Clear, quick definitions of 90+ product feed, marketplace, and multichannel-selling terms you’ll come across when connecting your store to Google Shopping, Amazon, bol.com, Zalando, and 500+ other channels.
Want the full picture on a topic, not just a quick definition? Our two in-depth guides cover every term here in much greater detail, with examples, common mistakes, and best practices: the Ecommerce Glossary (A-Z) and the Marketplace Glossary (120+ terms). Each entry below also links onward to the most relevant guide for that specific term.
A UPC is the 12-digit barcode standard used mainly in North America — a GTIN-12. It plays the same role as Europe’s EAN-13: a unique, externally registered identifier required by advertising and marketplace channels to list and match products.
Learn more: Product Feed guide →
A product catalog is the complete set of products and product data a merchant maintains — the source from which channel-specific feeds, marketplace listings, and PIM exports are generated. Its accuracy sets the ceiling for every channel built from it.
Learn more: Product Feed guide →
Catalogue matching links your product to an existing listing already in a marketplace’s catalog, using an identifier like GTIN or EAN, instead of creating a duplicate page. A successful match gives instant access to that page’s existing reviews and traffic.
Learn more: Sell on Marketplaces →
A product feed is a structured file — usually XML, CSV, or JSON — that contains your product catalog data (titles, prices, images, availability, identifiers) formatted to the requirements of a specific sales channel. Feeds are how merchants distribute their catalog to Google Shopping, marketplaces, and comparison sites.
Learn more: Product Feed guide →
Product feed management is the ongoing process of creating, optimising, and distributing product data to multiple channels from one source. It covers attribute mapping, category matching, and scheduled updates, so pricing and stock stay accurate everywhere without manually editing each channel.
Learn more: Product Feed Management →
A SKU is the internal code a merchant assigns to each distinct product variant to track it in their own inventory. Unlike GTINs, SKUs are not standardised externally — you create and manage them yourself.
Learn more: Product Feed guide →
A GTIN is a globally standardised product identifier issued by GS1. It covers barcode formats such as EAN-13 (Europe) and UPC-12 (North America), and is required to list products on Google Shopping and virtually every marketplace.
Learn more: GTIN definition →
An EAN is the 13-digit barcode standard used across Europe — a specific GTIN format. It is mandatory for listing on marketplaces such as bol.com, Amazon.de, Zalando, and Kaufland, and must be registered through GS1 rather than bought from unofficial resellers.
Learn more: Selling on bol.com →
An ASIN is the 10-character product identifier Amazon assigns to every item in its catalog. It is unique per Amazon marketplace, and sellers either match an existing ASIN or create a new one — which requires a valid GTIN.
Learn more: Koongo channels →
Attribute mapping aligns your store’s product fields to the exact names and formats each channel expects — what you call “colour” might need to be “item_color” for Google or a specific colour code for Zalando. It turns raw product data into channel-ready listings.
Learn more: Best product feed software →
A feed template is a pre-built mapping configuration for a specific channel, covering its required fields, formats, and category structure. Templates remove most of the manual setup work when adding a new channel, leaving only product-specific fine-tuning.
Learn more: Best product feed software →
An RSS feed is an XML-based format originally built for content syndication (news, blogs), occasionally still required by older affiliate networks or comparison sites for basic product data. It offers fewer attributes than a dedicated product feed and cannot support order or inventory sync.
Learn more: Setting up a Google Shopping feed →
An XML feed is a hierarchically structured product data file that supports nested elements — parent-child variants, multiple images, shipping rules. It is the standard format for Google Shopping and most European comparison shopping engines.
Learn more: XML Feed guide →
A CSV feed stores your product catalog as a simple spreadsheet-style file — one row per product, one column per attribute. It is widely accepted and easy to inspect manually, though it lacks XML’s support for complex variant structures.
Learn more: Product Feed guide →
Feed diagnostics are the error and warning reports a channel like Google Merchant Center generates after reviewing a submitted feed — flagging missing GTINs, price mismatches, or policy issues that would otherwise block products from showing.
