Why read this? : We share what IT skills are required for e-Commerce. Learn how IT supports each step in the online shopping experience. We cover the role of IT in digital media, websites, payments, order to delivery and customer service. Read this to learn the IT skills you need in e-Commerce.
IT people have a thankless job.
When your IT systems run smoothly, you forget the work the IT team did to make that happen. Most people assume IT just works. They don’t think about why or how it works.
Until something goes wrong, Then the IT team is very top of mind. Angry, frustrated, impatient people queue up at the IT helpdesk demanding their problem gets fixed right now. As we said, thankless.
Thank you, IT
We’re guilty of this too.
For example, our functions of e-Commerce guide talks about the role of marketing, finance and supply chain in e-Commerce.
But we barely mention IT. Sorry about that.
And in our e-Commerce capability article, not one of the 12 topics we cover is IT specific.
Oops. Sorry again.
Mind you, a few of them like data capture and analysis and building website experiences at least allude to IT. You’d struggle to get far in those areas without IT skills.
To be fair, we didn’t forget them completely. We whinged about IT in our barriers to e-Commerce and D2C challenges articles. But that was more about a specific type of IT leader and their knack of disrupting your e-Commerce plans.
Most IT people aren’t like that. They’re usually helpful and have skills you need. It’s those types of IT skills that are required for e-Commerce which we cover here.
What IT skills are required for e-Commerce?
Which e-Commerce channel you go for influences the type of IT skills you need.
Simple channels have fewer IT needs. Complex channels have more.
The most complex channel is Direct-to-Consumer (D2C). Here, you control every step in the customer journey. As it has the broadest range of IT skill requirements, we’ll use it as the base for this article.
But first, let’s look at what IT skills might be required for the simpler e-Commerce channels.
Print on Demand
Take Print on Demand, for example. That’s when you set up a store on a site like Redbubble or Spreadshirt (see our shop launch article for more on these).
You plug in your designs (on T-shirts, for example), and they handle the payment and delivery.
There’s not much need for IT skills beyond knowing how to go online.
At a push, maybe choosing the right type of software to create designs. (usually Illustrator or Photoshop).
But really, that’s more graphic design than IT.
Other than that, these sites are set up to be easy to use by anyone. Lots of templates. Everything automated. No major IT skills required for this area of e-Commerce.
Online retailers
Working with online retailers is more complex.
You need IT skills to set up and manage payments and deliveries. For example, retailers often expect you to connect with their Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems.
You use these systems to exchange data on orders, deliveries and payments. You need IT skills to make sure the systems all run smoothly.
Finance and supply chain teams also need IT support in this area to set up and maintain systems to :-
- run financial reports.
- store data securely for analysis.
- manage operational processes like raw materials and finished goods.
- optimise order processing systems.
- connect to warehousing systems to manage inventory.
- integrate with delivery company IT systems to manage delivery to the (retail) customer.
However, EDI and all these tasks aren’t unique to e-Commerce. Bricks and mortar retailers will ask you to do these things too. So, technically (pun intended), you can’t really call these IT skills unique to e-Commerce.
Direct to Consumer (D2C)
Where you definitely need the widest range of IT skills is when you go down the D2C route.
As per our setting up your own store guide, you have to be able to :-
- drive traffic with digital media to your store website.
- capture and store customer data such as site visits and transactions.
- manage order processing and your order to delivery system.
- encourage customer loyalty with effective customer service and relevant CRM activity.
You have to be a digital decathlete to organise and integrate all these into a great D2C experience. They all have some IT requirements. Though how complex each requirement is varies. Let’s look at each e-Commerce step, and see what IT skills are required.
Digital media
It’s fairly simple to book display or video adverts on Facebook and Google. (see our digital media guide for more on this).
Not many IT skills required for this. They’re set up to make it easy to pick your audience, and run your advertising campaigns.
But if you’re running multiple and more complex campaigns, you’d usually use an agency. Either a media agency or digital agency. (see our what type of agency article for more on this).
More complex e-Commerce advertising campaigns come with more complex IT skills requirements.
For example, you’ll often run A/B tests with these bigger campaigns.
That’s where you run 2 similar versions of an advert at the same time. Each goes after the same target and has a similar spend.
The aim’s to find out which performs better. You then spend more on that one, and drop the weaker one.
However, in reality, you may well run hundreds of these tests. That can get complex. You need IT skills to set up software and processes to analyse and organise all that data. That analysis helps you make better decisions about your media.
Programmatic buying
You can also automate some of this with a process called programmatic buying. Here, media agencies use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimise the media spend for you.
You agree decision rules with the agency before the campaign starts. The system then applies these rules based on how each media placement performs. It moves money around to find the best mix of placements. Bigger e-Commerce operations (Amazon, for example) may even do this in-house.
You’ll also want reports on the sales impact of all this activity. IT skills are usually required to collect and push this data to your e-Commerce dashboard.
Shop website
The IT skills required to set up and run your e-Commerce store website depend on which type of software you use.
IT can help you decide which e-Commerce software best meets your needs. As per our online store website guide, the main 3 choices are usually WooCommerce, Shopify or Adobe Commerce.
