E-Commerce Manager: Job Profile and Role

In recent years, ever more parts of our shopping experience have been taking place online. This trend is not likely to stop, making it even more important for online shops and businesses to stay ahead of their competition. This is where an e-commerce manager comes in. He or she is responsible for overseeing and managing every aspect of an e-commerce venture. This includes increasing sales and revenues by analysing the relevant data. It also includes looking after the customers.

The following blog will detail what is behind the different tasks of an e-commerce manager. Moreover, we will take a close look at the salaries, the employers, the qualifications and skills of an e-commerce manager. Lastly, we will give you exciting insights into the daily life of an e-commerce manager and tips for thriving in this important job.

Short Summary

• As an e-commerce manager, your task is to manage and oversee your company’s online sales and revenues. You are also responsible for ensuring increasing sales and revenues.
• As an e-commerce manager, you are tasked with taking care of your company’s website and its content. You have to ensure that the website is user-friendly and that it is running smoothly.
• As an e-commerce manager, you are tasked with looking after and taking care of your company’s customers. This includes dealing with their enquiries and issues as well as ensuring their data security when it comes to payment.

Job description

As an e-commerce manager, you are responsible for overseeing and managing your company’s online sales. One of your main daily tasks is to ensure that these sales increase continually. To achieve that, you will have to come up with innovative sales strategies that guarantee your customers a smooth shopping experience. Speaking of customers: another responsibility of an e-commerce manager is to look after the company’s clients, which usually falls under the responsibilities of customer relationship management.

Responsibilities

• Customer Feedback
• Budget Management
• Customer Experience
• Website Management
• E-Commerce Strategy
• Inventory Management
• Analytics and Reporting
• Vendor/Partner Relationships
• Payment Processing/Security
• Customer Relationship Management

Different types of E-Commerce Managers

• Head of E-Commerce
• Supply Chain Manager
• Quality Assurance Analyst
• Customer Service Manager
• Content/Merchandising Manager

Salary

The UK salary for an e-commerce manager ranges from £39,100 to £44,900 annually. Influencing factors on the salary can be your level of experience, your position, your employer, the company size and the location. Due to these factors, your salary can be higher or lower. Note that an e-commerce executive, for example, will earn considerably less, than an e-commerce manager. The annual salary comes in at around £27,000.

Working hours

The job of an e-commerce manager is a 9 to 5 job. Your working hours typically amount to 40 hours a week, if you are working full-time in this profession. There are various factors that can increase your weekly workload and hours. Especially in peak times, it is likely that you will work overtime, which means that you will work till late in the evenings.

Peak times also imply working on the weekends and being on call outside your regular office hours. Make sure that these extra working hours fit into your work-life balance.

Note that the job of an e-commerce manager can also be done remotely. You should check with your future employer if that is an option and how many working hours you can work from home.

Employers

Typically, e-commerce managers are employed by online retailers and online marketplaces. Besides these two possible employers, e-commerce managers can find work with dropshipping companies, logistics and shipping companies, and e-commerce marketing agencies. Consulting firms and providers of e-commerce software and technology also need entry-level or experienced e-commerce managers.

Qualifications

The necessary qualifications to become an e-commerce manager can range from an academic degree to an apprenticeship in a relevant field to a graduate scheme. These educational qualifications aside, digital qualifications can help you further your career in eCommerce. These can include e-commerce law, SEO (search engine optimisation) and qualifications in web design.

Skills

You have earned the required hard skills to become an e-commerce manager? Then, let’s have a look at the soft skills that should accompany your qualifications and degrees. To be an excellent e-commerce manager, you should have or develop the following personal strengths and competencies:

Leadership and Management

As an e-commerce manager, you should have excellent leadership and management skills. Even though you need to be a numbers expert, you will nevertheless work with a team of other e-commerce specialists. Depending on your role in that team, being a good and motivational leader is essential for you to excel in your job. These skills go hand in hand with management skills. These will help you stay on top of projects, deadlines, promotions and much more.

Customer Service Skills

Even though eCommerce refers to online merchandising and is not conducted face-to-face, outstanding customer service skills are required to do a good job as an e-commerce manager. You will deal with customers’ enquiries, issues and needs on a pretty much daily basis. If you think that you can improve this skill, you can do some additional training online, for example.

Analytical Thinking

Analytical thinking is an important skill to have as an e-commerce manager. As an e-commerce manager, you measure your company’s success by analysing the relevant numbers. These include sales and revenues that your company’s website has generated over a certain period of time. Your analytical thinking abilities are accompanied by a data-driven mindset.

