The ecommerce landscape is growing at an incredible rate. Since the pandemic, the number of people shopping online has skyrocketed, leading to increased sales in virtually every industry. In fact, by 2025, experts say that ecommerce revenues will reach more than $7.3 trillion.

The good news for today’s would-be entrepreneurs is it’s easier than ever to dive into the ecommerce landscape. Platforms like Shopify make it simple for anyone to build, manage, and run an attractive online store. However, that doesn’t mean it’s all plain sailing.

You still need a specific set of skills to ensure your business doesn’t just survive – but thrives in today’s competitive landscape.

Here are some of the most important skills worth mastering if you want to unlock new opportunities for your evolving Shopify store.

1. Content Creation / Copywriting

Content is king in the digital world and is essential to running a successful store.

No matter what kind of products you’re selling, you need to be able to use the power of the written word to connect with your audience. Honing your copywriting or content creation skills is the key to ensuring you can create impactful product descriptions, ad captions, and landing pages.

Skills in content creation are also valuable for ensuring you can increase the ROI of your marketing efforts. For instance, an effective content marketing strategy can improve your visibility online and help you nurture your audience through social media and email.

2. Social Media Marketing

Speaking of social media, while you don’t need to be an expert in Instagram, Facebook, and other channels to thrive in the ecommerce world, you need a basic knowledge of how to use social media to attract customer attention and engage your fans.

Around 58% of the world’s population are active social media users. Suppose you’re not taking advantage of social channels. In that case, you could miss endless opportunities to attract and convert customers. To boost your chances for Shopify store growth with social media marketing, commit to learning as much as you can about the features of the different channels your customers use.

Just look at ASOS’s powerful presence on Instagram for inspiration:

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Experiment with different strategies, like video marketing and influencer campaigns, to see what drives the best results. Consider using social media marketing tools, such as social calendar tools and analytics apps, to help boost your social ROI.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Speaking of content production, creating content for your Shopify store, and mastering search engine optimization are two things that usually go hand-in-hand. If you want to make sure your content drives as much attention as possible, you need to know the basics of SEO.

Search engine optimization plays a role in every aspect of your store, from how you design your pages to reduce bounce rates to which keywords you use on product pages and blogs. SEO can be challenging to master, even for industry professionals.

There are various factors to consider, from technical SEO to on-page and off-page SEO, keyword research, and link building. Plus, since the search engine algorithms are constantly changing, you’ll need to ensure you’re monitoring industry updates. However, there are plenty of courses, videos, and webinars available online to help you grasp the basics.

4. Email Marketing

Email might not be the most exciting marketing channel available today. However, it’s still one of the most valuable options, particularly for ecommerce vendors. Email delivers an ROI of around $36 for every $1 you spend. It also offers a fantastic way to stay connected with your audience.

With the right email marketing strategies, you can share news about products and promotions with your customers instantly, drawing traffic and conversions back to your store. You can use email to nurture customers who aren’t ready to purchase and turn one-time buyers into repeat customers. The good news is it’s easier than you’d think.

5. Affiliate Marketing

One other crucial type of marketing skill worth mastering as a Shopify store owner is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing involves working with affiliates to drive new customers to your store. Affiliates recommend your products to customers on social media and through blog posts and earn a commission every time someone makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing is fantastic for raising brand awareness and increasing your revenue. It can help you earn the trust of potential customers and even improve your brand reputation, provided you work with the right affiliates.

However, managing an affiliate marketing campaign solo can be complicated. Fortunately, there are tools like Social Snowball available for Shopify vendors. These tools allow you to create frictionless affiliate marketing campaigns with automated elements to reduce the work you need to do.

6. Data Analysis

This is one of the trickier skills to master if you’re running a Shopify store, but it’s still essential. To ensure you’re constantly investing in your website’s growth, you need to understand how to analyze data about your audience, competitors, and your business.

Data analysis can give you a behind-the-scenes insight into everything from how you can improve the customer experience for your audience to what kind of products are getting the most sales. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a statistical expert to thrive in this area.

There are plenty of tools you can access to gain insights into critical metrics quickly. Shopify’s own analytical tools can even help you keep track of where your sales are coming from, how much money you’ve made in a certain period, and more.

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For more in-depth insights, take advantage of third-party tools, like Google Analytics, for monitoring web traffic and customer behavior and social media analytics for marketing insights.

7. Time Management

Running an ecommerce store through a platform like Shopify might initially seem much more straightforward than running a store in person. In theory, you can manage and operate your entire store from the comfort of your own home. But there are still a lot of different tasks you’ll need to do each day.

As an ecommerce store owner, you’ll be responsible for staying on top of customer service demands, keeping your website current, creating new products, building marketing campaigns, and more. With this in mind, it’s worth working on your time management strategies.

There are basic ways to get started, like creating lists of tasks you must complete each day and using the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize critical jobs. You can also experiment with time trackers and scheduling tools to help you make the most of your day

One easy way to make time management more straightforward is to automate tasks whenever possible. Creating automated email campaigns, setting up inventory alerts, and even using automated tools to pay affiliates can save you much time.

8. Customer Service

Just because you’re not interacting with customers in person when you run an e-commerce store doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taking customer service seriously. Over 80% of customers say a positive customer service experience will encourage them to purchase from a company again.

Mastering your customer service skills as you build your ecommerce store can take time and effort. You’ll need to learn not just how to speak to customers but how to make their online experiences as frictionless as possible. This could mean upgrading your website design to make your store easier to navigate or improving your shipping times so products arrive quickly.

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It also means ensuring your customers can contact you with purchase issues. You can use tools like Shopify Inbox to offer live chat assistance or experiment with apps on the Shopify app store. Above all else, making sure you can listen to the feedback of your customers and adhere to their expectations is crucial.

9. Design and Development Skills

This is probably the most notable skill you’ll need to master if you’re building your Shopify store alone. Although there are templates and tools available through Shopify you can use to make the process easier, you’ll still need a basic knowledge of how to bring everything together.

Remember, it only takes 50 milliseconds for someone to form an impression of your online store. If your site is unattractive, difficult to navigate, or doesn’t work as expected, then you’re instantly going to lose customers. There are plenty of webinars and courses to learn more about UI and UX design and development.

However, the easiest way to ensure you’re successful at growing your store is to work with an expert. Hiring a Shopify Expert is an excellent way to quickly optimize your store for your specific goals without learning to do everything yourself.

Mastering the Skills to Grow your Shopify Store

Platforms like Shopify allow entrepreneurs to launch businesses and start selling products immediately. While these platforms reduce the barriers to entry for the ecommerce landscape, it’s still essential to ensure you’re developing the right skills.

The skills above will help you to run your Shopify store more effectively, attract the right customers to your website, and boost your chances of long-term growth.

If you are in a pinch and are looking for qualified and vetted talent, please check out our talent marketplace.

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