E-commerce knowledge base
Research, reviews and practical breakdowns: what works in online stores, how to measure change and build a sales system.
Customer churn
Customer churn rate is the share of customers who left a group over a given period. The opposite measure is retention.
Customer service and replies to shoppers
An online store's customer service is everything that happens between a shopper's question and its resolution: answers before purchase, order status, changes, returns, complaints. It is part of the product: a shopper judges a store by how their issue was…
AI automation for an online store
AI automation for an online store means handing part of the repetitive work to a language model (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and the like): draft descriptions and translations, a first reply to a customer, search through a knowledge base, spreadsheet analysis. It…
Data warehouse
A data warehouse is a separate database into which data from all of a store's systems (site, analytics, advertising, CRM, warehouse, accounting) is regularly collected in a single format for reports and analysis. You need one when numbers from different…
Online store backups
A backup is a copy of the site, the database (products, orders, customers) and files, stored separately, from which the store can be restored after a failure, a mistake or a break-in. A backup only makes sense if restoring from it has been tested.
AI in customer support
AI in customer support means using language models and chatbots to answer customer requests: order statuses, delivery and return terms, routine questions. It works well on simple, verifiable requests backed by data from your systems, and poorly where a…
Product variants
Product variants are versions of the same product that differ by one or two attributes: size, color, volume, memory. For example, a T-shirt of one model in sizes S, M, L and in three colors.
Retail media: advertising on marketplaces and in retailers' stores
Retail media is advertising a brand or seller buys on the platform where the purchase happens: a marketplace, a retailer's online store or its app. Ads are shown to people who are already searching for a product or comparing, and the result is visible in that…
Brand identity
Brand identity is what a brand owner creates so that shoppers perceive the brand the way the owner wants: the name, logo, colors, fonts, images, tone of voice and values. A visual identity system is the visual and written part of the identity, fixed in a set…
PCI DSS in plain words
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is the international payment card security standard: a set of technical and organizational requirements for anyone who stores, processes or transmits card data. It was developed by the PCI SSC council…
Stock levels, stockouts and overstock
Inventory management is controlling how much of each product is in the warehouse, how much is needed and when to order, so that you do not lose sales to stockouts and do not freeze cash in overstock. A stockout (out-of-stock) means the shopper wanted to buy…
CRM
CRM (customer relationship management) is an approach and, usually, a program for managing interaction with customers: it stores data about them, analyzes it and helps coordinate sales, marketing and support (Wikipedia, CRM).