Learn more: Best product feed software →
An online marketplace is a platform where multiple independent sellers list products to the platform’s existing customer base — Amazon, bol.com, and Zalando are examples. The marketplace handles traffic and often payments and logistics, in exchange for a commission per sale.
Learn more: Sell on Marketplaces →
Marketplace integration is the API-based connection between your store and a marketplace that automates listing management, inventory sync, order import, and shipping confirmation — a two-way link, unlike the one-directional flow of a product feed.
Learn more: Best marketplace integration software →
Multichannel selling means distributing and selling products across several channels at once — your own store, marketplaces, and advertising platforms — from one centralised product feed, with inventory and orders kept in sync automatically.
Learn more: Guide to selling on online marketplaces →
A Comparison Shopping Engine aggregates listings from multiple merchants so shoppers can compare prices and availability side by side — Idealo, Beslist, and Tweakers are examples. Merchants reach these engines by submitting a product feed.
Learn more: Selling on Beslist.nl →
Google Shopping is Google’s product search and advertising service, showing images, prices, and store names for products people search for. Merchants reach it by submitting a product feed through Google Merchant Center.
Learn more: Setting up a Google Shopping feed →
Google Merchant Center is Google’s free platform for uploading and managing the product feed that powers Google Shopping ads, free listings, and product results across Search, Images, and Maps.
Learn more: Setting up a Google Shopping feed →
Performance Max is Google’s AI-driven campaign type that runs across Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps from a single campaign, using a connected product feed to determine placement and audience automatically.
Learn more: Google Shopping benchmarks →
Headless commerce separates the storefront customers see from the commerce backend (products, orders, payments), connecting the two via API. It gives brands full design freedom while relying on a proven commerce engine underneath.
Learn more: Headless Commerce guide →
B2C ecommerce sells to individual consumers; B2B sells to other businesses, typically with bulk pricing, negotiated terms, and longer sales cycles. Many merchants run both models side by side from the same product catalog with different price lists.
Learn more: Guide to selling on online marketplaces →
An API is the set of protocols that lets two systems exchange data automatically. In ecommerce, APIs power marketplace integrations — the two-way link that handles order import and inventory updates, unlike a one-way product feed.
Learn more: Best marketplace integration software →
Inventory sync automatically updates stock levels across every connected channel whenever a sale happens anywhere — so selling the last unit on one marketplace removes it from all others within minutes, preventing overselling.
Learn more: Preventing marketplace overselling →
Order sync automatically imports orders placed on marketplaces into your store’s order system and sends shipping confirmation back — so every channel’s orders are processed from one dashboard instead of logging into each platform separately.
Learn more: How marketplace integrations work →
Fulfillment covers everything between an order being placed and the parcel reaching the customer — picking, packing, shipping, and tracking. It can be handled by the merchant (FBM), by the marketplace (FBA), or by a third-party logistics provider.
Learn more: Guide to selling on online marketplaces →
FBA is Amazon’s fulfilment service: sellers send stock to Amazon’s warehouses, and Amazon handles picking, packing, shipping, and returns. FBA listings receive the Prime badge, which typically improves Buy Box eligibility and conversion rates.
Learn more: Selling on Amazon from Europe →
FBM means the seller ships every order themselves from their own warehouse, without using Amazon’s fulfilment centres. It avoids FBA fees but does not include the Prime badge unless the seller qualifies for Seller Fulfilled Prime.
Learn more: FBM definition →
Order import is the automated transfer of new marketplace orders into your store’s order system — the piece of order sync that brings orders in, with full customer and line-item details, within minutes of being placed.
Learn more: How marketplace integrations work →
Dropshipping is a fulfilment model where the merchant does not hold stock: when a customer orders, a third-party supplier ships the product directly to them. It lowers the barrier to entry but adds dependency on supplier reliability and delivery times.
Learn more: Guide to selling on online marketplaces →
Cross-border selling means reaching customers in other countries — made far easier within the EU by marketplaces whose single seller account covers several countries at once. Sales above €10,000/year trigger VAT obligations abroad, manageable via the EU OSS scheme.
