#PandaPounds: Ecommerce career progression

Progression in the ecommerce industry is highly valued by those working within it. Are you doing enough for your ecommerce team to ensure that the staff are happy with the emphasis on their progression?

In our latest #PandaPounds blog, we are going to focus on how important progression is to the people not only on your team, but people you will hire in the future.

Career progression is essential to ecommerce candidates

When searching for a new ecommerce job, 65% of ecommerce professionals* state that progression is absolutely essential – if progression isn’t discussed in the hiring process, it might turn candidates off very quickly!

Panda tip: When hiring a new team member, plan out what their potential progression will look like. If you can go then talk through this when you meet candidates, you will guarantee their engagement with the company and the role.

*As seen in our 2018 ecommerce salary survey & insights report.

Ecommerce specialisms and career progression

In case you didn’t know, cranberry panda work across multiple ecommerce specialisms. While the shared goal of these specialisms is ecommerce excellence, they are still very different roles – therefore needs and goals may differ between each team.

Digital Design & UX – 73% of Digital Design respondents said they think progression is an essential part of a role, and they likely shape their job search around this accordingly.

Ecommerce, Trading & Merchandising – 58% of our ecommerce, online trading & merchandising respondents listed opportunity to progress as essential when considering a new role. A further 29% listed it as important.

Digital Marketing –65% of our Digital Marketing respondents believe that progression is essential or important in a role. When it comes to searching for a new job, it looks like digital marketers will have progression on the brain.

Performance Marketing – 73% of the respondents who work within the performance marketing specialism stated that progression was essential when they search for a new opportunity.

Product & Project Management – 69% of our respondents within this specialism will have opportunity progress as an important factor of what role they would accept.

Ecommerce Content / Social Media – When it comes to progression, 83% of content and social media professionals will look for this in new roles.

These statistics say it all! When it comes to career progression, ecommerce candidates care. They want to know that a company cares too – if they are going to remain within the same role, never getting the chance to grow then it’s likely they won’t accept the role. If they are already part of your team, don’t be surprised if they start looking elsewhere.

Panda tip: Get to know teams and their motivations. We’re not saying you don’t already do this, or that you must be an expert on every specialism within an ecommerce department. However, asking individuals what they see their career progression looking like, you’ll paint a picture of the journey professionals take in each specialism.

Prioritise progression for everyone!

So junior ecommerce professionals will have big dreams, but don’t forget the senior members of the team either. Just because they’ve come a long way in their career, it doesn’t mean they’re suddenly content with their day to day responsibilities! Even if it’s learning a new skill, or managing a bigger team, they will still have steps to make in their career journey.

In fact, of the ecommerce professionals at manager level and above who answered our survey, 65% feel opportunities to progress are essential when considering a move.

If you want more insights from our 2018 report, download a free copy or get in touch with the pandas…let’s chat about how we can help!