We all know the convenience of shopping on Amazon is unbeatable. Whether it’s clothes, shoes, electronics or books- you can get anything delivered to your house within two days! But what are those acronyms? Some sellers might be using certain terms specific to their profession that you may not have heard before. For example, “FBA” stands for Fulfilment by Amazon and means items will ship from an offsite warehouse directly with Prime Shipping available so they’ll arrive in 2 business days (or less!)
Here is a list of the most common ones and what they mean.
| Abbreviation/Term | Definition | What does it mean? |
|---|---|---|
| 3PL | Third Party Logistics | A provider, outsourced logistics service which includes shipments and storage are just a few things that come with this industry. |
| ACOS | Advertising Cost Of Sale | Advertising is an important tool for businesses and can account for a large percentage of business expenditure. The formula to calculate this ratio in advertising cost over sales revenue, or ACoS, is total spend / ad sales = ____%. |
| ASIN | Amazon Standard Identification Number | A way to identify your products with one single number, instead of multiple numbers that could get mixed up in storage or distribution systems. All items on Amazon are assigned their own unique identifier so they can be identified when it comes time to store them or distribute them at retailers all over the world without risking any mix-ups! |
| BB | Buy Box | So the phrase “winning a Buy Box” isn’t just about some abstract battle between merchants. It’s about whether or not you’re getting an Amazon customer to buy your products when they add them to their cart—and with more than half of all online shopping now done on Amazon, that means it can make a huge difference in your bottom line. |
| BR | Brand Registry | Amazon’s program that will help you protect your brand from other sellers jumping on your listing. You need a trademark to get Brand Registered, but the Enhanced Brand Content is worth it! |
| BSR | Best Sellers Rank | This is the Amazon category rank for a product based on how well it sells. A lower number means that more of these products are selling and vice versa, with higher numbers meaning less sales overall in comparison to others. The Best Seller Rank reflects an item’s popularity among other items sold by Amazon, so if you need help determining what would be best to buy from their vast selection then this information should come in handy! |
| COGS | Cost Of Goods Sold | The cost of your goods is an excellent way to determine the success or failure of a business. The price you pay for products, in accounting terms, determines whether it was worth opening up shop at all! |
| CTR | Click Through Rate | Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of shoppers who see your ad and click on it. Calculated by dividing total clicks by impressions, CTR measures how compelling an advertisement’s message was to a potential customer when they saw it – or in other words, what percent of people clicked through instead of dismissing the advertisements as irrelevant ads. |
| Child ASIN | A buyable variant of a parent ASIN, when the customer must select an option such as size or color to purchase. All child ASINs should be on one detail page under the parent ASIN. | |
| Dropshipping | Dropshipping is a fulfillment method that allows retailers to maintain their product lines without having inventory. When the customer purchases an item, they place the order and it will be shipped directly from the third party provider at a possible additional cost. This can save on costs associated with storage or fulfilling orders as all of these steps are handled by professionals who have experience in this field. | |
| EAN | European Article Number | The European Article Number is a unique barcode that identifies the product and can be compared to UPC. European Article Numbers are very similar to Universal Product Codes, but they’re different in how well it’s indicated what country it was produced in or sold from. |
| EBC | Enhanced Brand Content | Allows sellers to create more detailed product descriptions with additional images, videos and text. The Enhanced Brands content is one of the ways that Amazon continues to provide customers a customized shopping experience from start-to-finish by providing them with unique brand stories for every item they purchase. The enhanced brands are just another way in which we’ve been working on providing our customers an improved customer service experience. |
| EXW | Ex Works | EXW is an abbreviation for “Ex Works” – meaning that the seller will provide a product to their buyer’s premises, but they won’t be responsible for getting it there and thus don’t cover any of the costs. |
| FBA | Fulfilment by Amazon | FBA stands for “fulfilment by Amazon”. FBA is a service offered to sellers on the Amazon Marketplace, which means that when you sell your products through the Amazon platform, they will store and ship your items to customers on your behalf. |
| FBM | Fulfilment by Merchant | Fulfilled by Merchant, or FBM for short. This is the type of Amazon selling that gives you a ton more control over your fulfillment process! Sellers sign up to handle all aspects of order management, storage, packing and shipping – as well any customer service if needed. |
| FFP | Frustration Free Packaging | Amazon.com’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program eliminates excessive packing and overboxing, making it easier for customers to unbox their products at home with minimal packaging waste. |
| FC | Fulfilment Center | A fulfilment center is where you send your products when doing FBA (Fulfillment by Associate). They are stored and then prepared and shipped once they are sold. |
| FNSKU | Fulfilment Network Stock Keeping Unit | FNSKU is a stock keeping unit for the fulfilment network. The Fulfilment Network can be used to store products and manage inventory in an online environment, as well as fulfill orders with all of their attributes intact. |
| FOB | Freight On Board | FOB, that’s the term for freight when it has been loaded onto a vessel. |
| Gated Category | A restricted category of products for which you need approval from Amazon to sell. Approval is available on a case-by-case basis, so if your product would be approved or denied by the company depends on whether it meets their criteria and requirements. | |
| GTIN | Global Trade Identification Number | A GTIN is a unique number used to identify an item that will cross international borders. This identifies items in global trade and helps ensure reliable identification of the goods, regardless of where they are manufactured or sold around the world. A bar code on your product contains information about its manufacturer–as well as batch numbers for quality control/safety purposes-to help you find out more details about it if desired or necessary. |