Learn more: Selling on multiple European marketplaces →
The EU’s VAT One-Stop-Shop scheme lets merchants report and pay VAT on cross-border B2C sales across the EU through a single registration, instead of registering separately in every buyer’s country. It becomes relevant once annual cross-border sales pass €10,000.
Learn more: Selling on multiple European marketplaces →
Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) is Amazon’s term for orders a seller ships themselves rather than through FBA. It’s the default fulfilment method for new sellers and often the better economics for oversized, heavy, or slow-moving products.
Learn more: MFN definition →
Stock synchronization is another name for inventory sync — keeping available quantities consistent across every channel in near real time, so the same last unit can never be sold twice.
Learn more: Preventing marketplace overselling →
The Buy Box is the primary purchase button on a shared marketplace listing. When several sellers offer the same product, only one wins the Buy Box at a time — and that seller typically captures 80–90% of all purchases on the page.
Learn more: Buy Box definition →
A seller account is a merchant’s registered business account on a marketplace, required before listing any products. Keeping its performance metrics healthy protects listing visibility and, ultimately, the account itself.
Learn more: Seller Account definition →
A listing is the product page a buyer sees on a marketplace — title, images, price, stock, and reviews. Listing quality (complete attributes, strong images, competitive pricing) is one of the biggest drivers of marketplace conversion rate.
Learn more: Sell on Marketplaces →
A commission (or referral) fee is the percentage of each sale a marketplace charges for access to its audience. Rates vary widely by platform and category, so modelling commission per product is essential before listing.
Learn more: Marketplace fees compared →
Returns management covers processing return requests, inspecting returned goods, issuing refunds, and updating stock. Return rates vary sharply by category and marketplace, and directly affect a channel’s real profitability.
Learn more: Selling on Zalando and Kaufland →
Seller performance is the set of metrics a marketplace uses to judge seller reliability — order defect rate, late shipment rate, cancellation rate, customer feedback. Falling below a marketplace’s threshold can trigger warnings, listing suppression, or account suspension.
Learn more: Selling on Amazon from Europe →
A shipping template is a pre-configured rule set defining delivery regions, carriers, fees, and handling times for a group of products in a marketplace seller account. Accurate handling times protect a seller’s on-time delivery metrics.
Learn more: Selling on Amazon from Europe →
A marketplace connector is the pre-built software module that handles the technical link between an ecommerce platform and a specific marketplace’s API. Using ready-made connectors avoids weeks of custom development per channel.
Learn more: Best marketplace integration software →
Channel integration is the general term for connecting your store to any sales channel — feed-based for advertising platforms, API-based for marketplaces — so product data, orders, and stock flow automatically without manual work.
Learn more: Best marketplace integration software →
A marketplace vendor sells wholesale to the marketplace itself (e.g. via Amazon Vendor Central), which then resells to customers and controls the retail price — as opposed to a seller who lists and prices directly.
Learn more: Koongo channels →
Order Defect Rate is Amazon’s core account-health metric — the share of orders with a negative review, A-to-z claim, or chargeback. Amazon requires ODR to stay under 1%; breaching it risks listing suppression or account warnings.
Learn more: Selling on Amazon from Europe →
A product listing is the complete marketplace page a buyer sees — title, images, description, price, and reviews — built either by matching an existing catalog entry or creating a new one with full product data.
Learn more: Sell on Marketplaces →
Take rate is the percentage of GMV a marketplace keeps as its own revenue — distinct from the commission rate charged to any single seller, since it blends every category and fee type across the whole platform.
Learn more: Marketplace statistics →
The real cost of selling on a marketplace is rarely just the headline commission — it’s commission plus any monthly subscription, fulfilment fees, advertising, and expected returns combined. Modelling the full fee stack per product is what determines actual margin.
Learn more: Marketplace fees compared →
Seller Central is Amazon’s self-service portal for third-party merchants — where sellers manage listings, orders, inventory, advertising, and account health metrics.
Learn more: Selling on Amazon from Europe →
Vendor Central is Amazon’s invite-only wholesale programme: manufacturers sell stock to Amazon, which then sets the retail price and resells to customers — trading pricing control for the “Sold by Amazon” trust signal.
