Project teams
Every brick-and-mortar store needs a team and it’s the same for an online ecommerce store. It’s important to have people on your team who fit the role with the required skills. For both B2B and B2C ecommerce, it is essential that each department in the organization is involved in the ecommerce project.
There are direct and indirect dependencies between departments that help to achieve the project team’s goals. It is key that each individual understands the team’s goal and how to achieve it. Onboarding a team member who does not know the platform well or who is not aligned tends to slow things down and increases pressure on the other team members.
The size of your team depends on the complexity of your project.
Key team roles
- Project Manager
- Technical Architect
- Functional Lead
- Business Analyst
- Backend Developers
- frontend Developers
- Designer
- Content Manager
- Tester
Each of these roles is responsible for planning and executing the ecommerce project. However, there are other roles that share responsibility.
External dependencies
Organizations tend to overlook external dependencies that directly or indirectly play an important part in the success of the project, including:
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Warehouse team-If the website is up and running but the staff in the warehouse is limited, that could delay packing and shipping. There could also be a system issue in the warehouse preventing it from tracking orders that could also delay packing and shipping.
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Customer service team—This team is in direct contact with customers. They are aware of customer pain points, but they are usually the most underrated team in an organization. For example, if you run a new promotion on your website and the team is not aware, they may not be able to provide customers with correct information or they may not be able to handle the volume of calls if it’s a small team. These examples can lead to a negative customer experience.
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Marketing team—Marketing teams handle sales, offers, promotions, and campaigns. If they send emails about a product, but are unaware that the stock is limited, then it could create a bad customer experience and lower your conversion rate.
When setting up the project team, it is not only essential to have the correct people with the required skill set, but also to ensure that external teams are informed and aligned to achieve a successful result.