How to Form a Profitable & Sustainable eCommerce Team

There are no great plans, huge ambitions, endless possibilities and - an unforeseen workload, with no dedicated e-commerce team.

Who will manage the content or discuss the responsibilities of e-commerce with the marketing team? Who has the knowledge to gather and leverage online data? Who is ultimately responsible for the web store's sales results? Do you need to hire an e-commerce team or add new e-commerce team roles?

Knowing where to start with e-commerce roles or how to expand and structure your e-commerce team can come with some uncertainty.

Where should an organization start when building an e-commerce team structure?

- It is therefore important to appoint someone in your organization to fully focus on your e-commerce website. For smaller companies, this need not be a whole e-commerce team or even a full-time employee, but I would recommend that you assign the responsibility of the e-commerce platform to a specific person. If everyone is in charge, no one is in charge.

- Ideally, this person also understands how to drive change within an organization: to get all departments on board when launching an online store can prove quite the challenge. So, your e-commerce manager needs to be able to convince each department of the benefits of e-commerce and its objectives.

- Although this differs based on the nature and culture of each organization, one can see some common responsibilities among the e-commerce managers that work for our customers. Successful e-commerce managers keep a close eye on their own e-commerce team and other impacted departments within the organization, as well as suppliers and, of course, customers. 

What is the biggest challenge that B2B companies face when structuring an e-commerce team? And how can they overcome it?

-Another challenge is that no bachelor's or master's degree in e-commerce is sufficient in itself. The field undergoes changes much quicker than even the duration of education. If you have people in your organization who learn quickly, who enjoy change and who knows how to drive change in the organization, do involve them in your e-commerce team. This will significantly increase your chance of having a successful and stable e-commerce platform.

- You should create e-commerce team roles that contribute to your specific company objectives.

- There are no set answers to this question. The e-commerce team structure you create should be aligned with your e-commerce strategy and objectives - which are in turn aligned with your overall company strategy and goals. The products you sell and the way you sell them require a specific sales and marketing approach.

- It does not make sense to hire an online advertising specialist if you only want to sell to existing customers. However, if you have an open web store in a market where competition is fierce, it might be beneficial to hire someone for this role. Therefore, you should create e-commerce team roles that contribute to your specific company objectives. We are always more than happy to talk through the different roles you might require, and how they add value to your business.

- Resources with the right skill set will always be needed. Therefore, your company must allocate or dedicate these resources. My advice here would be to determine who within your management team will take up the responsibility for e-commerce. Then, set up high-level goals, KPIs and a roadmap, and review this roadmap every three to six months. Start small and work your way to the top step by step. Delegate the smaller tasks to other people in the organization, but make sure that someone from management keeps the overview and is responsible for the end results.

- E-commerce will be profitable if you give it the attention it needs. Create a business case and calculate on a regular basis how adding people to your e-commerce team impacts the revenue, costs and efficiency of your organization.