How To Plan and Manage E-Commerce Projects

E-Commerce is a business model that allows companies and individual consumers to buy and sell products via the internet. It can be handled in any of the 4 modes: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), consumer to business (C2B), and consumer to consumer (C2C).

Often thought of as a digital version of catalog shopping, e-commerce can be performed easily because all you need is a screen and an internet connection. That includes tech products such as computers, smartphones, and tablets. As you probably already know, pretty much everything can be sold online, from less expensive gadgets to luxury cars the prices of which can be quite steep. 

More and more people are starting online businesses these days, and this is the case because of all the conveniences e-commerce offers. First of all, there are smaller startup costs and better margins compared to opening a retail store. You avoid the trouble of finding the right location, buying or renting the space, and making it fit your store’s image.

However, developing a successful e-commerce project has its difficulties. Due to everybody trying their luck with online sales, there is a lot of competition. Without the right plan, you are going to have an increased risk of sales suffering, losing clients, and worst of all, the shop closing down.

Luckily, there are ways to minimize the potential of any of that happening. And you are in the right place to learn about them. With the appropriate management, your e-commerce store is going to be working better than ever. Check out our tips on how to plan and manage e-commerce projects.

Start With the Right Management Strategy

The best way to start planning out your e-commerce project is by finding the right management strategy that will lead your plan from start to finish. Potentially, a variety of strategies may work online and create a digital transformation for your company, but our advice is to go with Scrum. 

Scrum

Considering Google, Spotify, and similar business giants use Scrum, you can assume the quality of management this strategy offers. With scrum, your company is divided into multiple smaller teams that separate their work into smaller tasks that need to be finished in a shorter period, like a day or a few days. These smaller cycles are called sprints. Every day, the progress and re-planning of the sprints are revised in short (mostly 15-minute) meetings.

With this modern type of management, different roles come for those involved. First of all, there is the Scrum Master, who is not just a regular team leader. The master needs to thoroughly understand the work of the development team. The Scrum Master’s goal is to remove any obstacles the team may stumble upon while finishing their tasks. Secondly, there is the Product Owner, who offers the link between the business and the team.

And finally, there is the development team. It is constructed of 3 to 9 members whose goal is to accomplish the tasks given to them. The members have different skills and cross-train each other to be aware of everyone’s responsibilities. Strong development teams are self-organizing and embrace teamwork as their most reliable asset.

Have the Right Platform

When starting a business, you are likely going to be working with a small team. Doing business analysis, developing the e-commerce platform, and UI/UX development is hard work for a smaller group, so take all the help you can get. When trying to manage all areas of launching a business, creating the website or e-comm platform often isn’t the focus of the owner. And considering how much it can affect the growth of your business, it should never get overlooked.

Fortunately, there are places out there that help new business owners in gaining the audience through their platform. A great example is Moda Design District, a designer clothes online shop that brings independent brands in one place and represents their products internationally. MDD’s website combines the need for an online eComm platform, along with a gallery and a marketplace. With the right platform, you can reach the audience suitable for your product and increase your sales and profit.

Do Detailed Planning

After you choose the strategy that’s going to get you to your goals, it’s time to plan the details of how you’re going to implement the said strategy. To run a successful e-commerce store, you’ll have to manage several different projects. Those include everything from email and social media marketing to website planning and competitor analysis. Also, you’ll need to think about the payment process organization, your website’s design and layout, content writing, and social and search advertising.

It’s not easy trying to balance all of these projects, so make sure you approach all of them with focus and a clear strategy. If you have the right strategy to start with, the organization of all the tasks will be a lot easier to handle. Investing in marketing or an online store should guarantee a difference in your sales, and if that isn’t happening, something must be off. That’s when you check all of the areas of your plan and see which one isn’t working. Refining your method is the next step to success.

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