Shopify glossary

The terms that come up in every Shopify project, explained in plain English. To go deeper, each one links to the guide or service that covers it in detail.

3

301 redirect: A permanent redirect from an old URL to a new one that passes the page's authority on to Google. It is essential when you migrate or change the handle of products and collections. In Shopify you create them from the admin, one by one or by bulk import. A migration without a redirect map is the fastest way to lose organic traffic. Learn more about 301 redirect

A

Abandoned cart: Happens when a customer adds products or starts checkout and leaves without paying. In Shopify you recover these sales with automations in the Shopify Messaging app, which send an email, SMS or WhatsApp message with the saved cart. Before reaching for discounts, check the usual causes: shipping costs that show up late, too few payment methods or a slow mobile checkout. Learn more about Abandoned cart
Admin API: The API that apps and integrations use to read and change store data: products, orders, customers, inventory or metafields. The recommended version is GraphQL; the REST Admin API is considered legacy, so avoid starting new integrations with it. It is the piece you use to connect an ERP, a WMS or any internal system to Shopify.
App: An extension that adds features to Shopify: reviews, filters, shipping, invoicing, loyalty and almost anything else you can think of. It can be a public app installed from the Shopify App Store or a custom app built for a single store. Every app adds a monthly fee and often scripts to the theme, so it pays to review now and then which ones you still need. Learn more about App
App Store: Shopify's official app marketplace, with thousands of free and paid extensions. Each listing shows reviews, pricing, the permissions the app requests and whether it is built with the technologies Shopify recommends. Before installing, check whether Shopify already does what you need natively or through one of its free apps, such as Flow, Search & Discovery or Bundles.
Automated collection: A collection that fills itself based on conditions you define: tag, product type, vendor, price, inventory or a metafield value. Every new product that meets the conditions is added without you lifting a finger. It is the most convenient option for large catalogs, as long as you keep the product data it relies on clean and consistent.
Average order value: The average amount of each order, shown in Shopify reports as average order value (AOV). Raising it is one of the most profitable levers, because each sale covers more of your acquisition and shipping costs. You work on it with bundles, a free shipping threshold, recommendations for complementary products and offers in the cart.

B

B2B: Business-to-business selling, usually to distributors, retailers or professionals, with their own prices, payment terms and minimum orders. Shopify has native B2B: on Basic, Grow and Advanced you can use up to 3 catalogs, while Plus has no limit and adds more features. It lets you sell wholesale from the same store you use for end customers. Learn more about B2B
B2B catalog: In Shopify's native B2B, a catalog defines which products a company customer sees and at what price. It is assigned to company locations, so the same distributor can have different prices at each site. Combined with price lists and payment terms, it gives you wholesale pricing without building a separate store.
Block: An element you add, remove and reorder inside a section from the theme editor: a text, a button, an image or an FAQ item. Blocks let the person running the store change content without touching code. Apps can also insert their own app blocks into Online Store 2.0 themes, which avoids editing theme files.

