6 Ways Your Ecommerce Business Can Hire Help

When you started your business, you were likely excited about each task. From sending out orders to starting social media accounts and preparing documents for taxes or creating new products… Running a business when you first start a business is fun.

But, what happens a couple of months, or years later when the fun disappears? Or, have you realized your skills in a certain area are holding you back? 

It’s highly unlikely that you can run your entire business by yourself and scale. Which means sooner or later, you’re going to need to expand your team or hire contractors. The good news: you’ll get to stop doing the tasks you don’t love and spend more time doing your favorite parts of your business.

Here are 6 ways your ecommerce business can hire help.  

Determine What Kind of Help You Need

If you’re not sure about what kind of support will grow your business the most, consider keeping track of your hours for a week to a month. How are you currently spending your time? Make a note of which tasks you enjoy doing, and which tasks you hate. 

What’s taking longer than it should? An expert can likely expedite your current processes. Also consider where your strengths lie. Perhaps you enjoy doing your social media. If so, you likely don’t want to hire a social media manager. 

But, if you have no idea how to post to TikTok, it might be in your best interest to avoid learning how to navigate the platform. Instead, hire a social media manager. 

Last, think about what kind of budget you have for hiring. Keep in mind that the tighter the budget, the narrower your options. If you’re only able to pay a minimum wage, you may have to be open to working with an intern or recent graduate rather than a professional.

#1: An Ecommerce Manager

One of the most impactful hires for any ecommerce business owner is an ecommerce manager. This individual or organization is in charge of launching and maintaining online sales on all marketplace platforms. They should also have extensive experience selling on Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and more.

Their responsibilities often include managing product listings, pricing strategies, marketplace SEO, managing customer feedback and overseeing fulfillment to ensure compliance. 

The Pros

• These folks are skilled at managing one or many marketplaces, including abiding by rules, algorithms, and have extensive knowledge of consumer behavior of each platform. 
• They can significantly boost visibility and sales in ways that are easy to track and measure.
• They can help your business scale by launching on new marketplaces. 
• They can manage reviews, answer questions, and handle disputes, creating a consistent voice and experience across all platforms. 

The Cons

• If you don’t make the right hire, this individual can damage your reputation across many platforms. 
• Your business could become too dependent on third-party platforms. What happens if rules, fees, or algorithms change?
• You have to relinquish a lot of control. Some business owners are never ready to do that.  

This is also a smart hire to make if you’re not sure how you should be building out your team moving forward. Some ecommerce managers can help you with day-to-day tasks, and build out a team. 

#2: A Fulfillment Specialist

Love creating products but hate the process of getting them from your shop to your customer’s doorstep? 

A fulfillment specialist can help with the completion and dispatch of customer orders. They often manage your storage spaces, handle inventory, pack orders, deal with shipping logistics and ensure a timely delivery 

The Pros

• A fulfillment specialist with a lot of experience can optimize the entire order fulfillment process. Your operations will be smoother and faster. 
• A quick and accurate ordering process improves customer satisfaction and enhances brand loyalty.
• This specialist can ensure your business is ready for increased order volume. You can grow without compromising your customer service.
• They can provide the business with cost savings and improve the bottom line through negotiating better shipping rates, reducing packing material cost and minimizing loss. 

The Cons

• You don’t want this person to be the only person who knows how your order fulfillment works. Otherwise, if they’re sick, take a vacation, or leave your business entirely, you could suffer greatly. Cross training is a must. 
• If you take a chance on someone new (likely due to budget constraints), who makes a lot of mistakes, it could damage your brand reputation. 

In the long run, hiring someone in this position will likely lead to increased sales and increased overhead cost. More products and sales could mean renting out a warehouse to ensure adequate space and infrastructure. 

#3: A Customer Service Specialist

A customer service specialist or agency acts as a first point of contact for your customers. If you’re tired of answering your phones, or hate talking to upset customers, this might be the right hire. A customer service agency can streamline the compliments and complaints process. Sometimes, they can also fix issues. 

They can then provide you with helpful feedback about your customer experience. This saves you time and still gives you insight on how your customers feel. 

The Pros

• If you regularly neglect your customer feedback, hiring someone to manage your customer service could enhance customer experience. 
• They’re often able to improve and maintain your brand reputation by finding solutions to problems. 
• You’re able to get a big-picture view of how your customers feel about your products or services. That way, you don’t get stuck on a piece of feedback that may not be relevant to most of your customers. 

The Cons

• Depending on how they’re compensated, on slower months when you have less sales your company may be paying someone who doesn’t have anything to do.
• You’re losing your first line of communication with your customers, which could impact innovation.
• If you have high customer service expectations, you can’t settle for any hire. Otherwise, your customers may begin to churn due to poor customer service experiences.

