Who Runs the Ecommerce Division: Marketing, IT, or Operations Team?

 

This question has been posed to me countless times by HR personnel, recruiters, and CEOs: Who should run the Ecommerce division? Is it the super creative marketing team? Is it the tech savvy IT group? Or is it the business and operations side that should be tasked with launching, leading, and building the Ecommerce division at your company?

To some degree, the answer lies in all three departments. However, while all companies and business structures are different, I really believe the marketing team is best served at running Ecommerce.

Marketing Should Lead Ecommerce Department

But let me state this loud and clear: the marketing personnel running Ecommerce must do 2 things really, really well.

1. They must have one heckuva technical background or know their way around technology. If they are scared of technology or fear change, this is not the role they should own.
2. The team or leader must also understand business and operations, or the division will simply spin their wheels running promotions, launching banners, and implementing new technologies (shiny new tool syndrome) with no real functional business needs tied to them.

Why Marketing Team is Best Equipped to Run Ecommerce

Now, while I say marketing, I mean the digital marketing team. Whether you recruit the leader or team from the outside or hire from within, if they’re in digital or online marketing, they already have some semblance of how marketing works; they must know about and hopefully love technology; or at the very least, know a little about IT infrastructure, hosting and servers. But here’s where it usually goes wrong.

Business Operations is Essential in Leading Ecommerce to Profits

Many digital marketers lack the fundamentals of business. For example:

• Understanding how much free shipping truly costs
• Balancing the fine line between customer-friendly returns and company-friendly returns
• Knowing how to drive sometimes aggressive promotions that still deliver profitable margin rates
• Having the right allocation and replenishment strategy to ensure the Ecommerce warehouse is not overstocked (thus holding too much inventory)or understocked (losing out on potential orders)
• Building a digital marketing and operations plan that delivers both top line and bottom line growth

Good News: Ecommerce is Not Rocket Science

The business side of the Ecommerce business can be learned rather quickly, either by on-the-job experience, or by latching on to other departments and learning from them. Find a mentor in finance, IT, planning and/or allocation, and ask the golden question: why? Find out the real cost of the products or services you are selling, and then test and gauge what offers or investments you can make while remaining in the black.

Is Ecommerce complex? Yes, it is. It Ecommerce like rocket science? No, it is not. Winning at Ecommerce probably lies somewhere in between, and having the digital marketing folks run Ecommerce is probably the most effective way to running a prosperous Ecommerce division.

What group runs your Ecommerce site or division? Marketing, IT, Operations, or perhaps another department?