C

Canonical tag: A tag that tells Google which URL is the main version of a page when several URLs show the same content. In Shopify this happens with products, which are reachable from /products/ and from paths inside collections; the theme points the canonical to the product URL. If you customize the theme or use filter parameters, check that the tag is still set correctly.
Checkout: The payment process where the customer enters their details, chooses shipping and pays. In Shopify it is one of the most refined parts of the platform and it is hosted by Shopify, which guarantees security and performance. You customize it with the checkout editor and Checkout Extensibility; the old checkout.liquid has been retired.
Checkout Extensibility: The set of tools for customizing checkout without editing its code: UI extensions, branding settings, Shopify Functions and customer events. Extensions on the information, shipping and payment steps are only available on Plus. Because extensions are updated along with the platform, they do not break every time Shopify ships a change. Learn more about Checkout Extensibility
CLS: Cumulative Layout Shift, the Core Web Vitals metric that measures how much content moves around while the page loads. In online stores it usually spikes because of images without dimensions, banners that appear at the top or apps that inject blocks late. You fix it by reserving space for every element and loading app add-ons in a fixed spot in the layout.
Conversion rate: The percentage of sessions that end in a purchase. Shopify shows it in its reports along with the funnel: sessions with a product added to cart, sessions that reach checkout and sessions that convert. Look at it by device and by channel, because a global average hides specific problems, like a checkout that fails on mobile.
Cookie banner: The notice that asks visitors for permission before loading non-essential cookies and scripts, such as analytics or advertising. Shopify offers its own configurable banner, and you can also use a consent management app. What matters is that pixels respect the visitor's choice through the Customer Privacy API. For specific legal requirements, consult your legal advisor. Learn more about Cookie banner
Core Web Vitals: The three metrics Google uses to measure loading and interaction experience: LCP, INP and CLS. They are based on real user data and appear in Search Console and in Shopify's web performance report. In an online store, the biggest culprits are heavy images, too many apps and sloppy theme code. Learn more about Core Web Vitals
CRO: Conversion rate optimization: the work of getting more visitors to buy without increasing traffic. It relies on analyzing data and behavior, spotting friction on the product page, the cart or checkout, and testing specific changes. Button colors matter far less than clear pricing, clear shipping information, trust signals and speed. Learn more about CRO
Custom app: An app built for a single store or business that is not published on the App Store. It covers your own integrations, such as syncing inventory with your ERP or automating processes no public app handles. You create it from the admin or from the Dev Dashboard with Shopify CLI. If you want to use Shopify Functions in your own app, you need the Plus plan. Learn more about Custom app
Customer account: The area where customers check their orders, addresses and, if you sell B2B, their company terms. Shopify's current customer accounts are passwordless: the customer signs in with their email and a one-time code. If you migrate from another platform, keep in mind that customer passwords cannot be migrated. Learn more about Customer account
Customer events: The admin section where you manage tracking pixels, such as those from Meta, TikTok or Google. Custom pixels run in a sandboxed environment and receive standard events: page viewed, product added to cart, checkout started or checkout completed. It is the recommended way to track in Shopify, including inside checkout, and it respects visitor consent.
Customer Privacy API: A Shopify API that stores and exposes each visitor's consent preferences. The cookie banner records what the visitor accepts, and themes, apps and pixels check that choice before collecting data. If you use a third-party banner, make sure it is integrated with this API; otherwise your pixels could ignore consent.

D

Dawn: A free Shopify theme and one of the first built for Online Store 2.0. It is lightweight, accessible and well documented, which is why it is widely used as a reference and as a starting point for development. Its code is public on GitHub. For a brand with specific needs, it usually falls short on design and structure compared with a custom theme. Learn more about Dawn
Development store: A free store that Shopify Partners create to build and test a project before the client pays for a plan. You can set up the theme, load products and place test orders, but you cannot process real sales. When the project is ready, ownership is transferred to the client, who picks a plan and launches the store.
Domain: Your store's address, for example yourbrand.com. You can buy it through Shopify or connect one you already own by changing the DNS records at your provider. With Shopify Markets you can use a domain or subfolder for each country or language. When you switch platforms, you keep the domain and redirect the old URLs to the new ones.
Dropshipping: A model where you sell products you do not hold in stock: when an order comes in, the supplier ships it directly to the customer. It lowers the upfront investment but leaves you little control over delivery times, quality and margins. In Shopify it runs through apps that connect to the supplier and sync catalog, inventory and tracking.
DTC: Direct to consumer: brands that sell straight to end customers through their own online store, without going through distributors or big retailers. They keep more margin and, above all, own the customer relationship and data. Shopify is the go-to platform for this model thanks to its checkout, its marketing tools and its app ecosystem.

E

ERP: Enterprise resource planning software that centralizes accounting, purchasing, inventory and invoicing, such as SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Odoo or Holded. Integrating it with Shopify avoids duplicate work: orders flow down to the ERP, and inventory and prices flow up to the store. You connect it with an existing connector or a custom app built on the Admin API. Learn more about ERP
Expansion stores: Additional stores included with Shopify Plus, meant to separate markets, brands or channels, such as a B2B store or one for a country with a very different catalog. Each has its own admin and its own theme. Today many cases that used to require several stores are solved in a single one with Shopify Markets, so it is worth weighing both options. Learn more about Expansion stores

