E-commerce Management: How to Do It Without Spending Too Much Time?

E-commerce management is a daily task. In fact, this is the first remedy to avoid spending too much time on it—doing it every day.

The second remedy is prior organization, but with the understanding that surprises happen. You may have standard procedures in your operation, but you will frequently encounter situations where they won’t be as effective.

E-commerce management, then, is a mix of preparation and improvisation. And preparation is often about having everything ready for when you need to improvise.

In today’s article, I’d like to dive deeper into this topic. When is it possible to create standard procedures and even automate some tasks?

And when does improvisation take over, and how do you handle those moments?

We will discuss all of this throughout the article. Ready to get started?

What Are the Organizational Structures of E-commerce?

Throughout the article, we will discuss two distinct types of e-commerce operations: selling exclusively through your own e-commerce store and selling on marketplaces, with or without your own store.

However, you will notice that e-commerce management, although different for these two models, still follows a well-defined pattern.

🤿 Deep dive: Selling on Marketplaces or Your Own E-commerce?

This pattern is the organizational structure of e-commerce.

Understanding this structure is crucial because many store owners fall into a major e-commerce trap: focusing too much on buying and selling while neglecting other fundamental activities.

In fact, some of these other activities require much more work and can be significantly more complex.

Understanding the organizational structure of e-commerce will help you develop your own management style since every online store has unique characteristics.

What we will outline here is a basic example of e-commerce organizational structures, consisting of:

• Commercial Area: product purchasing, product listing, sales, post-sales, and strategic planning.
  
• Logistics: receiving, storage, shipping, inventory.
  
• Finance: accounts payable and receivable.
  
• Administration: invoice and HR management.
  
• Tax & Compliance: financial planning, tax organization.
  
• Marketing: customized for each operation.

Now, let’s briefly discuss each of these areas to understand the organizational prerequisites for effective e-commerce management.

Commercial Area: Planning, Purchasing, Selling, and Post-Sales

Among e-commerce structures, the commercial area is undoubtedly the most well-known.

This is where the most visible e-commerce activities take place: finding suppliers, purchasing products, listing them on your website, and selling them—including configuring payment gateways and fraud prevention systems.

All of this is based on a well-defined strategic plan.

This strategic planning, which can be adjusted as frequently as the store owner deems necessary, determines key factors such as:

• Profit margin
• Inventory sizing
• Delivery areas (based on logistics partnerships)
• Marketplaces where you will sell
• Advertising budget and strategy

And other factors specific to each e-commerce. This planning determines how much you want and can sell and which actions are necessary to achieve those goals.

The process of purchasing products is constantly evolving. It is essential to build and expand your supplier list to find better prices and delivery conditions.

This directly affects your product pricing and your ability to run promotions.

The sales and post-sales areas intertwine significantly with marketing. You need to understand advertising strategies and post-sales support, including product exchanges, follow-up emails for reviews, etc.

We will discuss marketing in a separate section. For now, let’s move on to the second organizational area of e-commerce management:

Logistics

Logistics is the foundation of the common belief that e-commerce management is just about buying, selling, and delivering products.

But, as we are seeing, it’s much more than that.

Logistics is the most specialized area. At a basic level, organizing logistics includes:

• Partnering with shipping carriers
• Understanding shipping options via postal services
• Uploading shipping rate spreadsheets into automation tools
• Packaging and securing products
• Creating automatic emails for order tracking
• Handling returns and exchanges

That’s logistics in its simplest form. It can be far more complex and intricate than that.

Each of these elements holds both risks and opportunities. For example, premium carriers increase shipping costs but greatly improve the customer experience.

Finance, Administration, and Tax Compliance

One of the most critical aspects of e-commerce management is financial organization.

This primarily involves tracking payments to suppliers and closely monitoring your store’s revenue.

Typically, this financial management is handled by a dedicated person, as store owners already have multiple responsibilities, especially in sales and marketing.

Administrative management follows the same principle. Handling HR, invoices, and taxes—considering that tax regulations vary by state—is essential for your operation to run smoothly.

Store owners can either hire specialists for dedicated management or outsource it using platforms like TOTVS.

