Running an e-commerce site involves a wide range of tasks, including product planning, customer acquisition, order management, inventory management, shipping, and customer service.
If you are starting an e-commerce business or have recently taken responsibility for its operations, you may be wondering what the work involves and where to begin.
This article explains the 10 main tasks involved in e-commerce operations, divided into front-end and back-end operations. It also covers how to organize the work, set priorities, and improve efficiency. Use it as a guide.
What are e-commerce operations? A list of the 10 main operations
E-commerce operations are the activities of selling products and services through an e-commerce site, with the aim of securing ongoing sales and improving customer satisfaction.
Operations are broadly classified into two categories: front-end operations and back-end operations.
- Front-end operations: Work primarily focused on selling products and increasing sales, such as product planning, customer acquisition, and site improvements
- Back-end operations: Work primarily focused on supporting product sales and customers, such as adding products, order management, delivery, and customer service
The table below summarizes the main tasks.
| Category | Operation | Main tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Front end | 1 Product planning and sales planning | Market research, product planning, and pricing |
| Front end | 2 Purchasing and manufacturing | Selecting suppliers, and procuring or manufacturing products |
| Front end | 3 Building and updating the e-commerce site | Building the site, and improving the design and the path to purchase |
| Front end | 4 Customer acquisition and sales promotion | SEO, ad management, social media, and campaigns |
| Front end | 5 Data analysis and improvement | Sales analysis, improving the purchase conversion rate, and evaluating tactics |
| Back end | 6 Adding product information | Product photography, measurements, writing descriptions, and adding products |
| Back end | 7 Inventory and purchase order management | Tracking inventory quantities, placing replenishment orders, and taking inventory |
| Back end | 8 Order management | Checking orders, checking payment status, and fulfillment instructions |
| Back end | 9 Fulfillment and delivery | Picking, packing, shipping, and delivery management |
| Back end | 10 Customer service and post-purchase follow-up | Inquiries, returns and refunds, and post-purchase support |
Note: There are no strict rules for classifying these tasks, and responsibilities vary by company. This list mainly covers e-commerce businesses selling physical products.
On a small e-commerce site, one person may handle several tasks. As the business grows, responsibilities may be divided among staff or some work may be outsourced.
Let's look at what each job involves in detail.
5 front-end operations in e-commerce
Front-end operations are the work of selling products and growing sales. They include not only planning and procuring products and attracting customers to the e-commerce site, but also analyzing sales results and making improvements.
1. Product planning and sales planning
Product planning involves researching market needs and trends in competing products to decide what to sell. Specific tasks include the following.
- Defining target customers
- Market research and competitive analysis
- Planning and selecting products
- Setting selling prices and profit margins
- Setting sales targets and developing a sales plan
Rather than simply choosing products that seem likely to sell, consider product costs, shipping fees, selling fees, and advertising costs to determine whether you can make a profit. When developing new products or selling seasonal items, also allow for manufacturing and purchasing lead times in your plan.
2. Purchasing and manufacturing
This is the work of purchasing or manufacturing products based on the sales plan. If you sell products you purchase, you negotiate prices with suppliers and place orders. If you sell your own products, you coordinate with manufacturers.
Purchase quantities are based on demand forecasts that take past sales and seasonality into account. Buying too little can cause stockouts and lost sales opportunities, while buying too much leaves you with excess inventory.
3. Building and updating the e-commerce site
This is the work of building an e-commerce site and arranging it so customers can purchase products easily. At launch, you prepare the site design, payment methods, delivery settings, and other items. After the site is published, you still need to update campaign pages, improve the path to purchase, and do similar work.
For example, check items such as the following.
- Whether products are easy to find on mobile as well
- Whether product information, shipping fees, and return conditions are easy to understand
- Whether you support the payment methods customers want to use
- Whether the steps required to complete an order are straightforward
Building an e-commerce site is only the beginning. Use customer behavior and inquiries to guide ongoing improvements.
