# E-commerce Domain Knowledge

> Understand e-commerce business models, core modules, and requirements patterns for B2C, B2B, C2C, and Marketplace platforms

- Skill: `danhvb/e-commerce-domain-knowledge` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add danhvb/e-commerce-domain-knowledge`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/danhvb/e-commerce-domain-knowledge/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: danhvb (https://skillmd.com/u/danhvb)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/danhvb/e-commerce-domain-knowledge

---


# E-commerce Domain Knowledge Skill

## Purpose
Equip AI assistants with comprehensive e-commerce domain knowledge to analyze requirements, ask relevant questions, and create appropriate solutions for online retail platforms.

## E-commerce Business Models

### B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
**Examples**: Amazon, Shopify stores, Nike.com
**Characteristics**:
- High volume, lower transaction value
- Focus on user experience and conversion
- Marketing and promotions heavy
- Customer reviews and ratings important
- Fast checkout essential

### B2B (Business-to-Business)
**Examples**: Alibaba, ThomasNet, Grainger
**Characteristics**:
- Lower volume, higher transaction value
- Complex pricing (volume discounts, contracts)
- Quote and RFQ processes
- Account-based purchasing
- Approval workflows
- Net payment terms (Net 30, Net 60)

### C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer)
**Examples**: eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace
**Characteristics**:
- Platform facilitates transactions between individuals
- Seller verification and ratings critical
- Escrow or payment protection
- Dispute resolution processes
- Commission-based revenue

### Marketplace
**Examples**: Amazon Marketplace, Shopee, Lazada
**Characteristics**:
- Multiple sellers on one platform
- Seller onboarding and management
- Commission and fee structures
- Inventory from multiple sources
- Seller performance metrics
- Platform vs. seller fulfillment

## Core E-commerce Modules

### 1. Product Catalog Management

**Key Concepts**:
- **Products**: Individual items for sale
- **Variants**: Different versions (size, color, material)
- **SKU**: Stock Keeping Unit (unique identifier)
- **Categories**: Hierarchical organization
- **Attributes**: Product properties (brand, material, dimensions)
- **Digital Assets**: Images, videos, 360° views, PDFs

**Common Requirements**:
- Support for simple and configurable products
- Variant management (size, color combinations)
- Bulk product import/export
- Product relationships (upsells, cross-sells, related products)
- Inventory tracking per variant
- Product search and filtering
- SEO-friendly URLs and metadata

**Example Requirement**:
```
FR-CAT-001: Configurable Product Variants

System shall support configurable products with multiple variants:
- Product: T-Shirt
- Variant Attributes: Size (S, M, L, XL), Color (Red, Blue, Green)
- Each variant has unique SKU, price, inventory count
- Customer selects variant before adding to cart
- Out-of-stock variants are disabled but visible
```

### 2. Shopping Cart

**Key Concepts**:
- **Session Cart**: Temporary cart for guest users
- **Persistent Cart**: Saved cart for logged-in users
- **Cart Abandonment**: User leaves without purchasing
- **Cart Recovery**: Email reminders for abandoned carts

**Common Requirements**:
- Add/remove/update items
- Real-time inventory validation
- Cart expiration and cleanup
- Save cart for later
- Cart sharing (B2B)
- Mini cart preview
- Cart abandonment tracking

**Business Rules**:
- Reserve inventory when item added to cart (time-limited)
- Remove out-of-stock items automatically
- Apply quantity limits per product
- Minimum order value requirements
- Maximum cart size limits

### 3. Checkout & Payment

**Checkout Flow Types**:
- **Single-Page**: All steps on one page (modern, higher conversion)
- **Multi-Step**: Separate pages for shipping, payment, review
- **Express Checkout**: One-click with saved payment (Amazon, Apple Pay)

**Key Features**:
- Guest checkout
- Address validation and autocomplete
- Multiple shipping addresses (gift orders)
- Shipping method selection with real-time pricing
- Payment method selection
- Order review before submission
- Order confirmation

**Payment Methods**:
- Credit/Debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex)
- Digital wallets (PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay)
- Buy Now Pay Later (Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm)
- Bank transfer
- Cash on Delivery (COD)
- Cryptocurrency (emerging)

