E-commerce

If you’ve ever gone online to buy something and ended up buying more than you intended, you have probably experienced the art of the e-commerce merchandiser. This job involves making online shops as attractive as possible in order to maximise sales.

Work activities

As an e-commerce merchandiser, you would use analytic tools to study the behaviour of customers on a site. What search terms do they use? Which types of special offers tempt them? Do they read reviews? How many items do they put in their basket?

You would use this knowledge to lead them to the items you want to show them and encourage them to complete the order process.

You would use features such as photographs, videos, descriptive copy, special offers and product comparisons persuade customers to buy. You would work with the people who developed this material, making sure that it does the job it was intended to.

Entry requirements

It is usual to start with a more junior job in an e-commerce team, such as e-commerce assistant.

You will need to be able to use web analytic tools, but this is not primarily a technical job.

Some employers ask for a degree in marketing, although this is not always essential. It is very helpful indeed to have worked in a real shop because this will help you to understand what customers want and how they behave.