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E-Commmerce Terms Glossary

Affiliate Program
A popular website promotion tool where a website contracts with other websites for driving visitor to its site. The revenue is calculated according to the traffic brought by  a particular website. 

Browser
Software Application program required to access and read the websites on the Internet. 

Business to Business
A business model for business on Internet. Popularly called as B2B, it includes ecommerce transaction between two business organizations.

Business to Consumer
A business model for business on Internet. Popularly called as B2C, it includes ecommerce transactions between a business organizations and an individual.

Domain Name
The unique name given to every website. It is used to physically locate a website over the Internet. A domain name consists of three different parts with each separated by a dot. These are host server name, the unique name of the website and the third defining the     purpose/type of the website.

Ecommerce
A methodology used for executing business - either wholly or partially - over Internet or a network.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol (FTP). A globally accepted set of rules used while transferring files from one computer to another computer of a network or Internet.

Gateway
A hardware or software that acts as a mediator between two distinct protocols and help in the transfer of information between diverse systems.

Hosting
A term used for storing and maintaining files, email or domains on a server that is connected with Internet.

Merchant Account
An online bank account required by a store to receive payments through  electronic mediums like credit cards. It can be considered as a virtual bank account that receives electronic money.

Modem
Acronym for Modulator-Demodulator. It is hardware required to access Internet through a telephone line. Modem converts the format of information received from the telephone line (Analog) into a computer friendly format (Digital) and vise-versa.

Network
Group of computers or devices connected with each other. A network is used to transfer data within the devices.

Order Tracking
The process of tracing the status of particular order placed by a customer in a  web store.

Payment Gateway
A computer system that acts as a mediator between a merchant account and online storefront. Payment gateway is used in authentication of credit card information and     real-time charging from a credit card.

Shipping Provider
An organization that provides the services of physically transporting the goods ordered on the Internet, to the address specified by a buyer.

Shopping Cart
Software required for building an online store and accept orders online.

SSL
Secure Socket Layer. It’s a protocol designed for secure transfer of Information over the Internet. It helps to maintain security, reliability and privacy of the information and ensures that     the information is not tempered with while the transfer is taking place.

Website
A collection of files organized in a structure that can be read through a browser. The domain name given to a website is the unique identification of a website in the World Wide Web.

Website Traffic
The number of times a website is viewed by a unique visitor within a stipulated time.

WYSIWYG
“What You See is What You Get” is a feature of an editor. Such editors show the exact appearance of the desired output while you are creating the document or a web page.