Roles and responsibilities

A successful ecommerce project requires several roles with varying levels of responsibility.

Head of Digital

The Head of Digital is responsible for managing ecommerce operations and overseeing each team to ensure everyone is performing as expected and working towards the envisioned goal. Some of the tasks that the Head of Digital must carry out include:

In some organizations, the Head of Digital also oversees marketing tasks. The Head of digital is the key point of contact for all internal and external stakeholders. They must have ecommerce knowledge to implement the project for B2B, B2C, or D2C business models.

Ecommerce SME

An Ecommerce Subject Matter Expert (SME) leads the project in terms of what can be implemented and how it needs to work. They guide both the functional and technical side of the teams. Projects can have more than one SME where one is more functionally focused whereas the other is more technically focused.

An Ecommerce SME needs to ensure that the details of the requirements are correct and aligned with the required deliverables to adhere to policies, best practices, and standards.

The Ecommerce SME sometimes has a dual role of project manager as well where they take care of project management tasks, including

Marketing Manager

The goals of a Marketing Manager include:

Ecommerce businesses require marketing in different forms, such as email, print, web, social media, influencers, and so on. It’s the Marketing Manager’s responsibility to use these forms effectively.

The Marketing Manager of a digital implementation project also needs to focus on SEO and SEM tasks, which can either be handled in-house or by a third-party.

A Marketing Manager should constantly communicate with the Head of Digital , the Ecommerce Manager, Customer Service team, and Warehouse team to align their campaigns and promotions. If a Marketing Manager plans and sends out a promotion for a product that has low inventory, then there could be a lot of upset customers and increase the Customer Service team’s workload. It is essential that all teams are aligned.

Marketing Managers must also cater to different customer service methods to improve customer experience and customer loyalty, including, but not limited to:

Ecommerce Business Analyst

An ecommerce Business Analyst helps the business run projects smoothly by being the key point of contact between the business and the ecommerce and IT teams.

They need to able to multi-task, keep up with requirements, timelines, allocation of tasks, and follow-ups. Most businesses also require the Ecommerce Business Analyst to have in-depth knowledge about the platform on which the site is being hosted so that they can build the site according to project requirements. This knowledge also helps them answer client questions and reduce developer workload.

IT Team

Developers usually sit under the ecommerce team, but sometimes they are under a separate IT team. There can be different types of developers, including:

Developers should be able to create and customize the site according to project requirements. Currently, mobile-first sites have been in demand. Make sure that your developers have experience with mobile-first technology.

The ecommerce site is the soul of the business. It is important that the site is easy to use for both customers and backend users to increase conversion rate and increase efficiency.

It’s critical that the team gets the foundations of the site right, including:

The IT team also includes testers. The main role of testers is to test every scenario possible that could break what the developers build. Thorough testing reduces the probability inconsistencies, bugs, and performance issues when the site launches, which could impact customer experience. In ecommerce, you get one chance with the customer and it must be right the first time.

Warehouse Team

Though the entire experience takes place online, there is still a physical world that includes managing inventory, packaging the order, and shipping to customers.

Logistics Manager

The Logistics Manager needs to ensure that the orders coming in are being packaged correctly and transported safely to the customer. The Logistics Manager also must manage the team and the fleet, whether its an internal or external team.

The Logistics Manager’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the product is shipped in the right manner, to the right address, and at the right time.

Inventory Manager

The Inventory Manager needs to oversee the inventory in one or more warehouses to ensure that the products customers order are the products that are being shipped. They are responsible for overseeing correct product packing. No business wants their customers to receive products in an unsatisfactory condition; presentation is key.

Customer Service Team

The Customer Service team is usually one of the most underrated teams in the business, but when it comes to an ecommerce business this is the only team that has direct daily contact with customers transacting on the site.

Customer Service teams use different tools to communicate with customers, including:

The Customer Service team is also responsible for the following:

The Customer Service team can provide detailed insight to other team members based on customer feedback, questions, and concerns, which the business can use to improve and enhance customer experience.

Content Team

The Content team either sits within the Marketing team, the Ecommerce team, or independently. Website traffic is not enough. Customers must purchase your products for your business to make ROI. Content on the entire website is important, but the most crucial content is on the category and product pages. This is the content that helps businesses make money.

The content team is responsible for:

The Content team creates, tests, manages, and optimizes all content on the website,which brings in the ROI.