The unique benefit that a product offers.
Variant: Product variant – different versions of a product (size, color).
VAT: Value-added tax (AT 20/13/10 %, DE 19/7 %, CH 8.1/2.6 %). Shops must display it correctly per product/country combination; EU B2C settled via OSS.
VAT ID (UID / USt-IdNr.): EU-wide VAT identification number for B2B invoicing. In Austria required in the imprint; known as USt-IdNr. in Germany.
Vector Database: Specialized database for efficient storage and search of embedding vectors.
Vendor: Supplier or manufacturer of products.
Vercel: Cloud platform for frontend development, optimized for Next.js and React.
Vibe Coding: Programming approach where developers describe what they want in natural language and AI generates the code.
Video Commerce: Selling products through video content and live streaming.
Viewport: Visible area of a website on the screen.
Viral Marketing: Marketing that spreads virally through user sharing.
Virtual Try-On: Virtual fitting of products through AR technology.
Visual Search: Search based on images instead of text – e.g., product search by photo.
Voice Cloning: AI technology for replicating a human voice.
Voice Commerce: E-commerce via voice assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant.
Voice Search: Voice-based search via assistants and smart speakers.

W

26 entries

WAF (Web Application Firewall): Filtering layer between the internet and the application, blocking common attacks (SQL injection, XSS, bot traffic). Cloudflare, ModSecurity and AWS WAF are typical implementations.
Warehouse: Location for storing goods before shipping.
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines): W3C standard for accessible websites. Level AA is the DACH baseline and becomes legally required for many businesses from 2025 (EAA, BFSG, WZG).
Web Analytics: Analysis of website data for performance measurement.
Webhook: Automatic data exchange between systems on certain events.
Webinar: Online seminar for marketing, training, or lead generation.
Webrooming: Customers research online but buy in store.
Weights: Numerical values in neural networks that are adjusted during training.
Whisper: OpenAIs powerful open-source model for speech-to-text.
White Label: Products or services without branding for own marketing.
Wholesale: Sale of large quantities to resellers.
Widget: Small embedded element with specific function on a website.
WIFI (Austrian Business Promotion Institute): Educational arm of the WKO — Austrias largest continuing-education provider. Offers certified training programmes; external trainer status is accredited (e.g. "WIFI trainer for e-commerce").
Wireframe: Schematic design of a website structure without design.
Wishlist: Bookmark feature for products for later purchase.
WKO (Austrian Economic Chamber): Mandatory-membership chamber for all Austrian businesses. A service and funding body (e.g. KMU-Digital grant) with offices in every federal state.
WMS (Warehouse Management System): Warehouse-management software for inbound/outbound, pick routes and stock-taking. Essential at 5-digit monthly order volumes.
WooCommerce: Popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress websites.
WooCommerce Extension: Extension for WooCommerce that adds additional e-commerce features like payments or shipping.
WordPress: Open-source content management system powering around 40% of all websites worldwide. Foundation for corporate sites, blogs, member areas, and e-commerce (via WooCommerce). Scales to enterprise loads with the right architecture.
WordPress Plugin: Extension module for WordPress that adds new functionality to the CMS.
Workflow: Defined sequence of work steps or processes.
Workflow Automation: Automatic execution of business processes and task sequences through software.
WP-CLI: Command line interface for WordPress for efficient website management.
WPML: Established multilingual plugin for WordPress. Alternative: Polylang.
WZG (Web-Zugänglichkeits-Gesetz): Austrian implementation of EU Directive 2016/2102 for accessible websites and apps; scope expands to more sectors from 2025.

X

2 entries

XML: Extensible Markup Language – format for structured data.
XML Sitemap: Machine-readable sitemap for search engines.

Y

3 entries

Yield Management: Dynamic pricing for revenue maximization.
YouTube: Googles video platform; the worlds second-largest search engine. A key channel for how-to content, short-form (Shorts) and SEO rankings.
YouTube Ads: Video advertising on YouTube – important marketing channel.

Z

4 entries

Zapier: No-code automation platform for connecting 6,000+ apps and automating workflows.
Zero-Party Data: Data that customers proactively and voluntarily share.
Zero-Shot Learning: AI performs tasks without having received specific examples for them.
ZIM (Central Innovation Programme for SMEs): German funding programme for SME innovation projects (individual or collaborative). Typical funding quota 25–45 % of R&D costs.

Glossary
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Missing a term or need context from practice? Let's talk.

Glossary
terms that actually come up in daily practice.