Want to operate an e-commerce platform? Let’s understand these first

Recently, some friends have been asking me:

Taobao , Tmall , JD.com , Meituan , Mogujie , Amazon , Dangdang and other e-commerce platforms are all very popular. I want to do operations on an e-commerce platform. Where should I start?

Everyone’s questions are very similar, so let’s summarize and discuss what e-commerce operations are, what the operational divisions of e-commerce platforms are, and how we can get started.

1. What is operation and e-commerce operation?

Huang Youcan and Zhang Liang have systematically defined operations, as follows:

Both statements are very vivid. All strategies that help products and users establish connections and maintain relationships are considered operations, so what is e-commerce operation?

2. What is e-commerce operation?

There are two opinions on e-commerce operations in the market. E-commerce operations and e-commerce platform operations:

E-commerce operations:

Generally refers to opening and operating stores on various platforms. It helps to establish connections and maintain relationships between categories/items in a store and their target users . You need to understand the entire process from product selection to product sales.

Including: What to sell? Where is the source of goods? Where are the goods cheaper? Who to sell to? Where to sell? How to sell? How to attract traffic ? How to do paid and unpaid promotion ? How to improve conversion rate ? How to optimize the title ? How to write a persuasive details page? etc.

E-commerce platform operation:

That is, working in operations on various e-commerce platforms. It helps the platform/merchant's categories/products to establish connections and maintain relationships with their target users.

3. Key Elements of E-commerce Platforms

User acquisition: responsible for attracting new platform users: where do platform users come from? How to come?

User retention: responsible for the activation, retention , conversion , and recall of platform users/merchants.

4. Division of functions of e-commerce platform operations

According to the functions of platform operation, the jobs are divided into the following types:

(Note: This is the division of functions, not the job structure. Each company has different responsibilities for each position, but the job responsibilities may mainly be these)

1. Operational functions in the “user acquisition” stage

In this chain: it is roughly divided into channel / promotion operation, event operation , content operation and product operation . The main goal is to attract new users and acquire more users.

• Channel operation: responsible for using various means such as app store / search engine optimization to increase the download volume, installed base, active users and market share of the APP, and responsible for daily activity, daily/next day/weekly/monthly retention;
• Activity operation: formulate and execute different new customer acquisition activity plans according to different strategies, such as user fission activities such as old customers bringing in new customers, and be responsible for activity-related indicators;
• Content operation: Use pictures/text/audio and video to produce high-quality content and achieve corresponding indicators;
• Product operation: manage/collect/monitor product data during the product life cycle , and continuously analyze the data to promote product improvement; product planning/iteration/optimization, page architecture planning, including product display logic, page display logic, etc.

2. Operational functions in the “user retention” stage

In this chain: it is generally divided into the platform side and the supply side.

• The main goal of the platform is to promote activation/retention/conversion/recall of the platform, which requires ensuring that there are enough high-quality users;
• The main goal of the supply side is to promote activation/retention/conversion/recall of merchants. It needs to ensure that when user demand comes, merchants should have sufficient and high-quality supply.

(1) Platform-side operations

Platform-side operations are divided into platform operations and user operations :

Platform Operation:

Platform operations are roughly divided into activity operations, strategy operations, category operations, product operations, and membership operations.

• Activity operation: Plan various targeted activities to activate users and convert them into paid users;
• Strategic operation: Based on the analysis and mining of platform data, we optimize the platform/users/corresponding sections/projects/processes in combination with different strategies to increase relevant indicators ( traffic distribution, subsidy distribution, etc.);
• Category operation: Based on user portraits , plan/optimize/iterate/operate platform categories (formulate product investment promotion rules/product selection rules/display rules, etc.), and be responsible for the product volume, GMV, etc. of the category;
• Product operation: using product improvements to increase user activity, etc.;
• Membership operation: Based on relevant indicators, operate members (membership growth system/membership points system /membership value-added services, etc.), increase the number of members/retention/paid members, etc., and improve conversion rate.

User operation:

User operations can be roughly divided into user operations, community/ social group operations , and new media operations .

• User operation: With the goal of increasing the activity, retention, and payment of website (product) users, formulate operation plans and even operation mechanisms based on user needs; (Source: Zhang Liang's "Operation from Scratch")
• Community/ community operation: responsible for the overall planning of community building, and responsible for indicators such as community activity;
• New media operations: Responsible for operating the content of new media platforms such as Weibo, WeChat official accounts , Toutiao accounts , and Penguin accounts , and responsible for user retention, conversion, and payment.

(2) Supply-side operations

Supply-side operations are divided into merchant operations and business operations: some companies may not make such a detailed distinction, and one team may be responsible for both businesses.

• Merchant Operations: Responsible for guiding the entire process of merchant stores/product selection/page optimization/listing/activity registration, and responsible for merchant GMV;
• Business operations: Guide merchants to place advertisements on the platform based on their budget and expected revenue, and optimize based on conversion results.

5. How to get started

Step 1: Where am I? Confirm your current position and responsibilities:

Each company has different logic for setting up "operation" positions and operational responsibilities. So you should consider your current link and current responsibilities!

Which chain am I on? What am I responsible for? What does my job involve? If you are a person who wants to change careers or has just graduated, you should also analyze which type of work you are better at? Which type of work do you prefer? Which chain is faster?

(Why do I say currently? Because operational responsibilities may change as the company's strategy changes, so it is necessary to clarify current responsibilities. Of course, you also need to know the responsibilities of other types of work and practice skills in advance to be prepared.)

Step 2: Follow-up question: What can I do in my responsibilities? What are my shortcomings in my duties?

Asking me what I can do is actually a review of my own abilities. Can I do it faster, better and more efficiently? What is it that I don’t know? And list the details. For example: You can write event copy , but it’s not attractive enough; the conversion rate of the official account title is always low? etc……

Step 3: Learning and deliberate practice: Make up for shortcomings, accelerate strengths, and improve cognition

The focus of operations in the 1-3 years is to make up for the shortcomings, otherwise the shortcomings of the barrel will disappoint the boss and even cause you to lose your job opportunities. The 4-5 year operation focus is to accelerate the regularity, so that you can gain a foothold through a regular item. Improving cognition means constantly learning new knowledge, otherwise you will fall into the vicious circle of inherent thinking or empiricism.

6. Learning channels

After analyzing your current chain, job functions, and shortcomings that need to be supplemented, you need to continue learning and practicing deliberately. Learning channels include books + public accounts + online courses + platforms + training + offline meetings with experts, etc. Everyone can find channels specifically according to their needs and learn and digest quickly.

Finally, I want to say

If you want to work as an operator on an e-commerce platform, you need to prepare a lot of skills to be competent for this job. You must have a lifelong learning attitude. Otherwise, even if you get started, even if you get into an operations job, you will still be a brick-mover and will never become an expert. Learning and improving cognition will run throughout life.

Source: Yuemo