Building an Ecommerce Team

When it comes to the retail industry, eCommerce is the single fastest-growing segment. It’s been spurred on by COVID-19, but the change was already in the air. For entrepreneurs and business owners, entering the world of eCommerce offers many benefits, including the chance to build a thriving brand and create a profitable business.

However, it’s not something that you can do on your own. Yes, you can try to wear multiple hats, but you’ll find that it’s simply too much for one person to handle, no matter how talented or dedicated they might be. You’ll need an eCommerce team to propel you forward, but that requires understanding the key roles and functions.

Below, we’ll address an eCommerce team’s most typical roles and what you should know about each.

Team Director/Team Lead

This role involves managing all the others on the team. The team director is responsible for ensuring that all other team members perform their roles properly, that everyone is working together, and that the team executes the eCommerce vision. Note that the director usually has many other responsibilities, particularly in smaller companies, including:

• Digital marketing

• Website administration

• Strategy development

• Web Developer

Your web developer will be responsible for designing, building, implementing, and maintaining your eCommerce website. They’ll handle frontend and backend changes, customisations, and more. Ensure that your web developer is familiar with Google’s mobile-first mentality and the consumer trends underpinning that outlook.

Of course, your web developer will also need to be intimately familiar with the eCommerce industry itself, with an emphasis on the need for:

• Cohesive branding

• A positive user experience

• Connecting the website to your wider sales funnel

Digital Operations Manager

An Operations Manager is responsible for ensuring that the website functions without error to support the ideal customer experience. As such, they should be familiar with not only your industry but with consumer trends and expectations related to eCommerce. Beyond the customer experience, the operations manager will usually be responsible for things like:

• Managing the entire CMS

• A/B testing product layouts

• Verifying discount/sale code functionality

• Bumping front end sales numbers against existing inventory counts

IT Tech

You’ll need at least one IT technician on your eCommerce team. This team member is responsible for helping other members use your sites digital infrastructure correctly, for connecting the dots between online sales, existing inventory, and logistics, and to ensure security across all pages of the site. Other responsibilities might include:

• Supporting development and operations as needed

• Troubleshooting operation issues

• Making changes to website pages as necessary

Logistics Manager

All retail involves logistics to some degree, even if that is nothing more than noting the number of a particular item on hand and reordering through a supplier. A logistics manager handles all related issues within your business, from ensuring that inventory counts are accurate to vetting new suppliers, dealing with shipping customer orders, providing support when orders are lost or damaged, and more.

Inventory Team

At a minimum, you’ll need an inventory manager, but you may have an entire team. These are your warehouse staff and managers, who are responsible for item intake, entering orders in the system, ensure inventory counts are accurate, wrapping and packing products, and even clerical duties.

Digital Marketing Manager

No eCommerce business can be successful without a robust digital marketing strategy. A digital marketing manager is responsible for handling things like social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, product description creation, image and video sourcing, SEO, SEM, PPC campaigns, loyalty programs, and more.

Customer Service Reps

You’ll need at least one person designated to handle customer service. These professionals answer questions, provide guidance, help with returns and exchanges, answer calls, manage chatbots, process returns, and handle customer complaints.

Accounting and Bookkeeping

Sometimes called finance and accounting, these professionals help ensure that your books are balanced, your bills are paid, budgets are set, and profit/loss statements are accurate.

Bringing Your Team Together

Assembling such a robust team takes time, preparation, and research. Each role is crucial, and you cannot afford to take chances during your hiring process. You can also outsource many of these roles to the right partner, saving you both time and hassle while ensuring that you can hit the ground running.