how to build an effective ecommerce team.

tips to pivot to ecommerce and build an effective ecommerce team.

COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation in many industries. Shifting to ecommerce is a core trend we’re seeing as businesses look to strengthen revenue streams that do not require in-person interactions. Having a solid ecommerce strategy in place is no longer a nice-to-have for many businesses, it’s a must-have to keep up their operations during the pandemic.

However, building an effective ecommerce business is not as simple as turning on a switch and hiring the right people. Like most IT specialties, the skills needed to build and maintain an effective ecommerce strategy are highly specialized. A partner who has niche expertise in ecommerce and building cohesive IT project teams can be a valuable asset.

why pivot to ecommerce right now?

diversify revenue streams

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for companies to be more adaptable and think about diversifying their revenue streams. Businesses that were extremely reliant on a single source of income, like brick and mortar retail, were hit especially hard by lockdowns. Pivoting to ecommerce offers an alternative revenue stream that’s flexible and can be quickly ramped up.

adapt in unpredictable circumstances

Ecommerce is extremely adaptable to market conditions. Since overhead is relatively low for ecommerce, it’s easier to pivot as the market changes. Having an ecommerce platform in place allows you to scale sales up or down depending on factors such as your supply chain, customer demand and the availability of your workforce. In unpredictable situations, such as the COVID-19, the ability to be flexible is critical.

improve customer experience

Today’s digital native customers expect a seamless online experience. That’s especially true if your target customers include Millennials and Gen Z, who have grown up with phones in hand and expect companies they purchase from to have a user-friendly digital experience. If you haven’t already built and set up an efficient ecommerce platform, you’re likely missing out on sales opportunities or hurting your brand and reputation by providing a less than stellar experience.

how to build an effective ecommerce team

focus on the right skills

Building an ecommerce team with the right mix of skills is critical. An efficient, well-rounded ecommerce setup requires a range of experts in fields such as full stack software development, quality assurance, project management, database management, user experience (UX), website management, and others. To ensure you’re able to build, manage and continuously improve your ecommerce platform, create a strategy and map out the skills you need on your team before beginning to source candidates. Having skills gaps or holes in your ecommerce strategy can lead to problems down the line if you’re missing key operational skills to optimize your ecommerce platform.

build a cohesive team

Think of your ecommerce team as a cohesive unit. The skills and people on your team will need to work together in collaboration to build an effective ecommerce platform. It’s important that your ecommerce team is able to work together and their skills mesh. Selecting candidates who come from diverse backgrounds but are able to work together harmoniously is key to building a smooth ecommerce experience.  When your recruiters or recruitment partner are sourcing candidates, they should perform compatibility tests and ensure that all members of your team work together well and have skills that mesh.

choose an expert partner

Choosing the right people for your ecommerce team is essential to your success, so it makes sense to hire a recruitment partner who specializes in IT recruitment or IT projects to ensure that you’re able to find and assess IT talent. IT is a highly specialized field and generalist HR recruiters may not have the knowledge-base to effectively source and assess specialized IT or programming skills. Working with a partner who has experience hiring IT candidates with highly specialized skill sets will ensure you find the right candidates from the start. An IT team that specializes in putting together complete project teams (such as Randstad’s IT Solutions division) can be even more efficient, ensuring you’re able to bring together a cohesive team in a cost-effective manner.

define an efficient onboarding process

Don’t forget about your onboarding process. In today’s climate, where remote work has become commonplace during the pandemic, you must think about how you’ll integrate your ecommerce team. Do you have the ability to bring workers on remotely and ensure they’re able to collaborate seamlessly? Are you able to provide the technology (both hardware and software) your ecommerce team will need to work remotely? Are you able to offer training and team building to reinforce your team dynamic? A recruitment partner, such as Randstad IT Solutions can also help you build these elements if your inhouse HR team is unable to do so.