Glossary
A compilation of commonly used terminologies in commercetools.
A
Action
A type of extension to execute custom functions on the API hub through custom endpoints. Actions can execute functions such as requesting data from third-party services or updating the session information.
Action rights
A subset of view and edit permissions in the Merchant Center that specifies which detailed actions a Team can perform within a given area or feature.
API Client
A digital entity that securely interacts with the Composable Commerce APIs. It can be configured with specific credentials and scopes, determining which data and operations it can access.
API Contract
A set of defined rules and standards outlining how commercetools products should be used and what behaviors to expect. It covers aspects such as compatibility, security, and release life cycles. It ensures predictable and consistent interactions for developers and systems working with commercetools.
API Extension
A feature that lets developers modify or enhance the default API behaviors to better suit specific requirements. These extensions can intervene in the standard flow of an API request, adding customized logic or validations, and ensuring a more tailored interaction with Composable Commerce APIs.
API hub
Unifies querying and managing data from various micro-services and sends integrated data to the frontend. Also known as the backend for frontend (BFF) or orchestration layer of commercetools Frontend, it streamlines communication between the frontend and backend services.
Applications
Specific configurations for Checkout, such as country-specific or brand-specific payment methods and user agreements.
Application components
Reusable UI elements and structures designed to ensure consistency and standardization across the Merchant Center, within Custom Applications. They can be composed of primitive components, offering flexibility and modularity beyond the Merchant Center.
Assets
Media elements such as images, videos, or PDFs associated with Composable Commerce entities. These assets enhance product listings, brand presentations, and other API functionalities, ensuring a visually engaging and informative user experience.
Associate
A Customer who represents a company. They have specific roles that determine their permissions to access and perform actions, like creating carts or placing orders.
Attributes
Specific properties or features associated with a Product, capturing details like color, size, weight, or any other distinguishing factor. These attributes facilitate filtering, searching, and differentiating between Products.
Attribute Group
A collection of related Attributes organized together for ease of management and display. By grouping related Product Attributes, businesses can streamline data enhancement workflows and ensure consistent product information.
Audit Log
A feature that captures changes made to entities in a Project. It details actions for creation, deletion, and edits, alongside the user or system responsible for those changes. It provides businesses with a transparent history of changes, aiding in tracking and security assessments within the Merchant Center and APIs.
B
Base price
The initial or starting price of a product or service before additional costs such as taxes, shipping, or add-ons.
Business Unit
A company or division acting as a buyer organization. It can be used to represent companies as hierarchical structures in Composable Commerce determining which Customers can act on behalf of a given company.
Business user
A user of the Studio who is not a developer. For example, a marketing manager, a designer, an SEO specialist, a translator, etc.
Buyer
A company or a representative of the company purchasing goods and services from a seller.
C
Cart
A container that holds Line Items and Custom Line Items that a Customer intends to purchase. It functions as a temporary entity where Customers can add or remove items before finalizing their Order.
Cart Discount
A cost reduction applied to a Cart or an item added to a Cart at no additional cost. It can be based on various criteria like purchase amount, specific Products in the Cart, or Customer Group. The applied discount can be absolute (a fixed reduction), relative (a percentage of the total), gift-based, or be set to a fixed price. They enhance promotional strategies and encourage customer purchases.
Category
A way to organize Products into a hierarchical structure based on user-defined criteria. They facilitate easier navigation and product discovery for customers in a storefront.
Certification
A semi-automated process that Connectors must pass to become Public Connectors. Certification ensures that Connectors are safe, secure, and optimized. Certification is not required for Connectors intended for private use.
Change History
An Audit Log feature that provides a history of changes (like creations, deletions, and updates of platform resources) made within a Project.
Channels
Specific touchpoints or locations where commerce activities occur. These can be physical places like shops or warehouses, or digital platforms like a commerce website or mobile app. They help businesses to distinguish between sources of inventory, sales channels, and even order import/export activities, ensuring precise and tailored operations for each specific channel.
CLI
A text-based interface for developers to set up, develop, and manage a Frontend project.
Component group
A collection of Frontend components that can be reused across multiple page versions within a commerce website. When updated, it changes across all page versions it is used on.
Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ)
A tool that sales teams use to streamline quote generation by configuring products or services based on customer needs and determining prices for them. It is often used for complex, customizable products or services.
Connect application
Applications that are run by a Connector. A Connector can contain multiple Connect applications. The source code of Connect applications are saved in a GitHub repository and are referenced by a ConnectorStaged.
Connector
A Connect API object containing all the references to the source code for a Connect application and all configuration data required for deployment. In the Merchant Center, Connectors are referred to as Organization Connectors.
Connector Staged
A Connector which is being created or updated. ConnectorStaged can be deployed for testing purposes, published, or submitted for certification.
Consumers
Individuals or entities utilizing an API to build functionalities for a commerce project. They can be either external members like partners working for customers or internal team members. In the context of commercetools, they might be developing Custom Applications using various tools such as Composable Commerce APIs or UI Kit components, depending on the specific requirements of the project.
Creator
Application developers and Composable Commerce customers who create Connect applications.
Custom Applications
UI tools and components developed and managed by merchants to extend the existing functionality of the Merchant Center and Composable Commerce APIs. Merchants can implement specific business requirements in a Custom Application and integrate it into their Organization's Projects for a tailored experience.
Custom Field
A way to customize Composable Commerce data types with additional, business-specific information.
Custom Line Item
An entry in a Cart or Order, representing products or services not predefined in the product catalog. It lets merchants add specific items or charges, such as custom services, to a Cart without having them as standard Products.
Custom Object
Data containers allowing merchants to store unique, structured data within the platform. Unlike predefined entities, Custom Objects provide flexibility to define and manage custom data sets for specific business needs.
Customer
A person or company purchasing products or services.
Customer Group
A logical grouping of Customers segmented based on specific criteria, such as buying behavior, demographics, or preferences. These groups enable targeted promotions, pricing, or personalized experiences within a commerce system.
D
Data fence
A security concept preventing access to data stored in the same Composable Commerce Project, but allocated to a different Store.
Data source
A type of extension responsible for providing data to the Frontend components. For example, via a data source, you can fetch product data from a commerce system and display it on your website.
Delivery
Defines which items of an Order are shipped with which parcels to which address.
Deployment
An object representing how clients integrate Connect applications into their Composable Commerce Project. Deployments contain references to a Connector that is build and deployed in a specified region.
Discount Code
An alphanumeric code that customers can apply to a Cart to benefit from additional discounts.
Discount Predicate
A conditional expression for a Product Discount or Cart Discount, which if met, applies the discount to the respective Product or Cart.
Dynamic page
A type of page defining a default layout for pages that can use the same structure but must display different data, depending on the URL parameters. For example, the cart page and the product details page, whose content varies depending on the items that the customer selects.
Dynamic page rule
A conditional logic applied to dynamic pages to determine the layout and content of pages based on specific criteria. For example, to display a discount banner to customers from a specific postal code, or to display a dedicated page layout for a product category.
Dynamic product bundle
A type of product bundle that allows customers to choose the parts of a bundle from a group of allowed products. Examples include mix-and-match offers, like selecting craft beers to build a custom pack or creating an outfit by choosing different clothing items.
E
Embedded Price
Price of a Product Variant embedded and stored within the Product resource.
Extension
Connectors used to fetch data, perform API requests, and render dynamic pages for your commercetools Frontend project.
F
Facets
Facets calculate statistical counts on Product Attributes to aid in faceted navigation.
Frontend component
A customizable reusable UI element that consists of a React component and a JSON schema. It is used for building page versions in the page builder.
Frontend delivery
A set of features provided to publish and monitor a website developed with commercetools Frontend; that is, server-side rendering, monitoring and logging features, auto-scaling features, and fail-safe hosting.
(Frontend) Project
The container for all of your commercetools Frontend resources, such as page versions, components, data sources, and more. In your Git repository, you can have multiple folders for different projects.
I
Inventory
Stock of Product Variants held by the merchant. Stock levels can be tracked during checkout to ensure available quantities.
L
Layout element
A container of Frontend components added in the page builder to define the layout of page versions. Each layout element contains predefined breakpoints for compatibility across different device sizes.
Limit
A limitation applicable for resources in a Project to ensure good performance of Composable Commerce.
