How do you build an eCommerce team from scratch?
If you’ve been selling products or services online for a while, then you should know that one person simply can’t do it all, not for long anyway. Once your sales increase, you will inevitably need to hire additional help to help streamline your operations if you plan to get any sleep at all. In this article, we’ll break down the 5 essential functions that your team should be able to perform. While a single person can hold certain positions, others will need multiple individuals working in tandem to produce optimal results.
Strategy
No matter what your market niche is, you will need someone to oversee your operation from the perspective of sales, marketing, management, and technology. This directorial function should be fulfilled by a person with the necessary know-how in the following areas: eCommerce user experience, product information management, digital asset & mobile experience management. They should also have proven experience in building successful B2B and DTC relationships. They’ll be responsible for managing online sales and partnerships, generating reports on business gains and losses, as well as making strategic and budgeting decisions that impact your business at the highest level. You could perform this function but, ideally, a successful business should be able to turn a profit in your absence. Whether your business can achieve this depends on your ability to find the right eCommerce director.
Content Creation
Marketing eCommerce businesses is all about creating engaging content, haven't you heard? For this function, it would be ideal to have someone responsible for content planning, another for visual content production, and an additional person who can produce engaging copies that convert potential leads into paying customers. Additionally, the content creation team should have a demonstrable interest in eCommerce, social media and keep up with the latest trends across the space in which you operate.
Data Analysis
Having a sophisticated understanding of eCommerce data is essential for the overall health of your eCommerce business. Understanding data related to your business will help you make better decisions about resource allocation. The person you pick for this position must be able to present data in a way that allows top-level management to make crucial decisions. This business analysis function can be broken down into Objective & Key Results and Key Performance Indicators, landing page performance, among other things. An added plus would be the ability for your business analyst to leverage automation methods to create additional efficiencies across different channels.
Tech Support
Did you think that you would operate an eCommerce business effectively without technological know-how? While eCommerce platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and SHOPLAZZA have reduced the importance of digital literacy, any eCommerce business of scale has everything to gain from having a team member familiar with the optimization processes, underlying architecture, and data security strategies of eCommerce websites. NotNot only would they be responsible for ensuring the smooth daily operation of your online business, their impact will also be felt when software purchasing, integration, and site vulnerability issues come up.
Project Management
Time management, organizational, and communication skills will be crucial for this position. Your project manager will need to stay on top of all stakeholder relationships, track and optimize the health of all ongoing projects, create detailed reports that reflect the current condition of your eCommerce business, and adapt to any emergencies that may come up. In any functional, thriving eCommerce business, things will inevitably go wrong. When these things go wrong, it is up to your project manager to hold the pieces together before a workable solution can be identified. Choose the last piece of your team wisely