4. Customer acquisition and sales promotion
This is the work of increasing visitors to the e-commerce site and leading them to purchase products. Typical tactics for customer acquisition and sales promotion include the following.
| Tactic | Main purpose |
|---|---|
| SEO | Increase organic traffic from search engines |
| Web ads | Attract prospects with search ads, social media ads, and similar ads |
| Social media management | Share product information and the appeal of the brand |
| Email and LINE broadcasts | Provide information to customers and encourage them to purchase again |
| Campaigns | Encourage purchases with sales, coupons, and similar offers |
Choose customer-acquisition tactics to fit your target, product characteristics, and budget. In addition to acquiring new customers, CRM (customer relationship management) that encourages existing customers to purchase again is also important.
5. Data analysis and improvement
This is the work of analyzing sales and traffic on the e-commerce site, identifying issues, and improving them. The main metrics you will want to check are as follows.
| Metric | What to check |
|---|---|
| Number of sessions | Visits to the e-commerce site |
| CVR (purchase conversion rate) | The share of visits that led to a purchase |
| Average order value | The average purchase amount per order |
| Repeat purchase rate | Customers' repeat purchasing behavior |
| Sales and profit | Progress against sales targets, and profitability |
For example, if the number of sessions is increasing but CVR is falling, there may be an issue on the product page or in the purchase process.
Use the numbers to identify issues, implement tactics, and evaluate their effects. Make ongoing improvements using your e-commerce platform's analytics features, Google Analytics, or similar tools.
5 back-end operations in e-commerce
Back-end operations cover preparation for sales, order processing, delivery, and post-purchase support. For businesses selling physical products in particular, the workload increases with order volume, making processes that prevent mistakes important.
6. Adding product information
Adding product information involves preparing details about the products you sell and publishing them on your e-commerce site. Along with entering product names, prices, inventory quantities, descriptions, and other details, you also prepare product images.
Particularly important are the tasks known in Japanese as sasage: product photography, taking measurements, and copywriting. These tasks prepare product images, descriptions, and similar materials. Because customers cannot inspect products in person before buying online, you need to convey their features, dimensions, and appearance in use accurately.
Staff responsible for front-end operations sometimes add product information, but here it is classified as a routine back-end data entry and management task.
7. Inventory and purchase order management
Inventory and purchase order management involves tracking product quantities and storage conditions to prevent stockouts and excess inventory. In addition to daily inventory checks, the work includes inspecting incoming products, placing replenishment orders, and comparing recorded inventory quantities with actual quantities during inventory counts.
Take particular care when you operate multiple sales channels, such as your own e-commerce site, e-commerce marketplaces, and physical stores. If inventory information is not linked correctly, you may sell products that are actually out of stock.
A system that centrally manages inventory across multiple channels can help reduce the management workload and sales errors.
8. Order management
This is the work of checking orders from customers and carrying out the steps toward fulfillment. Specifically, you check the order contents and payment status, allocate inventory, and issue fulfillment instructions.
Depending on the e-commerce platform, you can automate tasks such as sending order confirmation emails. Exceptional cases, however, such as payment errors, address problems, and changes to the order, require individual handling.
If the number of orders grows and management becomes complicated, introducing an OMS (order management system) is also an option.
9. Fulfillment and delivery
This is the work of taking the ordered products out of the warehouse, packing them, and handing them to a carrier. In general, you follow the flow below.
- Retrieve the products specified in the order (picking)
- Check the products, quantities, and condition
- Pack them with appropriate materials
- Create a shipping label and hand the package to the carrier
- Update the shipping status and, when necessary, send tracking information
Fulfillment errors and delivery delays lead to lower customer satisfaction, so accurate and prompt handling is required.
If the number of shipments is high, it is worth considering introducing a WMS (warehouse management system) or using a logistics outsourcing service.
10. Customer service and post-purchase follow-up
This is the work of handling inquiries from customers and problems after purchase. The main work includes inquiries about product specifications and delivery status, order cancellations, returns and exchanges, refund handling, and similar tasks.
Post-purchase follow-up is also important, such as explaining how to use the product after purchase and providing information that leads to another purchase.
Analyzing customer feedback and reasons for returns can also help improve product descriptions and prevent delivery problems.
Priorities, schedules, and skills needed for e-commerce operations
To keep e-commerce operations running smoothly, it is important not only to understand the work, but also to organize priorities and the schedule.