WooCommerce is the simplest (and cheapest) option. It’s good if you need your store to run with a WordPress website. The same company (Automattic) runs both. WooCommerce is better for smaller businesses who don’t have complex needs. It’s fairly easy to run with only limited IT skills.
Shopify is a dedicated e-Commerce platform. It offers different levels of sophistication and cost options for small, medium and large online sellers. If your website is only for e-Commerce, it’s a good option because it’s dedicated to doing that.
Most Shopify stores are built using themes. These are layouts and frameworks which set up the basic structure of your store. You add your content, and adjust the style to suit your needs.
However, if you want to customise or build your own Shopify theme, you’ll need a developer. This IT role is skilled in writing and adapting the code which runs the website itself. You’ll need their expertise to make more technical changes on your Shopify site.
You’ll also likely require developers if you use the final option, Adobe Commerce. It’s the most advanced of the 3, and it gives you the most flexibility. However, it’s also the most technically complex (and expensive). You usually need developer IT skills to set up and maintain an Adobe Commerce store.
Integrating the website with other IT systems
Another key e-Commerce website area where you require IT skills is how the site integrates with other IT systems you use.
For example, when your website sends data to Google Analytics or other tracking software to capture visitor data.
Or, when processing an order, integration deals with how the website sends it to the warehouse. To make sure it has all the relevant details so the right product goes out to the right address.
Your website CRM system needs to e-mail the customer as the order progresses. We’ve got your order. It’s left the warehouse. You’ll get it tomorrow. It’s been delivered. We’ve all had those sorts of e-mails, right? But you need IT skills to set up those notifications.
That will also likely include tracking links from the delivery company. You usually need IT skills to make sure the delivery company link works in the e-mail you send out.
The customer’s data needs to be securely stored, but also accessible by the right people. Customers may want to access details of their order online. Customer service teams may need to access these details to investigate any problems. You need IT skills to set up the right levels of access and security.
Your website also has to connect to your inventory management system. You don’t want customers ordering out of stock items. The website has to show when a product’s not available. That’s another IT integration skill.
The website also has to connect to your financial systems. For example, your payment gateway, more of which in a second. More IT skills required to do this.
Other IT skills required for your e-Commerce store
Beyond all these integrations, you also need IT skills to help with testing your website. You work with them to identify different scenarios. Then you get them to test these.
In addition to these e-Commerce IT skills, you’ll also need the more general IT skills required to set up and run a website. For example :-
- setting up the site on a server.
- installing upgrades.
- security and privacy management.
- managing additional plug-ins and tools.
- any bespoke coding requirements.
Payments
We mentioned earlier the website also has to integrate with your payment gateway.
This is the part of your e-Commerce set-up which checks the validity of the customer’s payment. Only validated payments transfer money from their credit card to your bank account.
We cover how this works in our order to delivery guide. For this article, we’ll only refer to what IT skills it needs. That starts with deciding which payment gateway to use.
Setting the payment gateway rules
Next, you need IT skills to help you set up the “rules” for e-Commerce payments on your store.
The gateway usually has a settings section which defines the types of payments you’ll accept. These work as “rules” on how customers can order products. For example, you limit the amount a customer can order. Or you don’t allow deliveries to certain locations or countries.
Refunds
The payment gateway’s also where you handle refunds.
Refunds take money out of your bank account and send it back to the customer. You have to make sure only authorised people can do this. You’ll need IT skills to set up the refund system process and the right levels of authority to issue refunds.
Hosted or embedded
You also have a choice of setting up a hosted or embedded payment gateway.
With a hosted gateway, the shopper is taken to a page on the gateway’s website to make the payment. They’re returned to your site once the payment’s made. With an embedded gateway, the payment mechanism appears as a box within one of your site’s pages, instead of going to a separate site.
The embedded version is a much better customer experience. It comes across as more professional and trustworthy. However, embedded gateways are harder to set up. You need IT skills to make sure the gateway embeds properly into your website. For example, you’ll need to check for compatibility issues with the software or theme your store uses.
Data security and privacy
Security and privacy is critical, because you’re dealing with sensitive information like customer credit card and bank details.
As per our e-Commerce payments article, online payments are governed by a system called the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Also known as PCI compliance.
You should check the PCI compliance of your payment gateway provider. PCI sets strict guidelines on how to securely manage payments and protects online shoppers and online businesses.
You’ll need IT skills to set up data systems correctly to make sure your store is fully PCI compliant.
Payments to supplier snd service providers
Normally “payment” in e-Commerce means payment to you.
But as per our online store profit and loss article, you also have to be able to pay suppliers and service providers. There’s many costs in D2C.
For example, paying for digital media and your website hosting.
Then there’s payment gateway processing fees. Credit card fees. Costs to move goods from the factory and store them in the warehouse.
Then all the delivery costs. You have to pay for them to be picked, packed and shipped to the customer. There’s also the costs of refunds or damages to pay for.
Clearly you need to keep track of all these costs. You’ll need IT skills to set up your e-Commerce reporting system and dashboard with your finance team. IT can help you decide :-
- which reporting software to use.