Line Item
A snapshot of a Product Variant at the time it is added to a Cart or Shopping List.
List price
The manufacturer's suggested retail price or the recommended retail price
M
Master Variant
A Product Variant that ensures at least one sellable entity exists for a Product.
Me endpoints
A group of endpoints that provide access to resources related to one particular customer. For example, My Carts endpoints provide access to Carts of a single Customer.
Merchant Center
A user interface that offers Composable Commerce users a way to manage and configure Projects, Organizations, and Teams. It provides access to core commerce functionality such as managing product information.
Message
A notification of a change or action performed on a resource.
Multi-buy discount
A discount offering the cheapest or most expensive Line Items of a Cart at a discounted price when multiple quantities of any Line Item are purchased.
O
Order
The result of a successful checkout of a Cart. Alternatively, existing Orders can also be imported.
Order Edit
A way to make financial changes to the purchase agreement after the Order has been placed.
Order Import
A way to import existing Orders from an external system or a different Composable Commerce Project.
Order management system (OMS)
A system used by merchants to track order fulfillment and order aggregation. It synchronizes inventory and makes the delivery status visible to stakeholders.
Organization
Represents a set of Projects and Teams in the Merchant Center.
P
Page builder
A drag-and-drop interface to define the layout of page versions.
Page folder
An element to organize the static pages of your commercetools Frontend project and, hence, can be used to define the navigation on your website and the related URL structure.
Page template
A pre-designed layout that can serve as a foundation to create page versions to associate with page folders and dynamic pages.
Page version
Defines the layout and content of a static page, dynamic page, or page template. Page versions can have different statuses–such as draft, scheduled, and live–and they can be created for specific locales.
Parcel
Contains the physical dimensions, items, and delivery information of a package sent to a Customer.
Payment
A series of logically connected financial transactions like reserving, charging, or refunding money.
Payment Integration Type
Determines how Checkout renders payment methods on the checkout page of a specific Application. The Payment Integration Type depends on the payment Connector used by the Application. For example, with the Web components Payment Integration Type, each payment method is rendered on the checkout page through a dedicated UI component.
Predicate
A logical expression that evaluates to true or false and can be used for resource querying and defining conditions for resources such as Product Discounts, Cart Discounts, and Shipping Methods.
Price
An object for modeling product prices in Composable Commerce. The merchant can define several prices for the same Product Variant characterized by different scopes, like currency, country, and distribution channel for targeting different buyer segments.
Price mode
Defines whether Embedded Prices or Standalone Prices on a Product Variant are used for Price selection.
Price scope
A list of parameters—currency, country, Customer Group, Channel, and validity period— that define the conditions under which the price applies to a Product Variant.
Price selection
A process that ensures that the correct price is displayed on a product details page (PDP), or that the correct price is selected when a Product Variant is added to a Cart. The price is selected based on the price mode of a Product, Price scopes, and Price tier—in the respective order.
Price tiers
Specify different Prices based on the quantity of a Product Variant allowing for bulk discounts.
Private Connector
A published Connector that is intended for use by its creators or by specific Projects. Private Connectors do not need to go through certification and are not available on the Connect marketplace.
In the Merchant Center, private Connectors are referred to as Organization Connectors.
Product
The abstract representation of goods and services offered by the merchant. Acts as parent structure for Product Variants.
Product bundle
A marketing strategy that combines multiple products or services and offers them as one package. This package might come at a reduced price or offer added value.
Product detail page (PDP)
A page on a storefront presenting the details of a product, usually allowing users to choose between its variants and add them to the cart.
Product Discount
Reduces the price of Product Variants before they are added to a Cart.
Product information management (PIM)
The process of managing and enriching product information and related digital assets required to sell products in multiple geographic locations and through different distribution channels.
Product listing page (PLP)
A page on a storefront presenting a selection of products, usually in response to a search request, filter, or through navigation by product category.
Product Projection
A representation of Product data restricted to either its current or staged data. Additionally, you can further limit the data to given Locales, specific Prices, the Product's availability on inventory supply channels, or its assignment to specific Product Selections. This allows you to tailor the query response to your use case.
Product Projection Search
Search query over Product Projections with full-text search, filtering, and faceting functionality.
