Product Management in E-commerce Industry: Skills, Roles & Challenges

Once a product has been designed or manufactured, the next step is product management in ecommerce. Although it is a multifaceted subject and depends on organization to organization, it depends on their objective as per their products. The one thing which they demand in common is customers. Know more about product management process.

No matter your strategy or product, the basic aim that everyone needs to meet is to get loyal consumers to your company. Along with many difficult obstacles and challenges in this field, the competition is quite tough too. Let’s dive deep into the topic and get started.

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Product Management in E-Commerce: What Is It?

Product management is concerned with recurrent activities like finding, testing, onboarding, promoting, and timely delivery of products. E-commerce also involves a customer’s complete internet experience in addition to the actual products. Technology, a strong business strategy, and customer experience all come together to make up product management in eCommerce.

Overview of an E-Commerce Product Manager

By satisfying client needs, addressing criticism, and ensuring multi-channel inventory management, e-commerce product managers guarantee the efficient operation of e-commerce websites. Such a professional serves the purpose of a mediator between the stakeholders, business development experts, and the product development team.

The Need for Product Management in eCommerce

Product management in a wider aspect can be defined as an organizational role that includes designing, preparing, creating, evaluating, releasing, and delivering goods and services to the consumers.

The need of the hour is product management in ecommerce as it covers a variety of topics, which are vital for business success. Completely optimized product management techniques can increase the profits by 34.2%, which shows the real necessity of product management in an ecommerce firm.

The first and most significant step towards a profitable product is knowing your consumer. Knowing your consumer helps you know the right target audience and helps you shortlist the ways to reach them.

Also read: Scope for Product management career and jobs

This would give you a better hint of what the customers are interested in buying. It is important that you understand your competitors and their products well; you need to refine and build a business plan which is better than them so you can flourish efficiently in the market. 

Once you have established and implemented the above, you need to know time is valuable and establish time management for optimum results. Defining a good product quality is a thing of utmost necessity to keep your customers loyal to your brand and refer it to others.

The next important step is making the interface user-friendly and captivating as it takes only 0.05 seconds for someone to judge your site and make opinions about it. That makes creating an attractive interface a necessity.

Read: Product Management in Banking Industry

The Skills You Require!

Without the right skillset, the business will become a challenge for you. The skillset helps you know when and how to use the right technique to maximize the profit when it comes to product management in ecommerce firms. Below are some techniques which are discussed according to the needs of the job:

1. You should have great organizational skills – Being a product manager, it’s your duty to make sure there are no missing files, SKU’s, or images.
2. A healthy mindset – You should have a mindset that is inspired by growth marketing. You cannot just create a product and then figure out you should have everything planned and in place.
3. Versatility – Your thinking and skills should leave you free and open to trying new ideas to know the industry better.
4. Trust – You should be honest and trustworthy as a product manager. Your team lacking faith in your vision can be a great hurdle when introducing new products and promoting new ideas.
5. Communication skills – You should have a good one-to-one bond with your customers for them to be linked with your organization, which in itself is a tedious task.

Your Role as a Product Manager in an E-Commerce Firm

The skillset and the techniques required by a product manager are different as they are according to the job’s needs and vary from product to product. However, the major requirement of the skillset has already been mentioned above. Here we would be discussing a product manager’s major chores in an organization where product management in e-commerce is required.

By observing the major outlines of the skills the job demands, we have concluded that they should have analytic skills to keep track of the growth of the product and try new ways to maximize the profit. The person should have great testing skills so that before promoting a product on a large scale, it can be predicted and tested on a small scale to better analyze the consumers’ response to minimize loss.

The product manager should be aware of the market condition and the target audience to get the most out of the product. They should have prioritized the product they have launched and the good sense of investment return.

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Challenges You Will Face

The challenges people usually face in these fields are common in product management in ecommerce as every organization faces them now and then. Although we’re not going as far as to suggest that it’s simple for other brands, it’s better to promote brand loyalty because it needs more effort from the consumer.

To promote this, you need to have a better one-to-one bond with the customers and assure them that their business with you would benefit from such transactions.

With more and more e-commerce firms coming up, a product manager’s need is greater than before. No matter what buyers are looking for, they will search it online and deliver it within a golden period.

Not just that, some powerhouses have a massive business hegemony. Combined with the benefit of being big names, free delivery, and loyalty programs, the rivalry is very fierce. It seems there are plenty of good e-commerce firms; however, everyone’s fighting in the same small space for room to survive.

Must Read: Highest Paying Cities For Product Managers

Tips To Become a Successful Ecommerce Product Manager

Becoming proficient in product management in eCommerce is not something one can achieve in a month or two. To become a successful eCommerce product manager in no time, follow these tips and advices: 

Get a Certification Online: 

Online certifications have, in numerous sectors, not only caught up to formal degrees and trade diplomas over the past ten years but have even surpassed them. Earn your certification by taking a few current and relevant online courses on product management in the eCommerce industry. 

User Experience: 

As a great deal of recurrent buying choices is dependent on the user’s initial ‘come across’ with a product, user experience has become a crucial area of emphasis for contemporary product managers. To maintain a consistent flow of business, put as much emphasis as possible on high-quality UX development with every product and any added capabilities.

Know The User: 

User stories can be what differentiates a product that succeeds and one that falls short or is surpassed by rival offers. User narratives can be developed, analyzed, and used to your advantage. Take steps to perform efficient user interviews and gain as much knowledge as possible about the expectations and requirements of the user. 

Be Efficient In Project & Inventory Management: 

When it comes to creating and launching eCommerce products, you’ll have to proficient in both project and eCommerce inventory management. To be usually more efficient at completing larger and more significant jobs, either enroll in a course on contemporary project management in an agile setting or concentrate on the area (both inventory and other large operations) while working. 

Understand Ecommerce Business Plan: 

As a product manager, you shall be in charge of developing the company’s main product strategy. Ensure that you are capable of developing such approaches with the long-term objectives of the organization in mind and that you are aware of what the task implies. 

Build Communication Skills: 

The best product manager must possess outstanding communication skills because they will be the point of contact for the whole product management team and the focal point for development and launching. This will enable them to comprehend the client, their own potential for development, and corporate objectives more fully. 

It’s critical to keep in mind that product managers are ultimately products, and they must upgrade their skills with the appropriate information at the appropriate moment to both have a successful career and become a valued full-time job for the eCommerce company.

Study Product Management Courses online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Masters, Executive PGP, or Advanced Certificate Programs to fast-track your career.

Conclusion

In this head-to-head competition era, we need to know the right path with the right action plan to succeed with your goal. Especially when it comes to product management in ecommerce, the competition increases, and the scope of success decreases.

Following the routine mentioned above might take time but would ultimately lead you to success. Patience and versatility are two of the most necessary qualities that a person is pursuing this position needs.  

The demand for Product Managers has risen by leaps and bounds in recent years. Paying attention to the needs of the customers as well as the company is necessary. Like most other careers, Product Managers need to acquire certain skills to increase their value. To acquire these skills, they require proper training. upGrad offers Post Graduate Certificate in Product Management to help you build a career in Product Management.