E-commerce is an excellent way to display your products in a growing market. Despite the uncertainties in the global economy, E-commerce sales are still growing at a convincing rate and currently account for 14.3% of total global retail sales. eMarketer predicts that by 2023, the share of E-commerce in total global retail sales will reach 23%. According to economictimes, the Indian E-commerce market is about to touch $84 billion in 2021. This provides an opportunity for stores to establish or expand their online presence. The scope and size of the E-commerce market are very huge, which presents a lot of potential and opportunities for businesses as well as customers. Establishing yourself in E-commerce requires a lot of skill, thought and perseverance.

If people want to expand their business scope on the World Wide Web, then E-commerce is the best way to go about it. It has changed the world and the way enterprises develop. Online E-commerce stores can take various forms including Brick and Click companies and Pure Click companies but all these companies have one thing in common which is essential for their functioning – E-commerce management. Any business should be able to identify, define and manage related E-commerce plans and have professionals to implement the plans.

Operating an online store and providing a satisfactory customer experience is not an easy task. E-commerce management services is a series of program improvements, dedicated to improving the user experience and interface of the website and organizing basic activities to achieve effective communication between customers and you.

What is E-commerce?

Before understanding E-commerce management meaning in detail, let us first understand what is meant by E-commerce. E-commerce, also known as Internet commerce, is a business model for selling goods online. It allows you to start and manage your business online without visiting a physical store. Online shopping is the most common example in E-commerce. In the past ten years, E-commerce has undergone tremendous changes. Fast product delivery, enhanced payment methods, automatic processing, advanced UI are all the result of the ever-going changes in the industry. These changes have greatly affected customers, thus increasing the importance of E-commerce software.

E-commerce management planning

When preparing a business idea, you must ensure that you are clear about what products or services you are selling, what customers are you targeting and how are you intending to sell the products.

When you have selected the product or service that you are willing to sell, make sure that you build a comprehensive and attractive image of your products in front of your targeted interest group. To make sure that the current goal is achievable and clear, there should be a detailed description of the plan that focuses on smart goals. Such goals should not be difficult to comprehend and should be executed without expert tools or preparation. However, it can be tempting to set up an E-commerce store without a field-tested strategy. Therefore, writing down your thoughts can help you define clear goals for your business from the start.

E-commerce management services

A successful E-commerce website needs a team of experts to make it easy to run, update it with new illustrations, including basic functions and redesign security settings as and when required. Some notable E-commerce management jobs that can increase the success of an online business are Integrating Google Analytics, Programming new functions as needed, eliminating errors immediately, Creating and publishing advertisements and promotions, Timely SEO upgrade, Social media marketing, Unlimited product list and checking site safety to name a few.

5 Pillars of E-commerce management

It is important to understand all aspects of the E-commerce management system. Considering the competitive nature of E-commerce business, all aspects of E-commerce business should be strong. Here are the 5 most important pillars of E-commerce.

1. Production

Seasonality and changes in consumer preferences can cause large fluctuations in sales for your E-commerce website. Whether the product is manufactured or purchased, the personnel responsible for protecting the product must be able to keep up with the demand and supply of the product. Producing or procuring the product at peak season time and converting it into sales is one of the examples to showcase the importance of Production as a function in E-commerce management.

2. Marketing Aspect

Marketing is another important tool for E-commerce management. There are a lot of ways in which marketing can be used to facilitate its functioning. Some people prefer pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and devote their energy to optimizing PPC spending, while others use search engine optimization (SEO) to attract traffic and focus on link building, while others use the brand promotion to expand the business. Some people tend to expand overseas quickly, while others try to write a business plan that requires them to build a network of niche E-commerce sites. Some technologically adept people believe that they can get the most benefit from online marketing tools and technologies, such as deriving revenue from Clickstream data or targeting customers based on their online behaviour.