**Payment Gateway Integration**:
- **Stripe**: Popular, developer-friendly, global
- **PayPal**: Trusted, high adoption, buyer protection
- **Square**: Good for omnichannel (online + POS)
- **Adyen**: Enterprise, multi-currency, global
- **Local Gateways**: VNPay (Vietnam), Razorpay (India)

**Security Requirements**:
- PCI DSS compliance (never store card numbers)
- 3D Secure authentication (SCA in Europe)
- Fraud detection and prevention
- SSL/TLS encryption
- Tokenization for saved cards

### 4. Order Management

**Order Lifecycle**:
```
Pending → Processing → Shipped → Delivered → Completed
         ↓
      Cancelled (before shipping)
                           ↓
                        Returned (after delivery)
```

**Key Features**:
- Order creation and confirmation
- Order status tracking
- Order history for customers
- Order search and filtering
- Order details (items, shipping, payment)
- Invoice generation
- Packing slips
- Shipping labels
- Order cancellation (before shipping)
- Order modification (limited)

**Admin Features**:
- Order dashboard
- Bulk order processing
- Order export (CSV, Excel)
- Refund processing
- Order notes and communication

### 5. Inventory Management

**Inventory Tracking Methods**:
- **Real-time**: Inventory updated immediately on order
- **Batch**: Inventory updated periodically
- **Reserved**: Inventory reserved when added to cart

**Key Concepts**:
- **Stock Level**: Current quantity available
- **Low Stock Threshold**: Alert when inventory low
- **Backorder**: Allow orders when out of stock
- **Pre-order**: Accept orders before product available
- **Multi-warehouse**: Inventory across multiple locations

**Common Requirements**:
- Real-time inventory updates
- Low stock alerts
- Backorder management
- Inventory reservations
- Multi-warehouse support
- Inventory sync with ERP/WMS
- Inventory reports and forecasting

### 6. Shipping & Fulfillment

**Shipping Options**:
- Standard shipping (5-7 days)
- Express shipping (2-3 days)
- Overnight shipping (1 day)
- In-store pickup (BOPIS - Buy Online Pickup In Store)
- Curbside pickup
- Same-day delivery (urban areas)

**Shipping Calculation Methods**:
- **Flat Rate**: Fixed price per order
- **Weight-Based**: Price based on total weight
- **Price-Based**: Free shipping over threshold
- **Real-time Carrier Rates**: API integration with carriers
- **Zone-Based**: Price by destination zone

**Carrier Integrations**:
- USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL (US/Global)
- Local carriers (Giao Hàng Nhanh, J&T Vietnam)
- Shipping aggregators (ShipStation, EasyShip)

**Tracking**:
- Tracking number generation
- Real-time tracking updates
- Customer tracking page
- Email/SMS notifications
- Delivery confirmation

### 7. Promotions & Discounts

**Promotion Types**:
- **Percentage Off**: 20% off entire order
- **Fixed Amount**: $10 off orders over $50
- **Buy X Get Y**: Buy 2 get 1 free
- **Free Shipping**: Free shipping over $100
- **Bundle Deals**: Product bundles at discount
- **Flash Sales**: Time-limited offers
- **Loyalty Rewards**: Points-based discounts

**Promo Code Features**:
- Single-use vs. multi-use codes
- Usage limits per customer
- Expiration dates
- Minimum order value
- Specific products/categories
- Stackable vs. non-stackable

**Business Rules**:
- Discount application order (product → cart → shipping)
- Exclusions (sale items, specific brands)
- Limit one promo code per order
- Employee discounts
- Automatic discounts vs. code-required

### 8. Customer Management

**Customer Data**:
- Account information (name, email, phone)
- Shipping addresses (multiple)
- Billing addresses
- Order history
- Wishlist
- Saved payment methods
- Preferences and settings

**Customer Segmentation**:
- New vs. returning customers
- VIP/high-value customers
- Inactive customers (re-engagement)
- Geographic segments
- Purchase behavior segments

**Loyalty Programs**:
- Points accumulation
- Tier-based benefits (Silver, Gold, Platinum)
- Rewards redemption
- Referral programs
- Birthday rewards

### 9. Search & Navigation

**Search Features**:
- Keyword search
- Autocomplete suggestions
- Search results ranking (relevance, popularity, price)
- Filters (price, brand, category, rating, availability)
- Faceted search (multi-select filters)
- Search analytics (popular searches, no-results searches)