Reasons why E-Commerce Managers love their Jobs

Various surveys have found out why many e-commerce managers love their jobs so much. They find that it is the perfect job to improve and enhance your soft skills. It also sharpens your insights into both brand and customer experience. For quite a few e-commerce managers, this means that they become better storytellers who excel in their chosen careers.

Career Path

The first step on your career path as an e-commerce manager is your education. You can gain your first work experience either during your education or directly after it. Typically starting at entry level, an e-commerce manager will slowly rise through the ranks the more work experience he or she has gathered. Depending on your area of expertise, you can explore various sub-categories, such as content manager or digital marketing manager. These positions may eventually result in you becoming COO/CMO, CSO, CHRO/CPO, CFO/CRO or even CEO of your company.

Educational Background

You have several educational options to become an e-commerce manager. You can either do a university course in a relevant field, such as IT, business, marketing or sales management and acquire a Bachelor’s degree. You can also do an apprenticeship in retail leadership or digital marketing. To apply for an apprenticeship, you should have acquired four to five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C).

Option number three is to take part in a graduate scheme, always assuming your company offers this kind of educational training. Note that for taking part in a graduate scheme, you are typically required to have a degree in a field relevant to e-commerce.

Gaining Experience

Gaining experience as an e-commerce manager is vital for you to rise through the different ranks. Naturally, you will start from scratch when starting your first job in e-commerce. The longer you work at a company and the more responsibilities you get, the more experience you will have. This way, you can achieve the career goal you have set yourself.

Continuous Learning

Gaining experience is closely connected to continuous learning. Dare we even say that this point is especially important in a digital world that seems to change within seconds? Needless to say: by soaking up all the latest technological, marketing, content, SEO and sales developments, you will stay ahead of the e-commerce game. This way, you further your chances of reaching the top of the e-commerce career ladder.

A Day in the Life of an E-Commerce Manager

Team meetings, checking your inbox, and reviewing data and numbers are all essential parts of your day as an e-commerce manager. However, these daily working routines are pretty much standard for lots of management jobs these days. So, what is it that makes a day in the life of an e-commerce manager different from other managerial positions?

This section will tell you what a day in the life of an e-commerce manager looks like.

Inventory Management

An inventory has one main goal: to find out which products are still available to sell and which products have run out. Inventory management is therefore an important part of the day of an e-commerce manager. There is one step you need to complete before you detail which things need re-stocking: review the sales data from the day before. They will give you important insights into which products have sold exceptionally well and which ones might have to take a backseat for the time being.

Website Maintenance

Since e-commerce revolves around online shopping and sales, website maintenance is another part of the day of the life of an e-commerce manager. You will have to check if the website and the online shop are working smoothly or if there are any glitches and setbacks that need fixing immediately.

Competitor Analysis

Lastly, analysing your competitors’ performance is on your day’s agenda. Here, you find out which of their similar products have sold even better than yours. You can also find out which marketing and sales strategies they have applied to increase their sales. By carefully analysing these data, you can get ideas for your own company’s future sales and marketing campaigns.

Tips for Thriving as an E-Commerce Manager

Do you want to be the best e-commerce manager the world has ever seen? Or, if not that, you want to be your best personal version of an e-commerce manager? To achieve this goal, you should always aspire to thrive in your job. This not only shows drive and passion, it will also help you reach your set goal on your e-commerce career ladder.

In this section, we will take a close look at three important tips for thriving as an e-commerce manager:

• Data-driven decision making
• Knowing your target audience
• Improving the user experience (UX)

Data-driven Decision Making

The data and numbers behind an e-commerce business are part of what makes that venture work – or not. As an e-commerce manager, you should know exactly what the respective numbers and data mean. What do they tell you about your website traffic? What do they tell you about your customer’s shopping behaviour? Based on these data, you can adjust your pricing, your product offerings, and your marketing strategies.

Knowing your Target Audience

It almost goes without saying that knowing your target audience is key to having a successful business. Say you are selling tailor-made shoes. Not everyone will a) need them and b) be able to afford them. This means that you have to define and narrow down your customer base. By knowing who will likely buy your shoes, you have the perfect market for a thriving business. Knowing your target audience is therefore one of our tips for thriving as an e-commerce manager.

Improving the User Experience (UX)

Having an optimal user experience (UX) for your e-commerce business is important to attract as many customers as possible. You can have the best products at the best possible price – if your online presence is not up to scratch – that is, not working properly – you may as well close down your e-commerce business. Sounds a bit harsh? Maybe – but it is true. Users will likely stop browsing and shopping if your website/shop does not work smoothly on their respective mobile devices. Making sure that everything is shipshape improves the UX – and thus, your e-commerce venture.

Frequently Asked Questions