eCommerce Duties: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Online Store

eCommerce Duties: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Online Store

Running a successful eCommerce store involves much more than just listing products online and hoping for the best. Every aspect of your store needs to be carefully managed to ensure smooth operations, customer satisfaction, and business growth. From receiving new enquiries to managing customer complaints and ensuring the efficient dispatch of stock, every task plays a critical role in your store’s success.

So, let’s break down the essential eCommerce duties and clarify who will be responsible for what in your business to guarantee seamless operations.

1. Receive New Enquiries

• Responsibility: Customer Service Team / Sales
• Handling new inquiries promptly sets the tone for customer engagement. Whether it’s via email, chat, or phone, ensuring someone is assigned to address these inquiries ensures a professional image and builds trust from the start.

2. Manage Customer Complaints

• Responsibility: Customer Support Team
• No business is perfect, and mistakes will happen. Having a dedicated team to manage customer complaints ensures issues are resolved quickly and prevents negative experiences from escalating. A swift response often turns unhappy customers into loyal ones.

3. Manage Inventory

• Responsibility: Inventory Manager / Operations
• Keeping track of stock levels and managing inventory ensures that products are always available for customers. Real-time updates on product availability prevent the frustration of ordering items that are out of stock.

4. Update Pricing

• Responsibility: Pricing Manager / Sales Team
• Market trends, seasonal changes, or cost fluctuations affect pricing. Designate a team member to regularly review and update pricing to remain competitive and maintain profitability.

5. Generate Order Reports

• Responsibility: Data Analyst / Operations
• Regular order reports help assess performance, spot trends, and plan for future stock needs. These reports also help in evaluating the efficiency of fulfillment and customer satisfaction.

6. Manage Master Pricing Document

• Responsibility: Pricing Manager
• The master pricing document is a key resource for keeping all prices up to date across your eCommerce store, ensuring consistency, and avoiding errors across multiple channels.

7. Manage Courier Relationships and Bookings

• Responsibility: Logistics Manager / Shipping Team
• Reliable courier services are essential for timely delivery. This team should handle bookings, manage relationships with shipping partners, and track performance.

8. Notify Customers of Progress

• Responsibility: Customer Service / Order Management Team
• Keeping customers informed about the status of their orders—whether it’s processing, dispatched, or in transit—creates a positive customer experience and reduces anxiety.

9. Manage Product Inventory

• Responsibility: Inventory Manager
• Product availability is the backbone of eCommerce. Ensure accurate stock levels are reflected online to avoid overselling or understocking products.

10. Process Incoming Orders for Distribution

• Responsibility: Order Fulfillment Team
• This team is in charge of verifying, processing, and preparing orders for shipment, ensuring that every item is correctly packaged and delivered.

11. Source New Products / Suppliers / Manufacturers

• Responsibility: Sourcing Team / Product Manager
• To keep your product offerings fresh and diverse, the sourcing team works to find new suppliers and manufacturers. They ensure your store offers unique and high-quality products that meet customer demand.

12. Book and Manage Courier Services

• Responsibility: Logistics Manager
• Coordinating with couriers for smooth and cost-effective delivery is critical. They ensure that the correct shipping methods are used based on customer preferences and order size.

13. Manage Logistics

• Responsibility: Logistics Team / Operations
• Efficient logistics management ensures the timely delivery of products to customers. From warehouses to the final delivery, logistics includes every step of the process to ensure goods reach customers on time.

14. Order Products from Suppliers

• Responsibility: Product Manager / Sourcing Team
• Regular reordering of popular products and sourcing new items keeps your inventory stocked and ensures you don’t run out of bestsellers.

15. Receive Stock

• Responsibility: Receiving Department
• When products arrive at the warehouse, the receiving team checks for quality and quantity before adding them to the inventory system.

16. Pick, Pack, and Dispatch Stock

• Responsibility: Warehouse Team
• This team ensures that orders are pulled from shelves, packaged appropriately, and dispatched for delivery. Efficient picking and packing speed up processing times, reducing delays and errors.

17. Create Delivery and Collection Notes

• Responsibility: Order Fulfillment Team
• Delivery and collection notes ensure the smooth processing of returns or exchanges, as well as track shipments as they are sent out or returned.

Critical Questions for Your eCommerce Team

Here are some additional roles that need to be clearly defined for your store to run like a well-oiled machine:

• Who will be responsible for adding new products to your portfolio?
• Who will be managing pricing and updates?
• Who will be responsible for managing inventory updates?
• Who will be booking courier services and handling courier relationships?
• Who will generate product order reports?
• Who will maintain the master price list?
• Who will manage customer complaints?
• Who will manage distribution and logistics?
• Who will process new incoming orders?
• Who will be in charge of receiving, picking, packing, and dispatching stock?

Clearly defining these responsibilities is crucial to ensure that each department can work effectively and prevent confusion as your business grows.

eCommerce Legal Requirements and Add-Ons

While managing your eCommerce store, don’t forget the legal pages that are mandatory for compliance:

• Returns and Refunds Policy: This is one of the most important legal requirements for eCommerce stores. Make sure your return policy is clear and easy to understand. Let customers know the steps for returning or exchanging items, along with the costs involved.
• Privacy Policy: This is a must to protect both your customers’ and your business’s interests. Your privacy policy should outline how you collect, use, and protect customer data.
• Terms & Conditions: Establish clear terms and conditions to inform customers about their rights, payment terms, and what to expect when they purchase from your online store.

Some other optional yet important pages include:

• Cookies Policy
• Copyright & Disclaimer
• End User License Agreement (EULA)

By following these guidelines and clearly assigning duties within your team, you can ensure that your eCommerce store operates smoothly, remains compliant with relevant laws, and provides the best possible experience for your customers.

Conclusion

Managing an eCommerce store is a full-time job that requires attention to detail, careful planning, and effective team coordination. By ensuring that everyone knows their responsibilities, from inventory management to customer complaints and courier bookings, you can build a store that not only runs efficiently but also delights customers at every turn.

Here’s a normal table formatted for you:

This table can be directly copied and pasted as needed!