Learn more: Koongo channels →
Amazon Brand Registry gives trademark-holding brands extra listing control, counterfeit protection, and access to premium formats like A+ Content — essential for any brand owner selling on Amazon.
Learn more: Koongo channels →
A+ Content lets Brand Registry members replace a listing’s plain-text description with rich media — comparison charts, lifestyle images, brand modules — typically lifting conversion rate by several percentage points.
Learn more: Best marketplace integration software →
Amazon Prime is Amazon’s paid membership programme; FBA-fulfilled listings automatically qualify for the Prime badge, which strongly influences visibility and conversion among Amazon’s most active buyers.
Learn more: Marketplace statistics →
An eBay Store is a paid subscription tier that gives sellers a branded storefront, reduced fees, a higher listing allowance, and access to Terapeak research data — worthwhile once monthly sales volume passes a certain threshold.
Learn more: Sell on Marketplaces →
Item Specifics are eBay’s structured product attribute fields (brand, size, material, condition). Completing them fully improves ranking in eBay’s Cassini search algorithm and lets buyers filter results by attribute.
Learn more: Marketplace statistics →
Promoted Listings is eBay’s pay-per-sale advertising product: sellers set an ad rate and pay it only when a promoted listing results in a sale, keeping financial risk low.
Learn more: Marketplace statistics →
Allegro Pay is Allegro’s built-in buy-now-pay-later option for buyers. Sellers are paid in full immediately; Allegro carries the credit risk, and eligible listings typically see a meaningful lift in conversion.
Learn more: Marketplace fees compared →
Allegro Smart! is Allegro’s subscription loyalty programme — Poland’s equivalent of Amazon Prime — giving members free shipping on qualifying orders. Smart!-eligible listings tend to convert noticeably better.
Learn more: Marketplace fees compared →
Kaufland’s marketplace covers Germany, Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, France, and Italy from a single seller account, backed by strong brand recognition from Kaufland’s physical stores.
Learn more: Selling on Zalando and Kaufland →
Connected Retail lets physical fashion retailers sell their in-store stock directly through Zalando, with local same- or next-day delivery fulfilled from the shop floor.
Learn more: Selling on Zalando and Kaufland →
Zalando’s Partner Programme lets approved brands sell directly to its 62M+ customers across 25 countries. Entry requires editorial-quality content and formal approval; commission runs 8–25% plus a monthly base fee.
Learn more: Selling on Zalando and Kaufland →
The Retailer API is bol.com’s primary interface for managing listings, orders, inventory, and shipments programmatically. Certified partners — Koongo is a bol.com Silver Partner — offer no-code access to the same API.
Learn more: Selling on bol.com →
LvB is bol.com’s own fulfilment service — sellers send stock to bol.com’s warehouse and bol.com handles picking, packing, and delivery, similar in concept to Amazon’s FBA.
Learn more: Selling on bol.com →
bol.com automatically lowers commission on products priced competitively at or below its category benchmark price, rewarding sellers who stay price-competitive with a lower effective fee.
Learn more: Selling on bol.com →
A9 is Amazon’s product search ranking algorithm, weighing listing relevance, sales velocity, price, reviews, and fulfilment method to decide organic search position — separate from paid Sponsored Products placement.
Learn more: How marketplace integrations work →
The Final Value Fee is eBay’s commission on a completed sale, typically 4–12% depending on category, charged to business sellers on the total transaction amount including shipping.
Learn more: Marketplace fees compared →
Seller Quality Score is Allegro’s measure of seller reliability, factoring into search ranking and eligibility for Allegro Smart! badging — similar in purpose to Amazon’s seller performance metrics.
Learn more: How marketplace integrations work →
Allegro Ads is Allegro’s sponsored-placement advertising product, boosting listing visibility within Allegro’s own search results — comparable to Amazon Sponsored Products or eBay Promoted Listings.
Learn more: How marketplace integrations work →
Kaufland has no FBA-style warehouse service — sellers fulfil every Kaufland order themselves, making reliable in-house logistics a bigger factor in Kaufland seller performance than on Amazon or bol.com.
