Consider becoming an e-commerce manager if you have strong leadership qualities and a desire to work in sales and marketing. These individuals supervise a company’s online retail channels to ensure that they run efficiently and are user friendly. Impressive applicants usually go through the essential training, education, and qualifications to perform well in the profession.

E-commerce managers are in charge of a company’s whole online presence, including advertising, marketing, and web upkeep. You are in control of all parts of online design and development, including marketing and sales, as an e-commerce manager. Other duties include managing the online personnel, dealing directly with shipping firms and suppliers, and dealing with customer support issues. To succeed in this field, you must have prior experience in business, information technology, and marketing. Strong communication abilities are also required.

E-commerce managers oversee product sales on various online sites and shopping portals to ensure they are user friendly and easy to browse. They assess clients’ purchase behaviors and purchasing demands in order to make informed decisions about promotional techniques, price, and product lines. E-commerce managers additionally examine the company’s technological and sales plans to ensure they are in line with the overall revenue targets and organizational goals.

Other important responsibilities of an e-commerce manager include:

• Overseeing the overall development of an organization’s product and income-generating sites
• Conducting research on the best user-friendly features and layouts that appeal the most to customers
• Testing changes to platforms and monitoring the results
• Applying platform updates that attract and retain more customers
• Reviewing sales insights and using them to develop informed sales strategies
• Leading teams of copywriters, graphic designers and software developers in creating attractive, user-friendly and engaging e-commerce websites
• Making promotional offers and ensuring they’re correctly displayed on the website
• Evaluating legal disclaimers and website content to ensure they’re compliant, error-free and on brand

Great e-commerce managers should be well-versed in basic SEO, sales, and marketing techniques. They should also have some management expertise in order to properly lead multiple departments. To become a successful e-commerce manager, follow these steps:

1. Earn a bachelor’s degree

Most employers require e-commerce managers to have at least a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, information technology, communications or a related field. Consider taking several technical courses, like web design and web development, to ensure you have an advanced understanding of building user-friendly platforms. These programs may also offer courses to help you excel in your role, including data management, online communication, search engine optimization and online transactions.

2. Get hands-on experience

Before you can work in a management role, you must first gain hands-on experience in a marketing, sales or information technology role. Spend time understanding how different marketing and sales platforms work and get experience updating the business’ website to better understand how to optimize it. Working in sales and marketing also helps you learn more about brand development, as you set and reinforce the brand standards of your company to ensure all marketing and sales materials accurately reflect its image.

Read Also: How to Set up an Ecommerce Business in India?

Different marketing roles also teach you how to analyze customer data to learn more about their purchasing behaviors and buying habits to interpret them properly. Spending years serving in these roles gives you the experience needed to lead your own team of marketing and sales professionals. Once you’re in charge of your own team, you can provide them advice and guidance based on your own knowledge and experience gained from the role.

3. Receive online certifications

As you serve in sales and marketing positions, find new ways to advance your skill set on your own. An effective way to do this is through taking online courses and tutorials to earn learn more about search engine optimization best practices, content management systems and marketing software systems.

Earning certifications in different subject matters and applications can help you stand out to hiring managers when listing them on resumes. It can also impress your current supervisor, who may feel compelled to promote you to an e-commerce manager role to apply your newfound skills to higher-level tasks and teach them to employees below you.

4. Continue your education

Though most employers require candidates to hold bachelor’s degrees, some may prefer master’s degrees in business, marketing, communications or a related field. Even if employers don’t require it, consider including this qualification on your resume anyway to effectively stand out to hiring managers. You can continue your education right after earning your undergraduate degree or pursue it while still working in your current role during evenings or weekends.

According to Indeed Salaries, the national average income for an e-commerce manager is $65,708 per year. You could earn more money if you opt to further your education, expand your skill set, or work for larger organizations.

According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, job demand for e-commerce managers and other marketing managers is expected to expand by 6% over the next decade, which is faster than the average for all occupations. More businesses should open in the next years, using cutting-edge platforms and applications to market their wares. To properly display and sell their products online, they may need to engage more e-commerce managers.

Effective e-commerce managers should have great web design and development capabilities to understand how to create and manage user-friendly sites for customers to easily navigate. Since they’re regularly reviewing data, e-commerce managers should possess impressive analytical abilities to interpret and apply the data to build results-driven platforms. They must also work on a team and effectively collaborate with other departments to create well-made websites, platforms or applications.

Other skills e-commerce managers should have to include:

• Attention to detail
• Decision-making abilities
• Data-driven and analytical
• Web design and development skills
• Collaboration and team-building abilities
• Customer service skills
• Verbal and written communication abilities
• Problem solving and critical thinking skills
• Leadership abilities