G

GA4: Google Analytics 4, the current, event-based version of Google's analytics. In Shopify you connect it through the Google & YouTube app, which sends the standard ecommerce events, including purchases. If you need a more granular setup, you can use Google Tag Manager with a custom pixel in customer events. Always compare GA4 sales with the figures in your admin. Learn more about GA4
GDPR: The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD in Spanish), which governs how you collect and process your customers' personal data. In an online store it affects cookie consent, forms, email marketing and legal pages. Shopify provides tools such as the cookie banner and the Customer Privacy API, but your legal compliance should be reviewed by an advisor.
GitHub integration (themes): A native connection between a Shopify theme and a branch of a GitHub repository. Changes pushed to the branch show up in the theme, and changes made in the theme editor are saved as commits. It lets you work with version control, review changes before publishing them and roll back if something goes wrong.
Google & YouTube: Google's official app for Shopify. It syncs your catalog with Google Merchant Center, enables free listings on Google Shopping, lets you launch Performance Max campaigns and connects GA4 and conversion tracking. The quality of the product data you send, such as titles, GTINs or categories, directly affects how your products appear. Learn more about Google & YouTube
Google Merchant Center: The Google platform where you manage the catalog that appears on Google Shopping, in both ads and free listings. From Shopify it is fed by the Google & YouTube app. Check disapproved product warnings regularly: they usually come from prices or availability that do not match the site, missing identifiers or incomplete shipping policies. Learn more about Google Merchant Center

H

Headless: An architecture where the storefront is built outside the Shopify theme, with its own framework, and connects to Shopify through the Storefront API. It gives you complete freedom over design and performance, but it costs more to build and maintain. It only pays off in specific cases; many brands get everything they need from a good Online Store 2.0 theme. Learn more about Headless
hreflang: A tag that tells Google which version of a page belongs to each language and country, so it shows the right one in each search. Shopify adds it automatically for the languages and markets you set up, so you do not have to write it by hand. What you do need to look after is that each version is properly translated and adapted.
Hydrogen: Shopify's framework for building headless stores with React. It includes components and utilities already wired to the Storefront API for cart, products, search and customer accounts. It is usually deployed on Oxygen. It is the route Shopify recommends if you decide to go headless, although it requires a technical team to maintain it. Learn more about Hydrogen

I

INP: Interaction to Next Paint, the Core Web Vitals metric that measures how long the page takes to respond visually when the user taps or clicks. In Shopify stores it tends to suffer from JavaScript added by apps and tracking tools. You improve it by removing scripts that add no value, deferring anything non-essential and slimming down the theme code.
Inventory: The available stock of each variant, tracked by location. Shopify deducts it with every sale and can either block purchases when stock runs out or allow overselling for backorders. If you run your warehouse with a WMS or an ERP, that system is usually the source of truth and updates Shopify, never both directions at once. Learn more about Inventory

J

JSON template: A theme file that defines which sections make up a page and in what order, a feature of Online Store 2.0. You can create several templates for the same page type, for example a different product page for one product line, and assign it from the admin. The content you set in the theme editor is saved in these templates.

L

LCP: Largest Contentful Paint, the Core Web Vitals metric that measures how long the main element on screen takes to appear, almost always the hero image or the product photo. You improve it by serving that image at the right size, without lazy loading and with high priority, and by avoiding heavy sliders at the top of the page.
Liquid: The open-source template language created by Shopify and used to build themes. It mixes HTML with tags and objects to display products, collections, the cart or metafields. Knowing Liquid lets you build custom sections that can be edited from the theme editor, without relying on an app for every design change. Learn more about Liquid
Location: Any place where you store inventory or fulfill orders: a warehouse, a retail store, a third-party logistics provider or a dropshipping supplier. Shopify tracks inventory by location and decides where each order is fulfilled from. Basic, Grow and Advanced allow up to 10 locations, and Plus up to 200.
LTV: Lifetime value, the revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your store. Knowing what a customer is worth tells you how much you can spend to acquire one. You raise it through repeat purchases: good after-sales service, subscriptions, loyalty programs and useful email or SMS communication, not just discounts.