- how to set up the capture and storage of data.
- how financial reports are produced.
- who has access to the financial data and reports.
Delivery
The delivery part of the customer experience can be one of the most challenging areas of D2C.
All the steps up to here mostly happen online. It’s easier to control things which happen online.
But with product delivery, something has to happen offline. In the real world. The real world is far harder to control. More things can and do go wrong.
When an order goes into the warehouse, a number of things needs to happen :-
- the product has to be collected to fill the order.
- the order has to be packed correctly, so it’s secure and protected in transit.
- it has to be handed over to a delivery company.
- the delivery has to go through the delivery company distribution network.
- it has to make it through the last mile to the customer’s doorstep.
This has to happen with every order. If anything goes wrong at any stage, you have to be able to fix the problem quickly.
Storage and preparing for delivery
There’s usually some sort of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system like SAP to manage the movement of goods and orders.
It’s usually IT who set up and maintain these order processing systems. That means more IT skills based on your e-Commerce store requirements.
For example, your ERP systems usually handles your inventory system as we mentioned earlier. It’ll tell your website when products are out of stock or running low. It’ll tell you when you need more stock.
It also usually manages stock levels of outer packaging materials. such as :-
- cardboard boxes.
- address labels.
- delivery documentation.
- filler material to protect products in transit.
Delivery tracking
Once the product leaves your warehouse, it’s up to the delivery company to get it to the customer. But the customer placed the order with you. And you’ll still be their first point of contact.
You have to set up with the delivery company how to keep the customer informed about the order’s progress. And how the customer can check progress if they don’t hear from you.
You usually need IT skills to set up and manage this sharing of customer data with the delivery company.
For example, they need the customer’s name and address to deliver the product. But they also need contact details like an email address and a mobile phone number. To send them progress updates, or contact them if there’s an issue. These details have to be sent securely, but also accessible to those who might need them.
The connections between your IT systems and the delivery company IT systems can be complex. IT skills will likely be required for this part of the experience. Both to set it up in the first place, and to deal with any issues.
Customer Service
Finally with D2C, you’ll need to set up customer service support. You can automate answering questions with FAQs or chatbots.
But if there are issues with an order, customers usually want to speak to a real person to sort it out.
Your customer service team need access to systems that’ll help them sort out order problems for customers. IT skills are required to set up this key e-Commerce system.
To help your team find a customer’s order details. To be able to track where orders are. And to be able to contact the relevant person in the process (e.g. in the warehouse, at the delivery company’s processing centre, the delivery driver).
The right IT set-up can make all these steps quick, easy and efficient.
CRM system
You need IT skills to set up your CRM system to handle these e-Commerce challenges. That system will usually connect to your e-Commerce dashboard. You use that to track trends and spot issues early. It’s a key way to monitor e-Commerce customer feedback.
In the long-run, it’s about keeping customers happy. If your key systems like order to delivery and customer service run efficiently, customers stay happy. Don’t take the hard work and expertise to set up and run these systems for granted. IT skills such as we’ve covered in this article are required to make your e-Commerce systems do what they’re supposed to. They support your delivery of a great D2C experience.
Conclusion - What IT skills are required for e-Commerce?
IT skills are required at each step of the e-Commerce experience. They help you set up the right technology and systems to support each step. They also help you make sure the different parts of the system join up properly.
In digital media, they help you organise and analyse the data from your campaigns. You use them to help you run A/B tests and measure results.
With your online store website, you need IT skills to set up the technical framework of the store. They help you integrate all the different systems so the customer experience runs smoothly.
In the order to delivery system, IT skills are required to make sure key actions like payment and delivery run smoothly. When it does, customers are happy and everything just works.
But when something goes wrong, the right IT set-up for your customer service team, goes a long way to helping you fix customer issues.
Priority IT skills for e-Commerce
All the IT skills required for e-Commerce are important, but here’s the 3 we recommend you prioritise :-
- Data security and privacy – This is a must have in e-Commerce. Get it wrong and customers will never trust your store again.
- System integrations – No single system can do everything you need in e-Commerce. IT skills help you make sure all the systems connect and work properly.
- Problem-solving – At the start of this article, we talked about how IT people have a thankless task. They’re usually only called on when there’s a problem. Which makes problem-solving one of the most required skills you need for e-Commerce success.
Oh. And don’t forget to say thank you. IT skills can really help you out of a hole when you get stuck. Appreciate IT people for what they do, and they’ll help you deliver a great e-Commerce experience.
Check out our functions of e-Commerce and order to delivery guides for more on this. Or e-mail us if you need help defining what IT skills are required for your e-Commerce business.
Photo Credits
Coding : Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash
Thumbs up (adapted) : Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Rope Netting : Photo by Clint Adair on Unsplash
Credit Card / Laptop : Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash
Delivery – driver handing over package : Photo by RoseBox رز باکس on Unsplash
Warehouse : Photo by Ruchindra Gunasekara on Unsplash
Packages inside a courier van : Photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash
Customer service headset near laptop : Photo by Petr Macháček on Unsplash
