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Amazon Glossary Of Terms
Amazon Glossary Of Terms

What is BSR, PPC, ASIN? Help me understand Amazon terms and abbreviations.

Kimberlee French avatar
Written by Kimberlee French
Updated over a week ago

When you first enter the world of Amazon it can feel like people are speaking another language. There are so many abbreviations and terms to remember it can quickly feel overwhelming.

To help you cut through the overwhelm we've put together a list of the most common acronyms and their meanings.

3PL – Third-party logistics. A third-party freight and warehousing solution Amazon sellers can use to store products and/or fulfill orders from.

A9 Algorithm: The ranking algorithm used by Amazon to determine how products appear in search results.

A+ Content: Brand registered sellers are able to show additional content such as copy and images below the fold on listing pages. This is additional valuable real estate that often increases conversions. Formerly known as Enhanced Brand Content.

ACoS: Advertising Cost of Sales. Ad spend divided by your total ad sales.

ACoTS: Advertising Cost of Total Sales. Ad spend divided by your total sales

ASIN: Amazon standard identification number. It is a 10 digit alphanumeric code that identifies provides on Amazon. It's unique for each product and is assigned by Amazon.

A-Z Guarantee: The Amazon A-to-Z Guarantee protects you when you purchase items sold and fulfilled by a third-party seller. Amazon’s guarantee covers both the timely delivery and the condition of your items.

Buy Box: The buy box is located on the right side of the product detail page where customers can add items to cart. When a consumer proceeds to buy the product through this section, the seller which is highest ranked by Amazon at that time will show up there. The Buy Box winner will go on to make more sales than any other seller for that product.

BSR: Best seller ranking. The order and ranking of a product in the category where it is listed. The rank is updated hourly and takes into account recent and past sales history. If there are no sales (ie, the product is new), the rank will be “None.”

Bundle – A group of complementary products sold as one ASIN unit.

Category: Amazon organizes groupings of products into categories and sub-categories. Some categories require approval, while others do not.

Child Product (Variation): The listing for individual variations like size, color, or weight. All child ASINs should be on one detail page, under the parent ASIN.

Conversion Rate: % of visitors who view your listing and buy the product.

Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS): The direct costs of producing the goods sold.

CPC: Cost per click. How much Amazon charges each time a shopper clicks on a your ad.

CTR: Click-through rate. The number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times that your ad is shown.

EAN – European Article Number. A 13 digit number system for identifying retail products in Europe.

FBA: Fullfilment by Amazon. A fulfillment model in which you store your products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Amazon then picks, packs, ships and provides customer service for these products.

FBM: Fulfillment by Merchant. A fulfillment model in which sellers are responsible for filling their own orders.

FNSKU – Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit. An Amazon product identifier for products that are fulfilled by Amazon.

GTIN – Global Trade Item Number. Globally unique 14-digit number to identify items, products, and services.

Keywords: What buyers use to search for and find products on Amazon.

MCF – Multi Channel Fulfillment. For sellers who sell on Amazon and other marketplaces. Some inventory is fulfilled by Amazon, and other inventory by other sales channels or the merchant themselves.

MOQ – Minimum Order Quantity. The minimum amount you can order.

PPC – Pay Per Click. A term often used for Amazon Advertising, in which advertisers pay a fee each time an ad is clicked.

ROAS: Return on Ad Spend, the amount of revenue earned for every dollar spent on advertising.

Search Term: A combination of keywords that a customer uses to find products on Amazon.

SEO: Search engine optimization. Strategic enhancements that can be made to content to increase traffic.

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