Marketing

Now, a personal opinion from the author, who has spent years as an e-commerce analyst: Marketing should be the primary focus of store owners.

Marketing is the lifeblood of e-commerce. It is what sustains and expands your sales base month after month, year after year.

This expansion is essential for e-commerce profitability.

Most e-commerce businesses operate across three key digital marketing channels simultaneously:

• Inbound Marketing: SEO strategies for websites and blogs, lead generation, and email automation for different sales funnel stages.
  
• Outbound Marketing: Primarily paid advertising, such as Google Ads and Social Ads.
  
• Social Media Marketing (SMM): Organic social media strategies, including influencer marketing. Instagram is particularly effective for online stores.

The links provided throughout this article will help you understand each strategy better. They are must-reads if you are not yet proficient in digital marketing.

Most non-operational investments in e-commerce should be directed toward marketing.

It is common to see e-commerce businesses allocating 15% to 20% of their gross revenue to marketing.

The Day-to-Day of E-commerce Management

We now understand that e-commerce management is structured around organizational frameworks, right?

But it’s also more than that: e-commerce management must balance “commerce” with “E”.

We must constantly remember that an e-commerce store is a website, which means it faces unique digital challenges.

In fact, we can even define it like this:

“E-commerce management is the application and monitoring of a company’s organizational structures, combined with the specific requirements of maintaining an online store.”

But enough theory—let’s move on to practice!

Daily Order Status Tracking

This is a non-negotiable daily task.

Each order placed in your e-commerce carries enormous potential—to generate future repeat purchases.

Repeat purchases are far more valuable than acquiring new customers because they cost significantly less.

To ensure a high chance of repeat business, every e-commerce must at least:

Every day, e-commerce managers track order statuses and shipping updates from carriers.

They also review support tickets, complaints, and delivery inquiries—every single day.

This daily monitoring gives you better control over order fulfillment and increases customer satisfaction, leading to higher retention and sales growth.

Marketing Campaign Analysis — Daily

This task is simply fundamental for e-commerce businesses. Marketing needs to be analyzed daily across different fronts.

When we talk about marketing campaigns, the analysis must be done alongside your platforms, such as Google Ads and Social Ads.

The first level of analysis is checking the budget. Is it generating returns? How are sales performing compared to the amount invested? How much are clicks costing?

This last point, regarding the cost of clicks, is especially important in Google Ads. Campaigns can lose effectiveness when click prices change, as your PPC budget is set based on the initial click cost.

The second level of analysis is the quality of leads and sales generated. For example, if you invest heavily in a campaign, but it only yields results for lower-priced products.

This will give you key insights, especially about your audience. If the investment is high but sales aren’t following, it may be time to adjust your targeting.

Work outside of ads also needs to be monitored daily. Direct messages on social media, comments on posts, blog comments—everything requires almost immediate responses.

Link Verification — Weekly

This is a slightly more technical task that you can perform using an SEO auditing platform like Screaming Frog.

E-commerce stores have shelves just like physical stores, but in e-commerce, these shelves are product and category pages.

If a product page has a broken link, it’s like having an empty shelf in a physical store.

Products that aren’t displayed don’t sell, of course. But there’s also an additional problem.

Imagine if there were a city inspector in your physical store. And every time a product was out of stock, this inspector announced it loudly to people walking by:

“Are you sure you want to enter this store? Some products are missing from the shelves. The store across the street has everything. Wouldn’t you prefer a store that keeps all its shelves stocked?”

In the online context, this inspector is Google itself. If you have broken links, you will lose ranking positions both in standard Google search results and in Google Shopping searches.

This link verification doesn’t necessarily need to be weekly, but it’s better to prevent issues than to fix them later.

Marketplaces, for example, rarely have problems with broken links and will notify you if such an issue arises.

Likewise, e-commerce platforms usually manage these issues well.

However, independently built and managed e-commerce websites are more prone to these problems.

What Are the Characteristics of Good E-commerce Management Professionals?

This entire workload cannot be handled solely by the store owner—it’s quite clear.

There’s a lot to check daily, and in addition, various operational and financial aspects need planning and oversight.

Still, e-commerce management works best when centralized and follows a well-defined hierarchy.