**Navigation**:
- Category hierarchy (mega menu)
- Breadcrumbs
- Related products
- Recently viewed
- Trending products

**Search Technologies**:
- Elasticsearch (powerful, scalable)
- Algolia (fast, typo-tolerant, hosted)
- Solr (open-source, enterprise)

### 10. Reviews & Ratings

**Features**:
- Star ratings (1-5 stars)
- Written reviews
- Review photos/videos
- Verified purchase badge
- Helpful votes
- Review moderation
- Response from seller
- Review incentives

**Business Value**:
- Increase conversion (social proof)
- Improve SEO (user-generated content)
- Product feedback for improvement
- Build trust and credibility

## Customer Journey

### Awareness → Consideration → Purchase → Retention

**1. Awareness**:
- SEO and content marketing
- Social media advertising
- Email marketing
- Affiliate marketing

**2. Consideration**:
- Product browsing
- Search and filtering
- Product comparison
- Reviews and ratings
- Wishlist

**3. Purchase**:
- Add to cart
- Checkout
- Payment
- Order confirmation

**4. Retention**:
- Order tracking
- Delivery
- Post-purchase email
- Review request
- Loyalty program
- Re-engagement campaigns

## Key Metrics (KPIs)

### Conversion Metrics
- **Conversion Rate**: (Orders / Visitors) × 100
- **Cart Abandonment Rate**: (Carts Created - Orders) / Carts Created × 100
- **Average Order Value (AOV)**: Total Revenue / Number of Orders
- **Revenue Per Visitor (RPV)**: Total Revenue / Total Visitors

### Customer Metrics
- **Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)**: Marketing Spend / New Customers
- **Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)**: Average Order Value × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan
- **Repeat Purchase Rate**: Repeat Customers / Total Customers × 100
- **Customer Retention Rate**: ((CE - CN) / CS) × 100

### Product Metrics
- **Best Sellers**: Top products by revenue or units
- **Product Views**: Page views per product
- **Add-to-Cart Rate**: Add to Cart / Product Views × 100
- **Return Rate**: Returns / Orders × 100

### Operational Metrics
- **Order Fulfillment Time**: Time from order to shipment
- **Inventory Turnover**: Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory
- **Stock-out Rate**: Out of Stock Events / Total Products × 100

## Common Requirements Patterns

### Mobile Commerce (M-commerce)
- Responsive design (mobile-first)
- Touch-optimized UI
- Mobile payment methods (Apple Pay, Google Pay)
- Progressive Web App (PWA)
- Native mobile app
- Push notifications
- Offline browsing

### Internationalization
- Multi-currency support
- Multi-language support
- Country-specific payment methods
- International shipping
- Tax calculation by country
- Localized content

### Omnichannel
- Unified inventory across channels
- Buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS)
- Return online purchases in store
- Consistent pricing across channels
- Cross-channel customer data

## Integration Points

### Common Integrations
- **Payment Gateway**: Stripe, PayPal, Adyen
- **Shipping**: ShipStation, EasyShip, carrier APIs
- **ERP**: SAP, Oracle, NetSuite (inventory, orders)
- **CRM**: Salesforce, HubSpot (customer data)
- **Email Marketing**: Mailchimp, Klaviyo
- **Analytics**: Google Analytics, Mixpanel
- **Reviews**: Yotpo, Trustpilot
- **Live Chat**: Zendesk, Intercom
- **Accounting**: QuickBooks, Xero

## Questions to Ask Stakeholders

### Business Model
- What type of e-commerce? (B2C, B2B, Marketplace)
- Who are your target customers?
- What's your average order value?
- What's your current conversion rate?

### Products
- How many products/SKUs?
- Simple or configurable products?
- Digital or physical products?
- How often do products change?

### Checkout
- Guest checkout allowed?
- What payment methods?
- What shipping options?
- International shipping?

### Integration
- Existing systems to integrate?
- ERP or inventory system?
- CRM system?
- Email marketing platform?

### Scale
- Expected traffic?
- Peak season considerations?
- Number of orders per day?
- Growth projections?

## References

- Shopify E-commerce Blog
- BigCommerce Resources
- Baymard Institute (UX research)
- E-commerce Platforms documentation