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Who Should I Hire for My Ecommerce Site?

By Penny Morey

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Who are the major types of employees that one should hire to run a successful ecommerce website? Why?

Without  knowing more about your business (e.g., what you are selling on your ecommerce site), I am at a disadvantage to advise you precisely on whom you should hire to support your endeavors. But I can give you some general insight. Most ecommerce businesses have the following departments, which need the types of individuals outlined below:

Marketing/Business Development

  • Specialists to strategize how to best design and position the website and attract customers
  • Sales professionals to follow up on leads and drive business to the website
  • Detail-oriented individuals to make sure that orders go to the right place

Technology

  • Experts to make sure that the internal IT needs are constantly kept up to date and running smoothly
  • Experts to make sure that the website is constantly up and meeting the needs of the customers

Logistics/Shipping

  • People to ensure proper packaging and prompt delivery of products sold
  • People to deal with returned items, if necessary

In addition, you'll need customer-service professionals -- outgoing, friendly people to take incoming calls from customers and answer questions cordially -- and accounting staff.

Everyone will need to have strong computer proficiency, a head for sales and a desire to please customers. At the outset, some of these jobs may be combined; with startups, people often wear more than one hat. But overall -- again, depending on what you are selling in your ecommerce business -- these are the kinds of people you will need to hire.

Penny is a seasoned human resources executive and consultant with over 25 years of diverse business experience in advising enterprise leaders on employment-related matters.

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