Why read this? : We share which skills to look for in an e-Commerce expert. Learn why customer focus, connectivity and an action focus are so important. Plus, what red flags suggest an e-Commerce expert isn’t as good as they say they are. Read this to learn how to spot a genuine e-Commerce expert.
E-Commerce is still a relatively new field of study. Even the biggest players like Amazon are only just over 25 years old.
To give that some context, that means Amazon is younger than celebrities like Ariana Grande and most of One Direction.
Amazon didn’t exist when the original Jurassic Park movie came out.
Compare that to traditional retailing.
There, you have well-established concepts like shopping malls, which date back to the 1950s. And department stores date back to the 19th century. Heck, the concept of marketplaces goes all the way back to Ancient Greece.
So, 25 years of e-Commerce in that context isn’t really very long. It’s still a baby in retailing terms.
Traditional retailing is much more mature than e-Commerce in terms of learning and study. There’s been a lot of time to work out what works. And of course, what doesn’t.
Ideas and concepts have evolved, so that traditional retail execution is now usually finely crafted.
There’s a lot of learnings which drives how traditional retail works.
These have been proven over and over again.
Fresh food at the front of the grocery store. End of aisle displays and eye level shelf ranges for the biggest sellers. Highly visible sales promotions at key times of year.
Traditional retailing is a fully formed area of learning, with clear and well-established best practices.
And then, there’s e-Commerce.
E-Commerce expertise lacks depth and quality
Compared to traditional retail, e-Commerce doesn’t yet have that same depth and quality of expertise. And yet, there are plenty of people who call themselves e-Commerce experts.
Start researching e-Commerce, and watch their ads pop up on your Facebook feed. Like flies attracted to a freshly laid pile of dung.
But ignore these social media stalkers for now. You can research e-Commerce, and find data and learnings about general good practices.
How to best set up a product page, for example. The pros and cons of each of the different online retail channels. The right IT skills to set up your e-Commerce martech systems.
Heck, even how to set up your own online store.
Combine e-Commerce lessons together
But looking at e-Commerce as an overall topic, these are isolated lessons. They don’t always hang together.
On their own, they teach you helpful tips and tricks. But, unless you can pull them together, they’re tactics, not strategy-forming ideas. They don’t make you an e-Commerce expert. In the same way, you wouldn’t learn one recipe, and assume you’re an expert chef.
And yet, it seems with e-Commerce, there’s many people who learn 1 or 2 e-Commerce “recipes”, and then call themselves an e-Commerce expert.
That’s dodgy at best, and dangerous at worst, for businesses who end up following their bad advice. So, we wanted to share our view on how you spot a genuine e-Commerce expert. Someones who can give you the best advice on delivering e-Commerce growth.
What to look for in an e-Commerce expert?
We’re not boasting when we say we know a lot about e-Commerce. We’ve been at the coalface of e-Commerce for many years. It’s an on-going subject we continue to learn about every day. So, we talk with experience about what it takes to be an e-Commerce expert.
That’s not to say, we know everything. Because that’s the big secret. Nobody knows everything about e-Commerce. Anyone who claims they do, is frankly an arrogant idiot. Real experts know there’s always more to learn.
We have experience and learning in setting up online stores and working with online retailers. That means, we’ve seen first hand what works and what doesn’t. And, we’ve had a lot of time to process that learning, and put it into practice.
So, we’ve turned that into 3 key principles of what makes someone an e-Commerce expert.
It doesn’t matter if your e-Commerce expert is at an agency, you’re hiring one for your business, or you just want to build your own expertise. E-Commerce experts :-
- start with the online shopper.
- connect e-Commerce activities together.
- make things happen.
E-Commerce experts start with the online shopper
The essence of e-Commerce is providing a specific product or service to specific customers. You want them to buy your brand over any other options.
This is marketing.
E-commerce might have extra technological bells and whistles versus traditional marketing. But, the underlying principle is exactly the same.
A genuine e-Commerce expert always starts with the needs of the customer i.e. the online shopper. They can’t and won’t do anything, until they’re clear on what the online shopper actually wants.
Go crazy for market research and data
So, an e-Commerce expert should go crazy for market research, and any marketing data they can get their hands on. They’ll want to experiment to find out what customers want.
They’ll happily create customer profiles to help define the customer experience.
They start every brief with a focus on what they can do for the customer.
Now, does that mean all marketers are e-Commerce experts? No.
Or, if you don’t have experience in marketing, you can’t be an e-Commerce expert? That’s a no, too.
We know loads of marketers who don’t really get the e-Commerce opportunity.