This section explains which tasks to start with, how often to perform them, and what skills you need.
Operations to prioritize in e-commerce
When you have just started e-commerce operations, you do not need to put the same effort into every operation. When only a few people are running the business in particular, it is important to make the priorities clear.
The top priority is to establish a process from receiving an order to delivering the product. Put "6. Adding product information," "8. Order management," and "9. Fulfillment and delivery" in place, and complete your payment and delivery settings. At this stage, also decide how to handle inquiries and returns as part of "10. Customer service and post-purchase follow-up."
Once you can process orders reliably, focus on "4. Customer acquisition and sales promotion." Use "5. Data analysis and improvement" to review your tactics based on sales and the purchase conversion rate.
As the business grows, consider adding staff, introducing tools, outsourcing, and similar steps in line with the increase in workload.
Sample schedule for e-commerce operations
In e-commerce operations, some work is done every day, and some is taken on weekly or monthly. An example of a typical work schedule is as follows.
| Frequency | Main operations |
|---|---|
| Daily | Checking incoming orders, fulfillment, checking inventory, handling inquiries, and checking sales |
| Weekly | Adding and updating products, analyzing sales results, adjusting ads and promotions, and placing replenishment orders |
| Monthly | Review of sales and profit, revision of the sales plan, inventory analysis, and next month's promotion plan |
The actual frequency differs with the number of orders, the types of products you handle, and your operating structure. If you list the work and organize how often each task is handled and who is responsible, it should become easier to prevent tasks from being missed.
Skills needed for e-commerce operations
E-commerce operations require a wide range of knowledge, but you do not need to be proficient in every operation from the start. The skills especially worth building are the following.
| Skill | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Marketing skills | Use SEO, ads, social media, and similar channels to acquire customers and promote sales |
| Data analysis skills | Identify issues using figures such as sales and the purchase conversion rate |
| Product planning skills | Understand the market and customer needs, and plan and select products |
| Creative skills | Create product images, descriptions, banners, and similar materials |
| Operations management and customer service skills | Manage the progress of orders, inventory, and fulfillment, and handle customer service |
The skills you need depend on your responsibilities. Start by building knowledge relevant to the work you handle.
3 ways to make e-commerce operations more efficient
E-commerce operations cover a wide range of work, and doing all of it by hand creates a heavy burden. So that you can keep operations stable even as sales grow, it is important to think about efficiency from an early stage.
1. Map out tasks and document procedures
First, list the operations you currently perform and the time they take. If you organize the person responsible, the procedure, and the frequency for each operation, it becomes easier to find work concentrated on a particular person and work that is duplicated.
Also, if you document procedures such as order processing and returns handling in manuals, it becomes easier to maintain a consistent level of quality even when the person responsible changes.
2. Automate routine operations with tools
Consider automating work that occurs repeatedly, such as copying order information, updating inventory, and sending email.
For example, Shopify provides features needed for e-commerce operations, including adding products, order management, inventory management, and sales analysis. With Shopify Flow, you can also automate tasks such as tagging orders that meet specific conditions and notifying staff.
If you are considering launching a new e-commerce site or reviewing the systems you use to operate, Shopify is also one option.
If you already operate an e-commerce site, another approach is to introduce an order management system, an inventory management system, or similar tools, and make only the operations you need more efficient.
3. Outsource some of the operations
For work that is difficult to handle in-house alone, you can also outsource it to an outside specialist company. Examples include product photography and registration, ad management, storage and shipping at a warehouse, and customer support.
When you outsource, check not only the cost, but also the scope of work you can request, how quality is managed, and the setup for responding when trouble occurs.
It is effective to divide roles according to your situation, for example by concentrating resources on product planning and sales strategy, which are your company's strengths, and outsourcing routine operations.
Let's organize the operations e-commerce requires and build an efficient operating structure
E-commerce operations include front-end operations, which handle product planning and customer acquisition, and back-end operations, which handle product registration, order and inventory management, delivery, and similar work.
To grow sales, accurate order processing and customer service are also essential, not only customer acquisition and sales promotion. First, organize the operations your company needs, and make the priorities and the people responsible clear.
As the business grows, also use tools and outsourcing services, and aim for efficient e-commerce operations.
