Before talking about the job of e-commerce manager, let's go back for a few seconds on the term e-commerce. Are you sure you know what it means?
An e-commerce is simply the fact of doing business on the Internet, whether to sell services, physical products or digital products. As with anything, you need a conductor to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Well, this person is called the e-commerce manager.
Anne-Laure Compain
The e-commerce manager is the person who will orchestrate the whole online store. Namely, think and define an SEO strategy to be visible in search engines, optimize products and their online presentation, find new products to satisfy the target even more and finally generate traffic to increase sales.
The e-commerce manager will also be in charge of correctly distributing the budget allocated to marketing, communication and natural referencing. He will therefore use it to :
Another point, and not the easiest, the e-commerce manager must define and implement all commercial operations. Essential thing for an e-commerce, to create customer loyalty! We are talking about all the sales, welcome offers, private sales, contests but also all these practical things that facilitate our daily life as the search with a connected object.
The e-commerce manager is the focal point of e-commerce. That's why he has to work closely with the development team, the design/communication team and the sales team. His goal is to constantly improve the online store.
The field of competence of e-commerce manager must be varied because it deals with various subjects.
Thanks to the sales analysis, the e-commerce manager will be able to know the strong and weak points of the site. He can then plan to work with his teams on :
Monitoring the data and health of a website, whether it is an e-commerce or not, is a very important thing to ensure the longevity of the site in question.
Free tools such as Google Search Console or Google Analytics allow to have data on the behavior of users when they browse the site. We can then know the average time that users spend, if they add to the cart or if they leave the site without doing anything on it.
Once exploited, all these data will allow to optimize the site.
Here are two examples:
The e-commerce manager will lead the design team to establish the graphic charter of the site and its visual identity. Or to create videos promoting products or product demonstrations.
He can also exchange with the development team to improve the functionalities of the e-commerce or add new things. Always with the aim of increasing the number of visitors and sales.
As mentioned above, business operations can take different forms such as:
But not only! Business operations can also be less conventional! Like :
Some companies will use external service providers to develop certain points such as :
The providers can be web agencies, marketing agencies, or any type of freelance profile.
The e-commerce manager will play the role of project manager, he will give them work instructions, follow the progress of the mission, accompany them in case of questions and finally validate their final work.
KPIs are indicators that will help measure the effectiveness of a device or an action.
For an e-commerce, this can be for example a simplification of the purchase tunnel. We will then measure the conversion rate, i.e. the number of sales made with this new tunnel. Then we will compare this conversion rate to the old rates. This way, the e-commerce manager will be able to see the impact of this change and change or not change the purchasing tunnel.
The KPIs are proving to be formidable tools in the decision-making process.
The SEO or natural referencing represents the traffic that there will be on a website. A traffic acquired from search engines and without any advertising. The SEO allows to have a continuous traffic on the site and this, on the long term.
Unlike SEO, SEA allows you to have traffic for a short period of time. This can be during a period of sale or launch of a new product. SEA works through advertising in search engines.
Social networks are now omnipresent in our daily lives. Whether it's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Linkedin, there's something for everyone! And, that makes for many channels available to attract customers and generate sales.
Using the store feature on Facebook and Instagram helps create a sense of need in the customer. They will be more responsive to the brand's products because the brand has come to them in a place they love.
Here are 3 examples of mailing.
The first one consists in sending an email to a customer after his order to ask for his opinion.
The second one will add a customer automatically to the newsletter to remind him on a well defined frequency and offering him new products or advices related to his purchases.
The last example consists in offering a discount coupon if a person subscribes to the newsletter.
Partnerships can be very varied!
It can be an exchange between two people or two companies or a paid partnership.
Partnerships can for example allow 2 things.
First, to boost the visibility of a product or a brand thanks to an influencer.
Secondly, to develop the brand awareness by adding links from blogs or websites with a strong reputation.
In addition to the fact that the e-commerce manager must monitor the competitors of his online store, he must also be aware of all the news of the web, communication and marketing sales.
Here are different axes that the e-commerce manager must master:
| Web development | Marketing | Communication | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
CMS (Content Management System) | Scrapping of datas | Social networks | Customer loyalty |
No-code website creation tools | Mailing | Partnerships | Commercial operations |
Computer languages | SEO | Communication papier | Means of payment |
Possible web features | SEA | Urban signage | Local and international delivery |
The number of e-commerce is constantly evolving and, since you can buy from your mobile, it is more and more important to have a modern online store, optimized for mobile navigation and with secure payments.
To become a good e-commerce manager, one must have a solid knowledge in computer science, marketing and sales. It is therefore recommended to follow a training in business school or marketing level Bac +5. It is also possible to attend an engineering school such as INSA or CESI in computer science and digital marketing.
The job of e-commerce manager is one of the new jobs that has a lot of future and possible developments. The responsibilities that encumber this position are great and constantly changing. To be a good e-commerce manager, you must be :
The e-commerce manager must also be someone versatile who can juggle, for example, between development optimizations, the creation of marketing campaigns and the improvement of product sheets.
To qualify for the position of e-commerce manager, it will be required to have solid knowledge in digital marketing and sales. Often accompanied by 5 years of experience in the field.
The amount of salary will, as for any profession, depend on the company, the place of exercise and the experience of the e-commerce manager.
But, to give you an idea, the average salary of an e-commerce manager is 40 000 to 50 000 euros per year.
With several years of experience, the salary can be around 60 000 euros per year.
You will have understood it well, to become an e-commerce manager is not a simple thing. It is necessary at first to favour studies in digital marketing and in parallel to work on your computer skills. We don't ask you to be a web developer, but rather to understand what a developer does and to know the constraints of the web.
Once the basics are solidified, it is interesting to work on the different positions that the e-commerce manager will then manage. This experience will be highly appreciated.
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Anne-Laure Compain
Anne-Laure Compain
Anne-Laure Compain