M

Manual collection: A collection where you pick each product that appears, one by one. It makes sense for editorial selections, such as a lookbook, seasonal favorites or a specific campaign. If your catalog changes a lot, it becomes tedious to maintain, and switching to an automated collection based on tags or metafields usually pays off.
Marketplace: A platform where many merchants sell at the same time, such as Amazon, Zalando or Miravia. It brings visibility, but it charges commission and keeps the customer relationship. Many brands combine their Shopify store with marketplaces, syncing catalog and inventory through apps or sales channels so they do not manage each one by hand.
Matrixify: A third-party app for bulk importing and exporting Shopify data with Excel or CSV files: products, variants, customers, orders, redirects, metafields and more. It is a standard tool for migrations and large catalog changes. Before running a big import, test it with a few rows and keep a backup export. Learn more about Matrixify
Metafield: A custom field you add to products, variants, collections, customers, orders or other objects to store data Shopify does not include out of the box: materials, size guide, technical specs or care instructions. You fill them in from the admin and the theme displays them automatically. Planned well, they save you from writing HTML by hand in every description. Learn more about Metafield
Metaobject: A custom content type you define with the fields you need, such as retail stores, designers, ingredients or FAQs. Each entry is created once and reused across products, pages or sections. It is how you get structured content in Shopify without turning to an external CMS or installing an app for every type of block. Learn more about Metaobject
Migration: Moving a store from another platform, such as WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento or Wix, to Shopify. It covers products, customers, order history, content and, above all, 301 redirects so you do not lose search rankings. Customer passwords cannot be migrated, so plan a message to guide customers through their first sign-in. Learn more about Migration
Multi-store: Running several independent Shopify stores, each with its own admin, theme and catalog, for different brands, countries or channels. It requires syncing inventory and products between them, which adds work. Before setting one up, check whether Shopify Markets or native B2B can do the same job in a single store. On Plus it is built on expansion stores. Learn more about Multi-store

O

Online Store 2.0: Shopify's current theme architecture. It lets you use sections and blocks on every page, not just the homepage, with JSON templates, app blocks and a direct connection to metafields from the theme editor. If your theme predates this architecture, that alone is a strong reason to redesign it. Learn more about Online Store 2.0
Oxygen: Shopify's hosting platform for headless stores built with Hydrogen. It deploys the store on a global network, with preview environments for every change and a direct connection to GitHub. It saves you from hiring and maintaining separate hosting for your storefront.

P

Payment gateway: The service that processes card payments and other payment methods. In Shopify the main option is Shopify Payments, but you can also connect third-party gateways, such as those offered by Spanish banks or providers like PayPal. If you use an external gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee based on your plan.
PIM: Product information management: software that centralizes product data, such as technical specs, translations, images and attributes, and distributes it to your store, marketplaces and catalogs. It makes sense with large catalogs or many channels. It integrates with Shopify through the Admin API, usually feeding products and metafields.
Pixel: A snippet of code that records what visitors do so you can measure results and feed ad campaigns, such as the Meta, TikTok or Google Ads pixel. In Shopify you manage them from customer events, either with each platform's official app or with a custom pixel. Avoid pasting them into the theme: they do not work in checkout and they double-count.
POS Pro: The advanced Shopify POS subscription for retail stores, billed per location. It adds features such as staff permissions, in-store inventory management, location-level reports and omnichannel selling options, like shipping customers products that are out of stock in the store. If you run a small shop, first check whether the included version is enough. Learn more about POS Pro
Price list: A set of fixed prices or percentage adjustments linked to a B2B catalog or a market. In B2B it defines what each company customer pays for each product; in Markets it lets you set rounded prices per country instead of automatic conversions. It is the native way to handle different price tiers without duplicating products.
Product option: Each attribute a product varies by, such as size, color or material. Shopify allows up to 3 options per product, and their combinations produce the variants, with a maximum of 2,048 per product. If you need more attributes, the answer is combined listings, metafields or personalization apps, depending on the case.
Product page: The page for each product, where a large part of the sale is won or lost. It should quickly answer what the customer needs to know: price, variants, shipping times, returns, clear photos and concrete selling points. In Shopify it is built with the theme's product template and enriched with metafields so you do not write the same thing by hand for every product. Learn more about Product page

