30 OUTSOURCINGISSUE
CORE E-COMMERCE COMPETENCIES SHIFT
competencies. The report, launched recently by e-commerce trading solutions
T
provider eCommera, surveyed 99 UK and 101 French e-commerce directors, has revealed that despite positive growth for the majority of online retailers, there is a lack of top-level consensus on what core competencies they should be focusing on to achieve higher growth and profi t levels. This was against a positive sales backdrop, where the majority (84%) increased their online revenues over the last year, and more than 60% saw growth rates of over 20%. Just 4% of respondents cited a decrease. But, indicative of the retail e-commerce resourcing and skills
challenge, virtually every one of the 17 suggested competencies was ranked as either core or critical by the respondents. In terms of the most dominant competency, technology functions were currently a high priority for online retailers. Over half of respondents
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he latest Trading Intelligence Quarterly (TIQ) research report has highlighted a lack of consensus among e- commerce directors on the best strategy for managing core
cited website design (53%) and site development (51%) as the two highest rated competencies, refl ecting a focus on the technical aspects of online retailing. A further 44% of high-growth retailers believed that both
analytical and technology skills were core competencies in equal measure. They also rated customer experience, product and marketing skills highly. Most retailers were managing functions across the board with help from third parties. Interestingly, a relatively high number of e-commerce businesses were managing and executing their technology (46%) and customer service (47%) functions externally. This is in direct contrast to their ranking of these functions as ‘core’ to their business. By contrast, product was the only category that retailers most tended to manage and execute internally, with 47% indicating full control over product range development. Nearly half (42%) of e-commerce directors indicated they would outsource the technology function more within two years’ time. Only website design would be more internally controlled, with 36% planning to move it in-house. Michael Ross, eCommera director, said: “The fi ndings are
indicative of the early stages of a major shift within the industry. The way in which functions are perceived today and how they are being managed today is destined for change. As the e-commerce industry matures, retailers are slowly moving their focus away from mechanical enablers to those skills that drive real differentiation in the increasingly competitive online marketplace.”
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