There is a wide variety of terms associated with Amazon marketing. Below is a glossary of the most common of them, including relevant acronyms, to help novices and experts alike more effectively navigate the Amazon platform.
For more on Amazon, check out our other articles on Amazon marketing strategies and how to plan for Prime Day.
A
A+ Content: Formerly known as Enhanced Brand Content (EBC); refers to rich content on branded ASINs such as copy and images.
A9 Algorithm: Determines how products appear in search; titles, images, video, copy, A+ content, reviews, inventory and more are factored in.
A/B Testing: Measuring optimal performance between two elements such as messaging.
Account Health: Overview of a seller account’s adherence to the performance targets and policies required.
Ad Daily Budget: Set amount of daily spend for an ad.
Ad Impressions: Number of times an ad is displayed.
Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS): Ad spend divided by revenue.
Amazon Advertising: Formerly Amazon Marketing Services (AMS); includes all advertising services.
Amazon API: Platform’s application programming interface.
Amazon’s Choice: Recommends highly rated, well-priced products available to ship immediately.
Amazon Media Group (AMG): Now under Amazon Advertising; known for external advertising services and specialty advertising.
Amazon Referral Fee (Amazon Commission): Percentage collected based on category.
Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN): 10-character identifier assigned to products; includes Parent and Child classifications.
Automatically Targeted Sponsored Product Ads: Placement is decided by Amazon’s choice of search terms as opposed to manual sponsored product ads where the advertiser chooses the keywords.
Average Sales Rank: How a product ranks in sales versus competitors.
Average Reviews: Star rating based on reviews. Verified reviews and helpful reviews may be influential.
A-Z Guarantee: Protection for products sold and fulfilled by a third-party seller. Covers both their timely delivery and condition.
B
Bid: Amount spent on a keyword.
Brand Analytics: Formerly ARA Basic and ARA Premium; available to those that are Brand Registered.
Brand Registry: Provides access to tools that enable users to more accurately represent brands, find and report violations and share information that can help Amazon proactively prevent violations.
Brand Store: Allows vendors and sellers to create a brand-dedicated platform with a more immersive shopping experience.
Brand Voice: Personification of a company that resonates with customers, consistent across every platform.
Buy Box: Located on the right side of the product detail page where customers can add products to cart; “winning” the buy box is based on seller metrics.
C
Category: Amazon organizes groupings of products into categories and sub-categories.
Child Listing (Child ASIN/ASIN): Product tied to a Parent Listing, which appears on a single PDP with other variations of the same product.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR): Clicks divided by number of impressions.
Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who complete a desired action such as a purchase.
Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS): Total cost of products sold at retail price.
Cost-per-Click (CPC): Spend divided by number of clicks.
Cost-per-Thousand Impressions (CPM): Cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 views.
D
Deals of the Day: Single product or small set of closely related products discounted for one day only.
Demand-Side Platform (DSP): Formerly Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP); a platform with a rich data network that helps advertisers influence shoppers.
Display Ads: Also known as banner ads; served both on and off Amazon through the DSP.
Drip Campaign: Method of direct marketing where vendors and sellers can reach out directly to customers after a purchase has been made.
Drop Shipping: Allows third-party to fulfill orders to customers.
Duty Tax: Tax on international goods.
E
Early Reviewer Program: Encourages customers who’ve already purchased products to share their experiences.
F
File Feed: Bulk upload that can be done via Seller Central to create and update listings, as well as update parent/child ASIN relationships.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): Storing products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Amazon picks, packs, ships and provides customer service.
Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM): Sellers are responsible for filling orders.
Fulfillment Center: Amazon storage warehouses in the U.S.
Fulfillment Fee: Cost for filling orders based on the size of the shipment.
G
Gateway Placement: Ad within a category’s specific landing page; only available through Amazon Advertising.
I
Inventory: Number of products and goods available to ship.
Inventory Health: Optimal amount of stock available that accounts for fluctuations in demand.
Inventory Performance Index (IPI): Metric used to gauge overall performance of sellers’ FBA businesses over time.
K
Keywords: Terms and phrases relating to a given product or category, which help boost discoverability. Short-tail keywords hold greater significance on Amazon.
L
Launchpad: Application- and invitation-based program that provides education, merchandising and global infrastructure to startups.
Lightning Deals: Promotion offered in a limited quantity for a short period of time.
Live Deals: Streaming for Amazon sales, similar to QVC or HSN.
Long Term Storage Fees (LTSF): Inventory in US fulfillment centers for more than 365 days incurs a long-term storage fee (LTSF) of $6.90 per cubic foot or a $0.15 per-unit long-term storage fee, whichever is greater.
M
Macarta: Agency that specializes in Amazon advertising, content optimization and account management to increase brand sales.
Manually Targeted Sponsored Product Ads: Campaigns that are only eligible on added keywords; determined by the products’ relevance to the target term and bid amount.
Marketplace Tax Collection (MTC): As a marketplace facilitator, Amazon is responsible for calculating, collecting, remitting and refunding state sales tax on sales by 3rd parties destined for states with marketplace facilitator and/or marketplace collection legislation.
Match Type: Parameters applied to keywords that determine the searches triggering ads to appear; includes broad, phrase, exact and negative.
O
Onsite Associates: Extension of the Amazon Associates program that serves product-related content from third parties onto the platform. Includes “Editorial Recommendations,” which help customers discover products they might be interested in.
P
Parent Listing (Parent ASIN/PASIN): Connects variations of the same product but is not purchasable.
Posts: Browse-and-discover experience specifically focused on brand shopping.
Prime: Membership benefits include free, fast shipping for eligible purchases, streaming, exclusive deals, unlimited reading and more.
Private Label: Amazon-owned brands.
Product Detail Page (PDP): Includes details, images, videos, Q&A and reviews.
Product Targeted Sponsored Product Ads: Allows advertisers to specifically target ASINs, brands and categories.
Product Tracker: Helps sellers boost standards to increase products’ rankings.
Promotional Pricing: When Amazon lowers prices as part of a promotion, other retailers will follow. As a result, Amazon may decrease its price further during the promotion, which may be the same or even lower than the original promotional price to offer customers additional savings.
R
Repricing Software: Helps manage the price of a product to help “win” the buy box.
Return on Ad Spend (RoAS): Revenue divided by advertising cost.
Return Rate: Number of returns divided by number of units sold.
S
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Strategic enhancements made to content to increase traffic.
Seller Central: Interface for 3rd party sellers.
Seller Fulfilled Prime: Allows the sales of products with the Prime badge directly from a warehouse.
Share of Voice (SOV): Amount of the market a brand owns compared to competitors.
Sponsored Brands: Formerly Headline Search Ads (HSA); increases product awareness.
Sponsored Display Ads: Self-service advertising solution that helps reach relevant audiences both on and off Amazon. Purchased on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.
Sponsored Products: Promotes individual products on Amazon. Allows users to designate which to advertise, assign keywords or product attributes to target and enter a cost-per-click amount.
Sponsored Brand Video Ads: Ad where video can be leveraged; drives customers to a specific PDP.
Subscribe & Save: Customers can save 5-20% on products by signing up for auto-delivery.
T
Today’s Deals: Deals of the Day, Savings & Sales and Lightning Deals.
V
Variation Theme: Relationship between Parent and Child listings. For example, a pair of pants in different colors and sizes would have size and color themes.
Vendor Central: Interface for 1st party sellers, including manufacturers and distributors.
Verified Review: Ensures that the person writing the review purchased the product at Amazon and didn’t receive it at a deep discount.
Vine: Review generation program offered to 1P vendors.