| Hazmat | What are some examples of hazardous materials? Common items that fall under this category include gasoline, paint thinner, and cleaning fluids. These substances can be flammable or corrosive to humans or other objects they come in contact with. | |
| Hijacking | When a seller jumps on your listing to sell their counterfeit product at a lower price | |
| Impressions | A measure of views or ad views. Determined by the number of times a single page is located and loaded. | |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicators | Key Performance Indicators are a measurable value that tells you how well your business or organisation is performing. |
| Lightning Deals | An exclusive offer where a product is featured for several hours on the Amazon Deals page. | |
| LTL | Less Than Truckload | LTL is a common term in the trucking industry, meaning less than truckload. It’s an ordering option that offers goods to be delivered by smaller trucks within shorter time-frames and at lower costs. |
| LCL | Less Than Container Load or “Loose Cargo Load” | LCL shipping can be a more cost-effective option for shippers looking to transport smaller amounts of cargo since the rates are typically lower than those charged by freight carriers like UPS or FedEx Express. |
| Product Detail Page | The process of improving an Amazon detail page and product information, including titles, bullet points, features description and images can be painstaking. It helps to have a professional look at it first before tackling the project yourself. | |
| MAP | Minimum Advertised Price | MAP is the lowest price point that a company will allow retailers to advertise their product. |
| MCF | Multi Channel Fulfilment | Multi Channel Fulfillment. For sellers who sell on Amazon and other marketplaces, Amazon inventory fulfillment package includes hybrid services with some fulfilled by Amazon. |
| MSRP | Manufactuerer Sugegsted Retail Price | The MSRP is the standard selling point of a product as determined by its manufacturer and typically reflects an optimistic financial forecast for how much money they believe their goods are worth in consumers’ hands. |
| MOQ | Minimum Order Quantity | The lowest possible order volume allowed by a manufacturer for a particular product. Negotiable. If you are a small business owner, it is important to know what the minimum order quantity for any products that your company may need. |
| NDA | Non Disclosure Agreeement | It is a legal document that binds two or more parties to confidentiality agreement. It can be used as evidence if there are any disputes between companies about their business dealings because it proves that they have agreed not to disclose confidential information found out during these transactions; thus preventing anyone else being accidentally exposed to said secrets |
| ODR | Order Defect Rate | The percentage of orders that are defective is a metric Amazon uses to measure overall performance with. |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer | A company that manufactures and sells products for other companies’ brands. An OEM is a company that builds the components of another product, but does not sell it under their own brand name. They are often contracted to provide parts or assemblies in bulk quantities at lower prices than manufacturers can achieve on their own because they have more efficient production lines and less overhead as an independent entity from whoever buys the finished goods from them |
| OOS | Out of Stock | The OOS (Out of Stock) notification is there to indicate that we are currently out of stock. |
| Parent ASIN | ASINs are a type of Amazon page that can group variations on one detail Page. For example, each main ASIN may have multiple variants such as color or scent and these would be referred to child ASINS. | |
| PL | Private Label | Private labeling can be defined as a process in which an organization takes ownership of another company’s product or service by attaching its own logo onto the item so that customers may identify with it more easily when selecting products from different sellers online. This has become increasingly popular among Amazon retailers because they want their brand name associated with quality goods without having to invest time into creating those items themselves! |
| PPC | Pay Per Click | Advertising model where an advertiser pays for the ad placement only when the Ad is clicked. A more accurate way to gauge success in advertising, Pay Per Click (PPC) allows advertisers to pay based on their click-through rate and clicks rather than paying a flat fee or cost per thousand impressions as with other forms of advertisement like Search Marketing. |
| ROI | Return On Investment | Returns on investment are extremely important for any company. It is imperative that all investments should be successful and as profitable as possible, so it’s not uncommon to measure the ROI of each purchase before deciding what needs to happen with a product or service in order to make more money back than was invested. |
| SC | Seller Central | The main portal for managing your Amazon seller account |
| Seller Rating | Sellers are rated on a 5-star system by customers who have purchased from them. | |
| SFP | Seller Fulfilled Prime | The Seller Fulfilled Prime option is a great way to boost your Amazon sales. This is the same as regular Prime, only you are providing Prime delivery yourselves fulfilling from your home or warehouse. |
| SKU | Stock Keeping Unit | Stock Keeping Units are a standardized code for products that each manufacturer assigns to their own product. |
| SPD | Small Parcel Delivery | Sending boxes full of parcels is a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. When you pack your goods in individual boxes and label them for delivery with the carrier that will take care of carrying them (i.e., UPS or FedEx), then all they need to do is get their cargo from point A to B without any hassle on our end! |
| TOS | Terms Of Service | A website’s Terms of Service (TOS) outline the rights and responsibilities each user has with respect to using a particular web service. TOS are often presented as legal documents in order for companies to protect themselves against any liability incurred by their users, such as copyright infringement or hacking attacks. |
| UPC | Universal Product Code | The Universal Product Code is a barcode system that stores the manufacturer, product type, and other specific information about an item. |
| VA | Virtual Assistant | Virtual assistants are the digital utility workers of this day and age. |
