Managing Ecommerce Is More Than Listing Products

E-commerce businesses range from a one man home business to organizations with a global presence. In all cases having success on a wide range of tasks is key for growth. This growth is not just sales but the success of managing these key tasks in a scalable manner. If you are a small e-commerce business you need to understand these functions and how they are dependent on each other to achieve scale and continued success.

First lets assume that the initial product has been developed and and the supply chain has been established along with a functioning ecommerce platform.

Lets also assume that this brand is selling direct to consumer from their own platform as well as to marketplaces such as Amazon via Vendor Central or Seller Central.

A good targeted email campaign is a great place to start driving traffic from brand friendly consumers to your direct to consumer store. This is a measurable key performance indicator that can be measured and adjusted to to achieve solid branding and measurable sales. A future post will cover the key points to examine for targeted emails.

In regards to Amazon, the best way to drive traffic to your products and store front is to take advantage of the AMS search campaigns. When done correctly these campaigns will drive buyers to your products for comparison and hopefully sales.

The final component to consider is the actual meat of these traffic drivers which consists of deals and or promotions. You do not have to reduce the price of an item for it to be considered a deal but instead you might consider bundling products as a multi piece, limited quantity sku.

This allows you to maintain your margin, drive interest and create a unique ASIN for Amazon that copycat sellers are unable to compete against.

Other traffic drivers to be considered are actually a function of advertising and marketing via the adwords and display platforms or across social media and are very important but not included on our graphic. They are another potential touchpoint for a digital marketing manager at many companies.

Marketing

Most e-commerce professionals understand the importance of marketing. There are differences in people’s approaches; some prefer pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and expend their energies on optimizing their PPC spends, while others drive traffic through search engine optimization (SEO) and focus on link building. Others believe that branding is the only way to go. An alternative way to is also to rapidly expand overseas or to even broaden their reach by setting up a network of niche e-commerce websites.

Others are on the cutting edge and believe in deriving the most from the benefits of online marketing tools and technologies. These companies use Clickstream data or target their customers based on their online behavior. (remarketing)

Enhanced Branding

For purposes of discussing marketplaces I want to use Amazon as an example but most big box marketplaces such as Lowes or Home Depot have similar enhanced branding products.

In the case of amazon an ecommerce manager must have A+ or enhanced content on the display page for every product. This listing will instill confidence in the consumer and can result in more sales as the consumer chooses your product as opposed to the no name knock off that is priced lower.

To give the consumer more confidence you will want to develop and AMS brand page which functions as a storefront to the consumer on the Amazon marketplace. All of your products in one place with your company story and information.

Vine submissions are also very useful for releasing new products. An impartial review on a new product from a consumer is the very best chance to leave a good impression on future consumers.

Lowes has a similar program which allows more exposure on their marketplace.

Catalog and Detail Pages

For each marketplace your brand is represented on there is the equivalent of a catalog. The way your product is represented on the digital catalog is crucial to proper exposure that leads to more sales.

For every item that is on Amazon you must ensure that the item is in the correct category as well as subcategory. If your item is miscategorized then consumers are unable to find it. I find a big problem with Amazon when I am unable to find items. If I can’t find it then I can’t buy it.

You will want a variety of images loaded for each item and ideally some of those images need to be lifestyle. How many times have you seen an item advertised and its not apparent what it is or does?This is where lifestyle images come in play.

An accurate and full description for each item needs to be provided along with bullet points that help the consumer compare and understand how your product is used.

You will also need to have mechanical data which includes color variations, sizes as well as precise measurements. A consumer might need all of that data before making a purchase.

And finally you will need to load competitive pricing for each item.

In some organizations with many skus/ASINS, this is a full time job.

The way your product is listed will impact how it is displayed to the consumer.

Inventory And Operations

When dealing with Big Box companies it is critical to have EDI set up properly. Not only do you need to have an EDI provider but the orders that come must be integrated into your work flow.

This is where an ecommerce professional must have a technical background  to work with your provider to integrate those orders to flow into your ERP system of choice.

If this feed is not integrated properly it can cost you time and money if these orders are late or even lost in transit between systems.

These EDI orders are essential from your vendor to provide both ample delivery time as well as tracking from the carrier to the warehouse.

If your relationship with the vendor is set up for dropship only then a dedicated 90 day supply to that vendor must typically be loaded each system along with the mechanical data required by piece as well as bulk or case. This requires a close relationship with the supply chain to ensure a high instock percentage. Some vendors can impose a penalty/fill rate fine for a percentage of items not instock. Most require 90% fulfillment before imposing a penalty.

Penalties can also come in the form on noncompliance ranging from misplacement of labels for shipping or lack of transmission of an ASN. Small business usually considers this to be a responsibility of ecommerce as well.

Ecommerce must also ensure the accuracy of fulfillment for inhouse purchase orders. Consumers now expect their order to arrive fast, without damage and accurately.

Unless you are selling  digital goods, you need to get the product into the hands of the customers. And when the product needs to be returned or repaired, your reverse logistics process needs to get it back. There are many examples of otherwise good e-commerce companies who went belly-up because they could not manage the accuracy or costs of logistics.  Logistics must also be seen partially as an ecommerce function and given adequate attention.

This list does not begin to  capture the diverse range of functions that go into managing an e-commerce business. There are many more functions, e.g., website management But the idea is to address the small e-commerce business where everyone does everything. Sooner or later to achieve success will require an organization to grow in complexity. At that point, a sound management strategy is required to ensure that the business continues to thrive or survive.

SMB’s must consider these factors when posting job openings where the Ecommerce role is viewed as nothing more than listing products in a platform like Ebay.

If you are looking for ecommerce help please review my qualifications here. You can get in touch via the contact form.