A
- AOV Average Order Value
- The average amount a customer spends per transaction. Calculated as total revenue ÷ number of orders. Indian D2C brands average ₹800-2,500 AOV depending on category. Cartθ increases AOV by 15-30% through smart upsells and progress bars.
- Abandoned Cart
- When a shopper adds products to their cart but leaves without completing checkout. The average cart abandonment rate is 70% globally and 75-85% on mobile in India. Learn how to reduce it →
- Agentic Commerce
- A new paradigm where AI agents autonomously handle commerce tasks — product discovery, comparison, purchase, and post-purchase — on behalf of shoppers. McKinsey projects agentic commerce could drive $1-3 trillion in global retail revenue by 2030. Clareθ is an agentic shopping assistant.
- ARPU Average Revenue Per User
- Total revenue divided by total number of active users in a given period. Unlike AOV which measures per-transaction, ARPU captures the total spending relationship including repeat purchases.
B
- BNPL Buy Now Pay Later
- A payment method that allows customers to split purchases into installments. Popular BNPL providers in India include Simpl, LazyPay, and ZestMoney. BNPL increases conversion by 20-30% for orders above ₹2,000.
- Blended ROAS
- Total revenue divided by total ad spend across all channels (Google, Meta, etc.). Unlike channel-specific ROAS, blended ROAS shows overall marketing efficiency. Healthy D2C brands target 3-5x blended ROAS.
- Bounce Rate
- The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. D2C benchmark: 40-55%. Above 60% indicates landing page or targeting issues.
C
- CAC Customer Acquisition Cost
- The total cost of acquiring one new customer, including ad spend, marketing tools, and team costs. Formula: total marketing spend ÷ new customers acquired. Indian D2C brands average ₹200-800 CAC. Sustainable when CAC:LTV ratio is 1:3 or better.
- COD Cash on Delivery
- Payment collected at the time of delivery rather than at checkout. COD accounts for 60-75% of Indian D2C orders but carries 25-40% RTO rates. COD-to-prepaid conversion strategies →
- Cohort Analysis
- Grouping customers by acquisition date or behavior and tracking their performance over time. Reveals which acquisition channels produce the most valuable long-term customers. Insightθ provides automated cohort tracking.
- Contribution Margin
- Revenue minus variable costs (COGS, shipping, payment processing, packaging). The amount each order contributes toward fixed costs and profit. Healthy D2C benchmark: 40-65% contribution margin.
- Conversion Rate
- The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (usually a purchase). D2C website benchmark: 1.5-3%. Checkout conversion (cart-to-purchase): 40-65%. Payθ optimizes checkout conversion.
- CRO Conversion Rate Optimization
- The practice of increasing the percentage of visitors who convert to customers through testing, design improvements, and checkout optimization.
D
- D2C Direct-to-Consumer
- A business model where brands sell directly to customers through their own website or channels, without intermediaries like marketplaces or retailers. India's D2C market reached $108 billion in 2026 with 800+ active brands.
- DTC Direct-to-Consumer
- Same as D2C. DTC is more commonly used in the US market, while D2C is standard in India.
E
- EDD Estimated Delivery Date
- The projected date of delivery shown to customers at checkout. Displaying EDD reduces cart abandonment by setting clear expectations and building trust.
- Exit Intent
- Technology that detects when a visitor is about to leave the site (cursor moving toward close button). Used to trigger last-chance offers or popups to retain the visitor.
F
- First-Party Data
- Customer data collected directly by your brand through website visits, purchases, email signups, and interactions. Increasingly valuable as third-party cookies phase out. Identityθ builds first-party customer profiles.
- Funnel
- The stages a customer passes through from awareness to purchase: Awareness → Consideration → Cart → Checkout → Purchase. Funnel analysis reveals where you lose the most potential customers.
G
- GMV Gross Merchandise Value
- The total value of all products sold through a platform before deducting returns, discounts, and fees. GMV is a top-line growth metric, not a profitability metric.
- GEO Generative Engine Optimization
- Optimizing content to be cited by AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. The new frontier beyond traditional SEO — AI engines cite sources rather than ranking pages.
