The People You Need to Take Your E-Commerce Business to New Heights
- 17 September 2021
Guest post written by Carlota Preston
COVID-19 has changed the way we work and live, with our increasingly digital lifestyles likely to remain the status quo. As a result, many industries have had to accelerate their digital presence rapidly, with TechCrunch finding that COVID-19 accelerated the consumer shift to e-commerce by over 5 years. Consequently, e-commerce businesses are under more pressure to stay ahead by constantly innovating. Such innovations include streamlining operations by adopting automation software and AI-powered tools, as well as keeping up-to-date with the current trends to formulate business strategies.
In order to achieve this and remain competitive, e-commerce businesses need to recruit the right people.
The project manager
An effective project manager is able to tackle each component of the business plan and organize it so the company is always moving forward. Such people are great at time management, organization, and communication. By breaking down tasks into bite-size pieces and distributing them accordingly, project managers help secure high-quality work from across your business, while ensuring that everything works towards the company’s long-term goals.
The best managers also know how to use agile project management tools to deliver their team’s work more efficiently.
The project managers at online New York wine boutique Grain and Vine, for example, use compatible systems that integrate data from all available channels. This allows them to easily supervise the planning and execution of multiple aspects, from inventory and website and app design to sales information and digital marketing strategies.
The budget analyst
Budget analysts leverage data to help you plan your business’ finances, helping you make more informed decisions. However, with their work forming the backbone of nearly every business, budget analysts are in high demand, especially as many of these businesses strive to work their way out of the COVID-19 recession.
Educational institutions are meeting this demand by offering robust curriculums that can be accomplished entirely online. The State University of New York-Canton, for instance, offers its students finance internships that let them hone their skills in the field. Meanwhile, the online finance program at Maryville University blends foundational financial knowledge with key marketing skills, allowing them to provide invaluable business insights. And with the e-commerce industry one of the fastest growing it is very attractive to these graduates post university. More importantly, by developing a broad perspective on how financial planning, business, and marketing combine to drive success, programs like these help budget analysts formulate a budget in line with your company’s overall vision. This way, you can comfortably fund whatever business plan you adopt and still expect a significant ROI.
The digital marketer
Some people think they can hire social media managers and call it a day, but this just won’t do. The field of digital marketing also covers pay-per-clicks, emails, and mobile marketing. Additional strategies like search engine optimization and search engine marketing helps drive traffic to your website.
The modern digital marketer can create marketing strategies that maximize all these channels. A digital marketer will be able to create content that is specific to your customer base. They will also be able to generate great word of mouth marketing, with online leather store Urad using customer testimonials to great effect in order to drive traffic to their site. Another way a digital marketer can help is through SEO. For instance, WebFX uses search engine optimization to increase a client’s organic site traffic, resulting in a year-on-year increase in submissions requesting the client’s services. Curated digital marketing strategies can help you get the best customer conversion rates using every online platform available.
The content creator
With people spending more time online, your content has to be more engaging if you want your business to stand out. Visual elements like digital posters, GIFs, and video contents can draw attention to your brand. Meanwhile, filling your website with blog posts like how-to guides can solidify your trustworthy reputation among customers and potential customers alike. Content creators can come in a number of specializations, from copywriting to graphic design, and they would all be an invaluable addition to your e-commerce team.
The IT specialist
You might have heard of how CitiBank once lost $500 million thanks to their software and website’s clunky user interface. And with Stanford University confirming that more than half of the country’s workforce is working from home, the increased use of cloud apps is making companies more vulnerable to hackers. In fact, companies have lost an average of $11.7 million to data breaches. What more if you’re an e-commerce business — someone whose entire database is hosted on the web and whose every transaction is recorded online?
Undoubtedly, your e-commerce business needs an IT expert to help with anything computer-related that lets your business run smoothly. This includes designing your website to be more user-friendly, networking computers to facilitate data exchanges, and strengthening the company’s cybersecurity. By keeping your business tech-savvy, you can improve efficiency and productivity in a pinch.
Author: Carlota Preston