The figure of the ecommerce manager is not well known in Spain. However, it is one of the most important that requires a series of professional skills to be carried out.
Many associate this figure with the community manager, and they are right, but it is more focused on online sales. Now what professional skills do you need a person who wants to dedicate himself to this job? Today we take a look at the most important ones.
What is an ecommerce manager
An ecommerce manager is a professional who is in charge of managing and directing an ecommerce, or online store. For this, its tasks are based on understanding, managing and controlling the entire sales process, from the very beginning (when addressing potential customers) to the end, which can be the sale of the products or the feedback received. after sale.
To carry out your job, you need to know what your duties are (something we'll talk a bit about below), as well as the professional skills you need to develop.
The functions of an ecommerce manager
As with a community manager, the ecommer manager carries out very diverse functions, all of them focused on the ultimate goal, which is to sell the product, service ... that it should. Thus, among its tasks are:
- Develop a strategy for the online business.
- Study the sector in which the online store is located.
- Organize logistics.
- Carry out an SEO strategy to position ecommerce.
- Carry out an online marketing plan.
- Analyze statistics.
- Create conversion funnels (to reach more customers and make them buy).
- Improve the user experience and usability of the online store.
Finding a person who does all of this is quite difficult, especially since it may sound easy, but it is not. However, once you find the right person, your professional skills will speak for themselves (along with the results you will get from their work).
Professional skills of an ecommerce manager
Once you know what an ecommerce manager is and everything it does (that is, its functions), you should know that not everyone can perform this job. The truth is that there are certain skills that must be very present. And that is what we are going to discuss next.
And, to be a professional ecommerce manager you must:
Have aptitude and attitude
They seem like the same word. And on many occasions, these are used without knowing that a phrase is wrongly expressed. But both are necessary for an ecommerce manager.
To make it clear to you, aptitude is talent, the skill you have to do something (in this case, to sell anything to someone else).
On the other hand, attitude refers to a person's temperament, that is, how you behave in different situations (if you get nervous, if you are positive, if you transmit passion for what you say ...).
In other words, an ecommerce manager must be able to sell what the client has: a service, an idea, a product ... Therefore, it is important that they have a lot of knowledge of the sector, and a commercial vision to take advantage of the opportunities to obtain sales.
Have communication skills
Imagine that you are an ecommerce manager of an online store. And they ask you to sell a product. However, you are not able, due to your shyness, to establish a relationship with customers, not even to tell them that you have the product they are looking for. In other words, you lose the customer.
An ecommerce manager cannot afford that. Has to know what to say, how to say it and to whom to achieve a positive result. Otherwise, you will not be able to carry out your work efficiently.
Be a leader
Well yes, you also have to be able to lead a team, if you have it, or to expose your needs and have others satisfy them in order to do their job. And it is that, many times, this is complicated to carry out, more for a single person, and there are always many that would come into play (and that this professional has to coordinate).
Therefore, the ability to make decisions, to manage problems, or to motivate, are very important in this case.
Ability to coordinate
For example, imagine that you are an ecommerce manager of a company, but the media section (photos, videos…) is run by another department. If you need that work that they do to do your job, you have to coordinate with them and know what to ask for, when and how.
Professional skills: Strategic vision
If you are not a person who knows what the present and the future of your sector are, then you are going to have problems. And the thing is that the most important thing about a business is to adapt to the sector in which you operate. In other words, know how things change and make the company turn following the trend that exists.
For example, if you have a carpentry business, you know that now these are disappearing, but there are still those who have known how to adapt and change their business for one that really works (for example, changing their clientele to a higher status, or finishing luxury, etc.).
Financial, logistics, sector knowledge ...
We are not going to tell you that you should be a wonder and know everything. But there is certain knowledge that directly influences work and that you have to take into account. Therefore, it is important that you train in them.
For example, in the financial area, you must ensure that your business will survive, that is, that you have to know about financial concepts to make decisions, and prevent risk situations, or lead the company on a path of success.
Professional skills: Be creative and innovative
This is perhaps a very important part of the job as an ecommerce manager, and one of the professional skills that you should value the most. It is the one that will make you differentiate yourself from other companies and attract customers.
Therefore, it is said that a professional must have a creative mind, being very observant and passionate about challenges, in addition to proposing ideas and having a very different vision from others (in the sense that they see points of view that others have not thought of).