Are Ecommerce teams growing?

The ecommerce industry is ever growing, but does this mean there is more investment in ecommerce team growth?

Who better to ask than those working in the industry? Thanks to our 2017 ecommerce salary survey & insights report, we are going to look at what ecommerce professionals predict will happen with ecommerce team growth, the job market, and how team size is impacted by overall company growth.

The ecommerce job market – is it growing?

The future is bright according to our respondents, as they believe the job market in ecommerce is expanding. We asked, ‘Do you believe the job market for ecommerce is…’ and here’s what they told us! (It’s worth noting that 53% of the respondents have hiring responsibility in their role.)

• A majority of 77% believe the ecommerce job market is growing…. great news! Of those who believe this, 52% have hiring responsibility so it’s great to see this insight.
• 13% of our respondents believe that the ecommerce job market remains the same from 2016.
• 9% aren’t too sure of how the ecommerce job market is progressing. 52% of these respondents do not have hiring responsibility, which suggests insight from the hiring team is not being passed on to those with no hiring power.
• To round off the expectations of the ecommerce job market, only 1% believe the volume of jobs in the ecommerce space is decreasing. This group have a 50/50 split between those with hiring responsibility and those without.

Ecommerce team sizes in 2017

Different companies will have varying numbers of team members in the ecommerce department. It’s promising that 77% of our respondents believe the ecommerce job market is growing, but let’s take a look at the current situation…

Like in 2016, the majority of our respondents sit in an ecommerce team of 1-10 people with 50% choosing this option in 2017. 29% of our respondents work in a company where the ecommerce department is made up of 11-50 team members, while a small 3% stated their ecommerce team hold 201-500 team members.

In one slight change from last year, more respondents specified an ecommerce team size of 500+ which is a very interesting insight. Looking at these stats, it’s clear ecommerce team sizes are growing steadily which is fantastic to see. As companies grow overall, do ecommerce professionals predict that ecommerce team growth will continue?

Ecommerce company growth – will ecommerce teams benefit?

If ecommerce brands and multichannel retailers grow, then surely the ecommerce team will…right? We asked our respondents their expectations of ecommerce team size growth, and company growth overall, in the year to come…

• The company will grow in all areas – 46% of respondents believe their company will grow, which surely means great things for the ecommerce team in the future!
• I don’t know – 20% of respondents aren’t quite sure what to expect when it comes to team growth.
• No growth expected – Sad times! 14% do not anticipate any ecommerce team growth or company growth this year!
• Only the ecommerce team will experience growth – Now that’s more like it…14% believe that the main growth in the company will be focussed on the ecommerce team.
• There will be company growth, but not in ecommerce – The remaining 6% do expect company growth, but not in the ecommerce division.

While we have already looked at ecommerce team sizes, we also asked our survey respondents the number of employees in their company overall. Here are a few interesting takeaways when we delved into the stats…

• 33% of our respondents work in companies with over 1000 employees. Of this section of our respondents, 30% sit in an ecommerce team of 11-50 people and 28% in a team of 1-10 people. So, the majority of those in a much larger company actually sit in relatively small ecommerce teams looking at the company overall.
• 100% of those whose company size is 1-10 employees say that the entire ecommerce team makes up the company. Most of these respondents categorise their company as a start-up.

Looking forward to Ecommerce team growth in 2018

It's clear to see that ecommerce teams within the start-up environment are going to grow rapidly, while larger organisations see a steady growth as more focus is placed on the ecommerce function. We're certainly looking forward to seeing how everything develops in our 2018 salary survey! Are you looking to grow your ecommerce team now? Find out how we can help with your ecommerce recruitment needs today!