This is because the work is multidisciplinary, involving professionals from multiple areas. This requires centralization—at least for the most critical decisions.

Having an e-commerce director is also beneficial for getting constant updates on all areas without needing to speak to each team manager individually.

For smaller e-commerce businesses, this might not be necessary—the store owner often takes on this role, even though it’s not ideal.

However, as an e-commerce business grows into a mid-sized or large operation, this professional becomes essential.

Let’s discuss how to find the right person for this role below.

Strategic Thinking and Long-Term Vision

The e-commerce manager must have a strategic vision to ensure the sustainable growth of the online store.

They need to understand the market, track trends, and analyze competitors to make well-founded decisions.

Their role requires long-term planning, ensuring that the company doesn’t focus only on daily operations but continues to evolve.

This is very important. Remember, we are talking about e-commerce management, a job that is carried out in the day-to-day operations.

But a good e-commerce manager understands that this is just one of the many tasks required to ensure strong sales performance.

This professional must set clear goals, define KPIs (key performance indicators), and ensure that all areas of the e-commerce business are aligned to achieve them.

Another essential factor is adaptability. The digital market changes rapidly, requiring constant adjustments in marketing strategies, logistics, and customer experience.

Leading an e-commerce business is not just about overseeing teams—it’s about ensuring that all departments work together to achieve business goals.

An e-commerce manager must have effective communication skills to align expectations among teams and keep everyone motivated.

They need to be agile and precise decision-makers because, in the digital environment, delays or mistakes can be costly.

They must also act as facilitators within the company, connecting departments such as marketing, technology, customer service, and logistics, ensuring that all teams operate in sync.

To do this, they should demonstrate emotional intelligence, handling challenges and pressures without compromising team productivity. Strong leadership makes all the difference in the success of an e-commerce business.

Technical Knowledge and Data Analysis

While an e-commerce manager doesn’t need to be a technology expert, they should have a solid understanding of digital tools, sales platforms, and data analysis.

Understanding metrics like conversion rate, average ticket value, and ROI (return on investment) is essential for making informed decisions.

Additionally, they must be proficient in using platforms such as Google Analytics, CRM systems, and order management software.

Another crucial aspect is user experience (UX), as website navigation and ease of purchase directly impact sales.

Thus, the manager should work closely with the tech team to ensure an optimized, secure, and continuously updated e-commerce platform.

The E-commerce Marketing Manager

Now that we’ve covered the key traits of an e-commerce manager, it’s important to highlight another critical role: the marketing manager.

This professional is responsible for attracting visitors, engaging audiences, and converting leads into customers.

They must have deep knowledge of paid and organic traffic strategies, social media, marketing automation, and content creation.

Additionally, they should closely track metrics like CAC (customer acquisition cost) and LTV (lifetime value) to ensure campaigns remain profitable.

The marketing manager also works on audience segmentation and personalized communication, enhancing the customer experience.

Their work is fundamental in increasing e-commerce visibility and driving sales.

The E-commerce Finance Manager

Another key professional for e-commerce success is the finance manager.

Their role is to ensure the business remains profitable and sustainable over the long term. They manage cash flow, control costs, and plan investments to maintain financial health.

Additionally, they monitor key indicators such as profit margin, average order value, and delinquency rates to make strategic decisions.

This professional also negotiates with suppliers, oversees payment methods, and seeks ways to reduce costs without compromising quality.

In a highly competitive market, an efficient finance manager can mean the difference between steady growth and cash flow problems.

Transform Your E-commerce Without Spending Much or Dealing with Technical Challenges

So, what do you think of our e-commerce management tips? Hopefully, they help you understand the extensive work behind the scenes of online sales.

One of the most important tasks is implementing tools to enhance the customer experience.

Purchase difficulties are common, but they shouldn’t be ignored. You need tools that assist customers during checkout to avoid losing sales.

The best tool on the market for this today is the ShopBot by Leadster.

ShopBot is a chatbot that uses GPT to engage in real-time conversations with your customers—without requiring pre-configured menus or programmed responses.

ShopBot understands your website and products and can instantly answer your customers’ most common questions. Try it for free today. No credit card needed, and installation is super quick.

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