S

Search & Discovery: A free Shopify app for controlling your store's search and filters. It lets you set up filters by options, tags or metafields, add synonyms, boost products in search results and fine-tune related product recommendations. Before installing a paid search app, it is worth getting the most out of this one. Learn more about Search & Discovery
Section: A theme module that makes up part of a page, such as a banner, a product grid, testimonials or FAQs. You add, reorder and configure it from the theme editor, and it can contain blocks. A custom theme is made of sections designed for your brand, which your team combines to build new pages without coding.
Shop Pay: Shopify's accelerated checkout: customers save their shipping and payment details, and on later purchases, at any store that offers it, they pay in a few steps after verifying their identity. It comes included with Shopify Payments and you turn it on in your payment settings. It is usually one of the methods that speeds up mobile purchases the most.
Shopify: A cloud-based ecommerce platform for building and running an online store, and for selling in retail stores, on social media, on marketplaces and B2B. Shopify takes care of hosting, security and checkout, and you pay a monthly subscription based on your plan. Up-to-date prices for each plan are listed at shopify.com/pricing. Learn more about Shopify
Shopify Bundles: A free Shopify app, available on every plan, for creating fixed product bundles or multipacks of a single product with their own price. Inventory is deducted from the products in the bundle, not from a separate product. For mix-and-match bundles that customers build themselves, you combine it with theme development or other apps. Learn more about Shopify Bundles
Shopify CLI: Shopify's command-line tool for developers. With it you work on themes locally with a live preview, push and pull themes, create apps and extensions, and check code with Theme Check. Together with the GitHub integration, it is the foundation of any professional development workflow.
Shopify Email: Shopify's email marketing tool for sending branded newsletters and campaigns, using your products and customer segments directly from the admin. It is now part of the Shopify Messaging app, where you also set up automations such as abandoned cart or welcome emails. It includes a number of free emails each month, and beyond that you pay for each email sent.
Shopify Flow: Shopify's automation app, free on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. It works with triggers, conditions and actions: tagging customers who pass a spending threshold, alerting you when a product runs low, hiding sold-out products or flagging suspicious orders. It is no reason to upgrade to Plus, because you already have it on the lower plans. Learn more about Shopify Flow
Shopify Functions: Code that runs on Shopify's infrastructure to change backend logic: custom discounts, cart validations, and shipping or payment methods that get hidden or reordered. You can use them on any plan through public apps that include them, but building Functions into your own custom app requires Shopify Plus. Learn more about Shopify Functions
Shopify Markets: Shopify's tool for selling in several countries from a single store, available on every plan. For each market you set the currency, language, domain or subfolder, prices, taxes, and payment and shipping methods. Together with Translate & Adapt, it is the foundation of any international store, with no need to create separate stores. Learn more about Shopify Markets
Shopify Messaging: A Shopify app for marketing automations, such as abandoned cart reminders, welcome series or post-purchase messages. You manage it under Apps, Messaging, Automations, and besides email it supports SMS and WhatsApp with Meta-approved templates. It is one of the first things worth setting up after launching a store. Learn more about Shopify Messaging
Shopify Partner: A professional or agency registered in the Shopify Partner Program who builds and manages stores for clients, or develops themes or apps. Partners with a longer track record can reach tiers such as Shopify Plus Partner. In the Shopify Partner Directory you can read verified client reviews, which help you choose who to work with. Learn more about Shopify Partner
Shopify Payments: Shopify's own payment gateway, available in Spain. It brings together cards, Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and other local methods without signing up for anything else, and handles payments, refunds and chargebacks from the admin. Using it means you avoid the additional fee Shopify charges when you process payments through a third-party gateway. Learn more about Shopify Payments
Shopify Plus: Shopify's plan for high-volume brands and complex operations. Among other things, it adds checkout extensions on the information, shipping and payment steps, Shopify Functions in custom apps, B2B with unlimited catalogs, up to 200 inventory locations and expansion stores. Upgrade to Plus when you need some of this, not just because of volume. Learn more about Shopify Plus
Shopify POS: Shopify's point of sale system for retail stores, trade shows or pop-ups. It runs on a phone or tablet with a card reader and shares products, customers, inventory and orders with your online store. That way you can sell in store what you have online, accept returns on web orders or check stock at other locations. Learn more about Shopify POS
Shopify Subscriptions: A free Shopify app for selling products on subscription, with recurring deliveries and a discount for subscribing. Customers manage their subscription from their account: skipping a delivery, changing the frequency or canceling. For more complex models, such as build-your-own boxes or subscriptions with many rules, there are specialized apps. Learn more about Shopify Subscriptions
Sitemap: A file that lists your store's URLs to make it easier for Google to crawl them. Shopify generates and maintains it automatically at /sitemap.xml, including products, collections, pages and blog posts. All you have to do is submit it in Google Search Console after launching or migrating the store.
SKU: Stock keeping unit, the internal code that uniquely identifies each variant, for example TSHIRT-BLUE-M. In Shopify it is assigned per variant and is key for integrations with an ERP, a WMS, marketplaces or logistics providers, which usually identify products by this code. Keep a consistent format with no duplicates from day one.
Staff account: Admin access for a member of your team, with permissions limited to what they need: orders, products, reports or settings. The number of staff accounts available depends on your plan. Agencies and developers usually log in with collaborator accounts, which do not use up staff accounts and which you can revoke at any time.
Storefront API: Shopify's API for building shopping experiences outside the theme: headless stores, mobile apps, product configurators or stores embedded in other websites. It gives client-side access to products, collections, cart, checkout and customer accounts. It is the foundation Hydrogen is built on.
Structured data: Code, usually in JSON-LD format, that describes a page's content to search engines: product, price, availability, ratings or FAQs. It helps Google show rich results and better understand your catalog. Shopify themes include a baseline, but on custom themes it is worth reviewing it and filling it out with data from metafields.