And we know lots of people who don’t come from marketing backgrounds, but absolutely do get that what customers want is the key to selling online.
So, ask your e-Commerce expert to talk about customers. Check they ask for your market research, and plan ways to do more. They must be eager to find out what online shoppers want.
Ask them how they find insights. How they bring the customer to life. And how they make sure every part of the online shopping experience focusses on what the customer wants.
E-Commerce experts connect e-Commerce activities together
We’ve shared before the importance of being a digital decathlete. You have to be an all-rounder who understands how to connect the different areas of digital.
Well, e-Commerce takes this connecting the dots to another level. Digital marketers can mostly get by with digital media and websites, as if doing a digital biathlon.
E-Commerce is like a separate business
But, there’s much more involved in e-Commerce. An online store is a 24-7 living breathing business system which connects payment, delivery and customer service systems.
It’s different from traditional business models.
You need to know brand strategy and website design. You need to know the ins and outs of online business models and the IT skills to set up order to delivery systems. E-Commerce experts know how to connect these together to create a single cohesive experience for the online shopper.
A true e-Commerce expert knows they have to understand how all these elements work together.
It’s no good being a search and social expert, if you’ve no idea how delivery options work, or why the last mile’s so important, for example.
You could create the world’s nicest looking online store website. But if your business model sucks, you’ll never be successful.
And as we said, if you don’t understand what the customer actually wants and needs, and apply that at each stage of the e-Commerce planning process, then you’re clearly not an e-Commerce expert.
No, you can tell a good e-Commerce expert by how easily and effortlessly they switch between these different business skills. A true e-Commerce expert gives you confidence they know how to make the online shopping experience seamless, efficient and profitable.
E-Commerce experts make things happen
And finally, the one thing we’d put above all else, is that an e-Commerce expert spends more time doing e-Commerce than talking about it.
Never underestimate the value of people who get shit done. The real nuts and bolts of selling online are actions, actions and more actions.
E-Commerce experts spend time making sure all the basics are right. The images, the copy, the product descriptions, all the basics of good product pages. They make sure the store does what it says it will. (see our e-Commerce lessons from 2020 article for an example of a store which didn’t do this).
They regularly test new advertising and sales promotions ideas. They analyse the results quickly, and use them to continuously improve the shopper’s e-Commerce journey.
E-Commerce experts build their knowledge about online shoppers. They use that to create better shopping experiences. They learn what works. What doesn’t. And, they keep making improvements and trying new things out. They focus on meeting the customer’s needs. That’s where e-Commerce growth comes from.
Spotting a “fake” e-Commerce expert
Obviously, if your e-Commerce expert is the opposite of any of these things, sorry but they’re probably not an e-Commerce expert.
Anyone who doesn’t spend time researching, discussing and creating experiences for customers. Not an e-Commerce expert.
Anyone who only covers specific elements of the e-Commerce mix, but can’t acknowledge how all the different elements need to connect together. May be an expert in their specific area. But, they’re not an e-Commerce expert.
And finally, the ones who spend more time talking about it, than actually doing it, they’re the worst. You need to avoid the consultants and advisers who haven’t spent time at the coalface of online shopping, who can’t describe the nuts and bolts of how it works.
You know them. They’re the ones on stage at conferences, with generic slides with a big abstract image, and one word like “customer” or “sell” in a giant-sized fonts. They’ll throw in the latest jargon and abbreviations – growth hacking CX, UX – but, can’t explain what they are, when you ask.
And obviously, worst of all, they’ll pop on your Facebook feed. Because yep, you’ve started researching what an e-Commerce expert actually looks like, and the stalker algorithm will start following you.
Conclusion - E-Commerce expertise
In some ways, e-Commerce seems like an “easy” topic. With marketplace sites like Etsy and Gumtree, and Print on Demand sites like Redbubble and Spreadshirt you can start “selling” right away.
With sites like Shopify or WooCommerce, you can set up your own online store without a lot of IT skills. But, knowing these things doesn’t make you an e-Commerce expert.
It’s that mix of customer understanding, connecting all the activities, and above all, making things happen, that truly makes a good e-Commerce expert stand out from the rest.
Check out our many e-Commerce expert guides to learn more. Or email us, if there’s a specific e-Commerce challenge we can help you with.
Photo Credits
Online shopping with phone and credit card : Photo by PhotoMIX Company from Pexels
Amazon on phone : Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash
Supermarket : Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash
Visa card and laptop : Photo by Anastasiia Ostapovych on Unsplash
Rope : Photo by Clint Adair on Unsplash