3. Technology

One of the most important aspects of an E-commerce website is that it should be built on a robust and flexible technical framework and technology. Some fundamental decisions such as hosting server, domain name, software and technology, security of the website are of utmost importance. You have to ensure that your website is technologically sound and up-to-date. Besides, we need to measure and optimize the present platform that we are working on.

4. Financial Aspect

If funds are injected irregularly, it is impossible to achieve the rapid development of E-commerce businesses. Data in the investment field shows that stakeholders have invested billions of dollars in E-commerce companies, which have shown the potential to be the last. But the financial function is not just about fundraising. Deliverable management, accounting, financial engineering decisions can provide customers with innovative payment methods, and so on.

5. Logistics and Procurement

In addition to digital products and services, you also need to deliver products to customers. When a customer wants to return or repair a product, your reverse logistics process also needs to manage it. There are many other examples that show that if an E-commerce company does not maintain its logistics, then it can suffer huge losses. Therefore, logistics should be regarded as an expert function and given sufficient attention.

Needs of Customers

E-commerce sites must be customer-centric. You need to know what are the requirements of your target customers. Therefore, you can take steps to provide customers with the best solutions to their problems. Following are some of the important customer requirements.

1. Velocity

When you visit a popular or robust website, things are pretty much smooth and user-friendly there. The page takes nearly one or two seconds to load, and the data will be delivered to you as soon as possible. It also expands transactions for the organization. One second may not seem like a big deal, but it can mean a few or even thousands of dollars in business transactions. Hence, loading and navigating speed in a website are of utmost importance.

2. User Interface

Design is important, and great web design shows that there is a strong organization behind the screen. If the guest does not show a sense of surprise when visiting your website, then the element of uniqueness is missing from your website. Try not to compromise on the design. Every pixel, every image and every word are important. Hire a decent designer focus on the structure. 

3. Product and Services offered

A large number of product choices may cost you a huge amount of money. Having a large number of products to display over the website does not guarantee the success of your website. Limiting your catalogue occasionally can allow customers to quickly discover what they are searching for and increase conversion rates by usually restricting checkout steps. This means that product selection and strategy should be carefully considered. More importantly, trying to purchase a large amount of inventory may result in shortage or unavailability of products, which may lead to order delays and customer disappointment.  Many E-commerce sites allow customers to choose by brand or category. This can help customers who are not sure which brand to search for but can still identify what they need. If you find that search is a major part of the customer experience, make the search tool user-friendly and self-explanatory. The arrangement of text strips, box size, text style and shadow will all have an impact on your customer shopping experience.

E-commerce management involves the start-up and operation of commercial websites, in which the E-commerce manager can manage all personnel involved in providing E-commerce functions. In short, it covers familiarity with the responsibilities and roles that IT, marketing, and website development departments perform and need to interact with regularly to create and promote corporate E-commerce.

Creating an E-commerce management course of action is not an easy task. It needs special acumen to understand that E-commerce management involves online brand building, website promotion, maintaining the flexibility and quality of E-commerce websites, and constantly making new plans.

The main focus of E-commerce management is to identify and redefine E-commerce plans and the goals of the companies involved. E-commerce websites need to make sure that they deliver relevant information in the online market. Once the goals of any digital strategy are defined, it is easy to market the concept. Regardless of whether the website is used for commercial, community or content purpose, with proper E-commerce management, the possibility of increasing the revenue and profits from various types of enterprises on the Internet has become very promising. 

Therefore, E-commerce management focuses on all the functions of a successful enterprise. It starts with the creation of a USP and then designs it to fit the network. This management is an integral part of all business-to-business transactions, so it has become the backbone of all commercial sites.

Roles and Responsibilities of E-commerce Manager

The E-commerce manager is responsible for managing the entire E-commerce business of the company. They manage product categories, select products to sell and monitor return management.

In their daily work, they mainly deal with the planning and development of the store appearance and act as the interface between various departments of the organization. These departments include website design agencies, internal marketing departments, development, IT and PR teams.