Learn more: Selling on Zalando and Kaufland →
ZMS is Zalando’s advertising platform for Partner Programme sellers, promoting listings through sponsored placement within Zalando’s own search and category pages.
Learn more: Koongo channels →
A/B testing compares two versions of a title, image, or ad to see which performs better, showing each version to a separate group and measuring a defined metric like CTR or conversion rate. It replaces guesswork with real user data.
Learn more: Common Google Shopping mistakes →
CTR is the percentage of people who click a link or ad after seeing it (Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100). It shows how compelling a listing or ad is, independent of whether the click converts.
Learn more: Google Shopping benchmarks →
CPC is what an advertiser pays each time someone clicks their ad (Total Spend ÷ Clicks). On Google Shopping, CPC is set by auction dynamics — your bid, Quality Score, and competitor bids.
Learn more: Google Shopping benchmarks →
CPA is the total ad spend needed to acquire one paying customer (Spend ÷ Conversions). If CPA exceeds your gross margin per order, the channel is unprofitable.
Learn more: Common Google Shopping mistakes →
CPM is the cost of 1,000 ad impressions, regardless of clicks — the standard pricing model for brand-awareness and retargeting campaigns rather than direct-response Shopping ads.
Learn more: Common Google Shopping mistakes →
Quality Score is Google’s rating of how relevant and useful your ad or feed data is for a given search — feed completeness, landing page relevance, and historical CTR all feed into it. A higher score can lower your CPC without raising your bid.
Learn more: Google Shopping benchmarks →
Smart Bidding is Google’s machine-learning bid strategy that automatically sets bids to hit a target — most commonly Target ROAS. It typically needs 30+ monthly conversions of history per campaign before it can optimise reliably.
Learn more: Google Shopping benchmarks →
ROAS measures revenue earned per unit of ad spend (Revenue ÷ Ad Spend). A 4x ROAS means €4 in revenue for every €1 spent — but profitability still depends on gross margin.
Learn more: Common Google Shopping mistakes →
ROI measures actual profit as a percentage of total cost, including cost of goods — unlike ROAS, which only compares revenue to ad spend. It gives the more accurate profitability picture.
Learn more: Ecommerce statistics →
Conversion rate is the share of visitors or clicks that result in a purchase (Orders ÷ Sessions × 100). Improving it multiplies the value of all existing traffic without extra spend.
Learn more: Ecommerce statistics →
AOV is the average amount spent per transaction (Total Revenue ÷ Number of Orders). Raising AOV through bundling or upselling increases margin per order without needing more customers.
Learn more: Ecommerce statistics →
CAC is the total marketing and sales cost to acquire one new customer across all channels combined. Comparing CAC to LTV is the key health check for any acquisition strategy.
Learn more: Ecommerce statistics →
LTV is the total revenue expected from a customer over the full relationship (AOV × Purchase Frequency × Lifespan). A high LTV justifies a higher CAC on the first order.
Learn more: Ecommerce statistics →
Cart abandonment happens when a shopper adds items to their cart but leaves without buying. The global average sits around 70%, making recovery emails and checkout simplification high-leverage fixes.
Learn more: Common Google Shopping mistakes →
Checkout is the final purchase step — shipping, payment, and order confirmation. Friction here (forced account creation, hidden costs, extra steps) is one of the biggest drivers of cart abandonment.
Learn more: Setting up a Google Shopping feed →
GMV is the total value of all goods sold through a marketplace before fees, returns, or commissions are deducted — the standard measure of a marketplace’s transaction scale.
Learn more: Marketplace statistics →
An ERP system integrates core business processes — inventory, orders, purchasing, and finance — in one platform. It becomes essential once order volume and channel complexity outgrow manual management.
Learn more: Product Feed guide →
A PIM system is the central source of truth for product content — descriptions, images, attributes, translations — from which data is distributed to every channel a merchant sells on.
Learn more: Product Feed Management →
An OMS centralises order tracking and fulfilment from every sales channel in one workflow, so merchants do not need to check a separate dashboard per marketplace.
Learn more: Product Feed Management →
