Ecommerce and Shopify terms for managing an online store. Updated for 2025–2026 with Shopify's latest features.
Shopify
A platform for creating and running online stores. Hosts everything — store builder, payments, shipping, CDN. Used by millions of merchants globally.
Shopify Plans (2025 Pricing)
| Plan | Price (USD) | Transaction Fee | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39/mo | 2% (if not using Shopify Payments) | New stores, small businesses |
| Shopify | $105/mo | 1% | Growing businesses |
| Advanced | $399/mo | 0.6% | Scaling, international |
| Plus | $2,300/mo | Negotiable | Enterprise, high volume |
2025 update: Shopify now offers Shopify Starter ($5/mo) for social selling and Shopify Retail for POS-only businesses.
Shopify Editions (Biannual Updates)
Shopify releases major feature updates twice a year called Editions (Winter and Summer). Key recent additions:
- Shopify Magic: AI features — product description generation, email subject lines, image editing
- Shopify Sidekick: AI assistant in admin for quick questions and tasks
- Checkout Extensibility: Customize checkout with apps (replacing checkout.liquid)
- Shopify Functions: Custom backend logic (discounts, shipping, payment rules) without apps
- Hydrogen + Oxygen: Headless commerce framework for custom storefronts
- Shop Pay Installments: Buy now, pay later built into checkout
- Shopify Audiences: AI-powered audience targeting for ads (Plus plan)
Theme
Design template for your store. Shopify uses Online Store 2.0 theme architecture (since 2021) — all modern themes use sections and blocks everywhere.
Free themes: Dawn (default), Refresh, Craft, Colorblock, Sense, Crave, Taste, Ride, Trade
Paid themes: $180–$380 one-time from Shopify Theme Store
Liquid
Shopify's template language for customizing themes. Files end in .liquid.
{{ product.title }}
{{ product.price | money }}
{% for variant in product.variants %}
{{ variant.title }}
{% endfor %}Metafields & Metaobjects
Metafields: Custom data fields for products, collections, customers, orders. Managed in Shopify Admin → Settings → Custom Data.
Metaobjects (new 2024): Custom content types you define yourself — like a mini-CMS inside Shopify. Use for: size guides, ingredient lists, store locations, team bios.
Product Variant
Different versions of a product (size, color, material).
2025 limit: Shopify increased the variant limit to 2,000 variants per product (up from 100) with the Combined Listings feature. You can now have more than 3 option types.
Collection
Product groups. Manual (hand-picked) or Automated (rule-based: tag, price, vendor, etc.).
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
Unique code per variant for inventory tracking. Example: CS-WHT-M-42
Conversion Rate
Percentage of visitors who buy. Formula: Orders ÷ Visitors × 100.
2025 Shopify benchmarks:
- Average: 1.5–2.5%
- Good: 2.5–3.5%
- Excellent: 3.5%+
- With Shop Pay enabled: +5–10% lift (Shopify's data)
AOV (Average Order Value)
Total Revenue ÷ Number of Orders. Increase with upsells, bundles, free shipping thresholds.
Cart Abandonment
~70% of carts are abandoned. Recovery methods:
- Abandoned cart emails (Shopify has this built-in, or use Klaviyo for better flows)
- Exit-intent popups
- Simplified checkout (Shop Pay reduces friction)
- Guest checkout enabled by default
- Multiple payment options (UPI, wallets, BNPL)
Payment Gateway (India)
| Gateway | Methods | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Razorpay | UPI, cards, wallets, BNPL | 2% per transaction |
| Cashfree | UPI, cards, wallets, EMI | 1.90% per transaction |
| PayU | UPI, cards, net banking | 2% per transaction |
| Shopify Payments (India) | Cards, UPI (limited) | 0% extra (plan fee only) |
2025: Shopify Payments is now available in India. Use it to avoid the extra transaction fee charged on third-party gateways.
Checkout Extensibility
2025 requirement: Shopify deprecated checkout.liquid in August 2024. All checkout customizations now use Checkout UI Extensions (app-based). This is more secure and maintains Shopify's PCI compliance.
Shopify Functions
What it is: Custom backend logic that runs on Shopify's infrastructure. Write code (Rust or JavaScript) to customize discounts, shipping rates, payment methods, cart validation.
Replaces: Script Editor app (deprecated) and many simple apps that just added discount logic.
Hydrogen & Oxygen
Hydrogen: Shopify's React-based framework for building custom headless storefronts.
Oxygen: Shopify's hosting platform for Hydrogen storefronts.
When to use: Only for large brands that need completely custom UX beyond what themes offer. Most stores should use standard themes.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
Making more visitors buy without increasing traffic. Methods: A/B testing, heatmaps, checkout optimization, trust signals, social proof.
Heatmap
Visual of where people click and scroll. Free: Microsoft Clarity. Paid: Hotjar.
A/B Test
Show 2 versions, see which converts better. Need ~1000+ visitors per version for statistical significance.
Upsell / Cross-sell
- Upsell: Offer premium/bigger version of what they're buying
- Cross-sell: Recommend complementary products
- Post-purchase upsell: Offer after checkout but before thank-you page (one-click add)
Webhook
Automatic notification when something happens. Shopify webhooks for: orders, products, customers, inventory changes.
API
How systems talk to each other. Shopify has REST API and GraphQL API (recommended for new development — more efficient).