#4: Tax Professional or Accountant

Does filing taxes give you a headache every year? Tired of cobbling together your taxes or accounting on your own? 

Consider enlisting the help of a tax professional or an accountant rather than struggling with 1099s and W2s. A tax professional may only help you file your taxes. An accountant can help you with bookkeeping, financial reporting, tax preparation and filing, and budgeting and forecasting.

The Pros:

• These professionals are trained to find savings and opportunities for businesses like yours. While you’ll incur the cost of hiring this professional, you’ll also potentially save enough to pay for their services via savings. 
• This hire can save you a lot of time, especially if you’re dealing with many jurisdictions or complex tax laws. 
• You’ll get peace of mind in knowing that your taxes, and their deadlines, are being handled by a professional. 

The Cons: 

• If not properly aligned with your business strategy, tax professionals might focus on minimizing taxes without considering other important factors like cash flow needs, investment in growth, or strategic acquisitions.
• Hiring the wrong person in this position could cost you greatly. Consider working with someone who is highly recommended by another ecommerce business owner. 
• An accountant may not have the training they need to make the most of your tax situation. Consider finding an accountant with tax experience. 

#5: Marketing, SEO, or Content Manager

An SEO specialist can help you with your local SEO, or world-wide SEO. They use their skills to improve your ranking and in turn, help more customers find you. Rather than trying to make articles or products rank on Google, enlist the help of an expert. 

A social media manager can help you manage your brand across multiple platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and more. It’s important your brand is on some of these platforms. 74% of consumers use social media to make a purchasing decision. 

While SEO and social can both be bucketed out into their own position, you can find someone who does more general marketing support. They’ll support you across your marketing landscape, rather than with one specific thing. You could also consider hiring an agency to help you with all of your marketing. 

The Pros:

• If you hire a more general marketing manager, they can also help manage any contract photographers, copywriters, web designers, etc.
• Having a marketing professional on your side can help you manage crisis situations and save face in front of upset customers. 
• Learning how to market has a huge learning curve. By hiring one or many of these professionals, you’ll save yourself a lot of time, and you won’t have to stay on top of algorithm trends. 
• Many small business owners are really inconsistent with their marketing efforts. A great marketer will create a plan and help you move forward with a strategy and measurable goals. 

The Cons:

• If you hire someone who is more of a generalist, you may find that your growth across all of your marketing is a bit stunted, as they aren’t a master of one type of marketing. 
• Hiring individuals who specialize in one particular kind of marketing can get expensive, especially for a small or growing business.  
• If you don’t have all the right pieces in place, you can’t track how well your marketing efforts are working and if they’re creating conversions

#6: Virtual Assistant

Are you someone who avoids your inbox for weeks? Do you have to set aside time to go through your emails, and reward yourself with a little treat? 

Perhaps it’s time to hire a virtual assistant (VA). A VA can help with inbox management, calendar management, updating product lists, online inventory management, and more. 

If you frequently find yourself derailed by little tasks, hire a VA. 

The Pros:

• VA’s are relatively affordable hires. If you want them to do anything complex it’s likely worthwhile to invest in someone a little more expensive to get more experience. 
• Often, VAs are flexible when it comes to availability and hours. You can scale up or scale back as needed. 
• These individuals are exceptional for taking on repetitive or time-consuming tasks. This frees you up to focus on operations or big picture strategy. 

The Cons:

• Not everyone does everything up to your standards. If you don’t make the right hire in this position, the quality of your work could slip. 
• Getting a VA up to speed can sometimes take some time, and a good training system to ensure their success. There is an upfront time investment for long-term ease. 
• You’ll potentially be sharing confidential information, passwords, and other sensitive materials. Make sure they’re someone you can trust, or it could put you in a tough situation. 

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Hiring Someone

• What stage is my business currently at?
• Where am I trying to go from here?
• What parts of the job do I hate doing?
• How could a new partner improve or hinder my culture?
• Do we plan to expand markets, and how will my work change?
• What is our in-house team capable of? 
• Who is stretched thin right now?
• What are the costs associated with each position?

Hire the Right Person to Grow Your Business

There’s likely times all of us wish we could clone ourselves. And then again, and again. While we can’t have 3 of us running around, pushing our businesses forward, we can enlist the help of other people. Which ultimately, is a good thing. 

Not everyone will have the same skills, perspective, or motivations as you. Yet, someone who does things a little bit differently than you can sometimes help your business overcome a bottleneck, and grow your businesses. 

If you’re ready to make some kind of hire, best of luck. In the meantime, make sure you sign up for our newsletter to get more helpful information, like this, delivered straight to your inbox.