Affiliate Marketing Glossary

E-commerce affiliate marketing is the practice of an online retailer paying external publishers commission on the orders they drive to its store.

An e-commerce affiliate program is the structured set of deal terms, commissions, and rules a store uses to pay publishers for orders they drive.

E-commerce affiliate software is the platform a store uses to recruit, track, attribute, and pay affiliates for the orders they drive.

GMV (gross merchandise value) is the total value of all orders sold through a store over a period, before returns, discounts, fees, and costs.

AOV (average order value) is the average revenue per order over a period, calculated as total revenue divided by the number of orders.

Contribution margin is the revenue from an order or unit minus its variable costs, representing what is left to cover fixed costs and profit.

Net revenue retention is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers over a period, including expansion and net of churn.

Cart abandonment is when a shopper adds items to the basket but leaves before completing checkout, measured as abandoned carts divided by carts created.

Subscription commerce is an e-commerce model where customers are billed on a recurring schedule for replenishment, curated boxes, or memberships.