I
- IVR Interactive Voice Response
- Automated phone system that confirms orders via voice. Used for COD order verification to reduce RTO. Costs ₹0.50-1.00 per call vs ₹100-300 per RTO. RTO reduction strategies →
K
- KPI Key Performance Indicator
- Measurable metrics that track business performance. Core D2C KPIs: conversion rate, AOV, CAC, LTV, repeat purchase rate, ROAS, and RTO rate.
L
- LTV Customer Lifetime Value
- The total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your brand. Formula: AOV × purchase frequency × customer lifespan. A 5% increase in retention can boost profits by 25-95%. Healthy CAC:LTV ratio is 1:3+. Insightθ tracks LTV automatically.
M
- MER Marketing Efficiency Ratio
- Total revenue ÷ total marketing spend. Unlike ROAS which is channel-specific, MER captures all revenue (including organic) against all marketing costs. Benchmark: 5-10x for profitable D2C brands.
N
- NDR Non-Delivery Report
- Generated when a delivery attempt fails. Quick NDR management via WhatsApp recovers 40-60% of failed deliveries. Learn NDR management →
- NPS Net Promoter Score
- Customer loyalty metric measured on a -100 to +100 scale. Based on the question "How likely are you to recommend us?" Scores above 50 are considered excellent for D2C.
O
- Omnichannel
- Providing a seamless customer experience across all channels — website, WhatsApp, email, SMS, social media, and physical stores. Omnichannel customers have 30% higher LTV than single-channel customers.
- One-Click Checkout
- Checkout flow that allows returning customers to complete a purchase with a single click using saved payment and shipping information. Reduces checkout friction by 60-70%. Checkout comparison →
P
- Prepaid Order
- An order where payment is collected at checkout (via UPI, card, wallet, or BNPL) rather than at delivery. Prepaid orders have 3-5% RTO rate vs COD's 25-40%. Payθ converts 20-35% of COD to prepaid.
R
- ROAS Return on Ad Spend
- Revenue generated per rupee spent on advertising. Formula: ad revenue ÷ ad spend. A 4x ROAS means ₹4 revenue for every ₹1 spent. D2C benchmark: 3-5x for profitability.
- RTO Return to Origin
- When a shipped order is returned to the seller without being delivered. India's RTO rate averages 25-35% vs 8-12% globally. Each RTO costs ₹100-300. RTO reduction guide →
- Repeat Purchase Rate
- Percentage of customers who make more than one purchase. D2C benchmark: 20-30%. Beauty and consumables: 35-50%. Improving repeat rate by 5% can double profitability.
- Replenishment Reminder
- Automated message sent to customers when they are predicted to run out of a consumable product. AI-powered reminders via WhatsApp achieve 50-65% reorder rates. Skillθ automates replenishment flows.
S
- SKU Stock Keeping Unit
- A unique identifier for each distinct product variant (size, color, etc.). Used for inventory management and tracking.
- Smart Cart
- An intelligent cart that goes beyond passive item storage — using progress bars, upsell recommendations, urgency triggers, and dynamic incentives to increase AOV and reduce abandonment. Cartθ is xθ's smart cart product.
U
- UPI Unified Payments Interface
- India's real-time payment system with 99.2% success rate — the highest of any payment method. UPI processes 14+ billion transactions monthly in India. Key for D2C checkout optimization.
- Upsell
- Encouraging a customer to buy a higher-priced item or add-on. Cross-sell recommends complementary products, upsell recommends upgrades. Smart carts increase AOV by 15-30% through AI-powered upsells.
W
- Winback Campaign
- Automated marketing sequence targeting lapsed customers (no purchase in 60-90 days) to re-engage them. WhatsApp winback campaigns reactivate 10-15% of lapsed customers. Skillθ automates winback flows.
- WhatsApp Commerce
- Selling products through WhatsApp conversations using the Business API — including catalog browsing, cart recovery, conversational selling, and in-chat payments. 77% of Indian D2C brands use WhatsApp for commerce. Complete WhatsApp commerce guide →
Z
- Zero-Party Data
- Data that customers intentionally share with a brand — preferences, quiz answers, wishlist items, and communication preferences. More valuable than first-party data because it represents explicit customer intent.