Product Search
High-performance search query over Products with a variety of search, filtering, and faceting functionality suitable for storefront implementations.
Product Selection
An assortment of products for a specific sales channel such as a country, a brand, or a physical store.
Product Suggestions
A feature that can be used to implement a basic auto-complete functionality where keywords for Products are suggested based on provided search keywords.
Product Type
A set of Attributes that acts as a template for a group of similar Products.
Product Variant
Sellable representations of a Product that are mapped to specific SKUs.
Project
The container for all of your commerce resources, such as Customers, Products, Carts, Orders, and Discounts.
Public Connector
A published Connector which has passed certification and is available on the Connect marketplace. Public Connectors can be deployed on any Project.
Q
Query Predicate
Logical expression for querying and filtering resources. Can also be used to specify conditional triggers for API Extensions.
Quote
A legally binding output of a negotiation process between a Buyer and Seller that is the outcome of a Quote Request.
Quote Request
The first step in a negotiation process between a Buyer and Seller where the Buyer expresses a request for an offer for goods from the Seller.
R
Record
Captures the differences between the previous and current version of a resource as part of Change History.
Reference Expansion
Supports retrieving detailed information about related entities in a single API call.
Region
Location of cloud infrastructure, such as North America (Google Cloud, Iowa), where the Composable Commerce Project is hosted.
Review
User feedback and score for a Product or Channel.
S
Schema
A JSON file that defines the fields that are displayed in the Studio for the configuration of certain features.
Scope
A way to define the access levels of an API Client to specific API endpoints.
Seller
A merchant offering goods and services to a Buyer.
Session
A JSON Web Token that is stored in a client-side cookie and contains information to be persisted between extension executions, such as user account or cart. All extensions can read the session data, while action extensions can also write the session data.
Shipping Method
A shipping service and its associated rates to deliver Orders to Customers.
Shopping List
A wishlist for a Customer, containing references to Products (Line Items) and/or custom values (Text Line Items).
Site builder
A Frontend Studio area to manage page folders and page versions for static pages.
Staged Quote
An offer that a Seller makes to a Buyer in case the Seller accepts a Quote Request from that Buyer.
Standalone Price
Price of a Product Variant identified by SKU and stored as a standalone resource.
State
Allows modeling workflows on resources reflecting custom business logic.
Static page
A type of page that lives under a defined URL and whose content is mainly fixed and does not change based on customer interactions. For example, the FAQs page. You can manage static pages by managing page folders and the related page versions from the Site builder.
Static product bundle
A type of product bundle that combines multiple preselected products for a fixed price. The customer cannot change the parts of the bundle in any way.
Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)
A code that identifies the exact Product Variant in the product catalog and is used for tracking inventory.
Store
Used to restrict the context Customers shop in, such as physical retail locations, brand stores, or country-specific stores. Stores can have their own Carts, Orders, Shopping Lists, Customers, and Products.
Store launchpad
A ready-to-use codebase that serves as a foundational template for creating a digital commerce website, which you can customize, extend, or use as is.
Studio
A user interface that offers commercetools Frontend users a way to manage and configure projects. It provides access to functionality such as managing commerce pages.
Subscription
Notifies the merchant of new Messages or Changes using a message queue. Can be used to trigger asynchronous processes, such as order confirmation emails.
T
Tax calculation provider
A third-party solution that helps merchants manage and calculate taxes for their products or services. It reduces complexity and ensures compliance with local and international tax regulations when selling across multiple regions.
Tax Category
A grouping of one or more Tax Rates that determine how Products are taxed in different countries.
Tax Rate
The tax imposed on a Product by a country and state.
Team
A logical grouping of Merchant Center Users. Defines access rights to resources within a Project.
Text Line Item
An item within a Shopping List that uses text values, for example, to refer to products not part of the product catalog.
Transaction
A financial transaction typically created as a result of a notification from a payment service.
Types
Used to model Custom Fields that capture custom information not covered by the existing Composable Commerce entities.
U
User permissions
A set of view and edit permissions that specify which detailed actions a Team can perform within a given Merchant Center area or feature.
Z
Zone
A group of countries or states that share the same shipping or delivery cost.