T

Technical SEO: The part of SEO that makes sure Google can crawl, understand and index your store properly: speed, URL structure, canonical tags, structured data, sitemap, internal linking and duplicate content from filters or variants. Shopify handles a lot out of the box, but the theme and apps can break it, so audit it after every major change. Learn more about Technical SEO
Theme: The set of files that defines your store's design and visible structure: templates, sections, styles and scripts. It can be a Theme Store theme, a free theme like Dawn or a custom theme. You can keep several themes in your store and work on an unpublished one while customers see the current one. Learn more about Theme
Theme editor: The visual admin tool where you change sections, blocks, text, images and theme settings without touching code, seeing the result instantly. In an Online Store 2.0 theme you can build full pages and connect fields to metafields. A good custom theme is designed so your team can work here without depending on a developer. Learn more about Theme editor
Theme Store: Shopify's official theme marketplace, with free and paid options reviewed by Shopify. They are a good starting point to launch quickly, but they share their structure with many other stores, and adding features beyond what they were designed for means modifying them. If your brand needs to stand out or your catalog has specific needs, a custom theme pays off. Learn more about Theme Store
Translate & Adapt: A free Shopify app for translating store content, such as products, collections, pages, the theme and metafields, and adapting it by market. It supports manual and automatic translation, and lets you adjust copy for a specific country even when the language is shared. Always review automatic translations of product pages and legal pages before publishing. Learn more about Translate & Adapt

V

Variant: Each specific combination of a product's options, for example a blue T-shirt in size M. Each variant has its own price, SKU, inventory, weight and image. Shopify supports up to 2,048 variants per product. If a combination does not exist, do not create it: that way customers never run into sold-out options that will never be available. Learn more about Variant
VAT OSS (IVA OSS): The European Union's One-Stop Shop scheme for reporting VAT (IVA in Spain) on sales to consumers in other EU countries through a single return. Shopify lets you configure taxes by country and display VAT-inclusive prices in each market. Whether it applies to you, and how to register, is a tax question: check with your tax advisor. Learn more about VAT OSS (IVA OSS)

W

Webhook: An automatic notification Shopify sends to another system when something happens in the store: an order created, a product updated, a customer registered. It saves the integration from polling the store every few minutes. It is the usual way to keep an ERP, a WMS or a CRM in sync with Shopify in real time.
WMS: Warehouse management system (SGA in Spanish), the software that controls bin locations, order picking and shipping in your own warehouse or at a third-party logistics provider. It integrates with Shopify to receive orders and send back tracking numbers and updated inventory. Decide clearly which system owns inventory to avoid stock mismatches.

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