In addition, the E-commerce manager is entrusted to manage collections and returns and analyze sales statistics to optimize the product range and identify targeted advertisements.

The main aim of an E-commerce manager is to increase the sales and profit growth rate.

An E-commerce manager needs to:

• Define company goals
• Monitor and optimize sales and inventory 
• Perform website analytics
• Develop pricing strategies for the store
• Plan promotional and advertising campaigns
• Develop SEO and SEM strategies
• Perform market research and customer requirement analysis
• Supervise the hiring of advertising, promotion and marketing personnel

E-commerce has changed the way of shopping for millions of people across the globe but one thing that has not fully developed yet is the management of many E-commerce companies. Managing an E-commerce requires strategy, vision and careful planning and decision-making. E-commerce managers must keep up with trends in technology, marketing, operations, customer service, logistics and transportation. They also have to manage employees, vendors, and customer relationships. The burden may grow, especially as the company develops from a start-up to a mid-market.

Many E-commerce companies do not understand that there is more than one way to run a business or define a management structure. In fact, a strict hierarchical structure and static job description may harm your business and its ability to grow.

Here are a few ideas for organizing and managing E-commerce businesses.

• Holarctic Structure

The first and foremost way for better management is following a Holarctic structure in an organization that is responsive and self-regulatory.

Most of the businesses are structured in hierarchical order where an outworn command channel is followed. In today’s world, such systems are quite obsolete. They don’t work in modern businesses because of the changes in technologies, innovations, ideas, education and professional experience. Modern businesses including E-commerce require Clan and Market Culture to succeed. They require their employees to be more innovative and not hesitant to put their ideas forward. Employees don’t just follow orders; they use their abilities and skills to come up with better solutions.

• Unrestricted Job Roles

At the heart of every E-commerce, organization lies its software and technical competency. Online sellers have the opportunity to beat competitors solely based on their technology. Understanding how network technology works and the steps you might need to take to add features should help employees make better decisions and even set better goals. So technical competency should not be limited to a set of individuals, instead, all the employees should be exposed to the basics.

Similarly, customer relationships and service should not be constrained to certain employees. It should be the responsibility of every employee to serve customers and this should be the top priority in any business. There should be enough exercises undertaken to help people in key roles better understand how to provide services to consumers. It can help the employees identify important blocks for shoppers, and if they are removed, it can significantly increase sales

• Outsourcing

Outsourcing projects and remote workers can be tricky but it is a very efficient way of dealing with requirements. Remote workers can often increase productivity, loyalty and bring more profits to your business. The only thing to keep in mind is to ensure that the best candidates are hired whose experience and interests are just rightly blended. The company will sometimes need to determine what is of greater value. For instance, whether it is more important to ensure that everyone is in the same location or to ensure that the best people are hired to work.

• Content Management Systems (CMS)

Many E-commerce companies are using content management systems or CMS to enable E-commerce store owners to create, edit and publish digital website content without writing any code. It helps the users in changing the look and feel of the online store in terms of page layouts, promotional banners, more website and navigation sections to name a few. An E-commerce platform is an online shopping cart solution that enables you to handle product management and sell products directly through your website. Some E-commerce platforms can also be used as CMS. In other words, it is a user-friendly infrastructure that handles all the back-end store management functions of an online store. Broadly, E-commerce CMS software can be divided into two categories-SaaS and open source.

Shopping nowadays means asking Siri to recommend a brand or spend some time on Pinterest and Instagram to see the clothes worn by influential fashionistas. The world of E-commerce is changing regularly and it is getting very difficult to establish your position in the competitive world. An E-commerce platform must be robust enough to take all the needs into consideration including marketing, design, technical capabilities, operations and customer requirements.

Whether you decide to use an E-commerce-first platform or a content-first platform, remember that shoppers expect brands of all types and sizes to provide top-notch digital experiences, creative product displays, and brand missions. Combining sales and storytelling is the way to success.