Mastering eCommerce Product Management: Skills, Strategies & Best Practices for Growth
The Product Manager position is quite trendy now in its many forms (Product Owner in Scrum, Digital Product Manager, SaaS PM, Digital Business Partner, Product Engineer—a ton of new roles!).
As a product person, you need to juggle communication with different stakeholders, master your soft skills, and build upon your hard skills for real hands-on work! Being T-shaped would be too limited to describe the long list of skills and deep expertise you should have.
You may have a laundry list of experiences and skills, which is great, but if you are excited about building and creating, then I see a clear rationale for the career transition you want to make. So yes, if you’ve worked in eCommerce or marketing, I bet you can be a better eCommerce Product Manager. You may need some basics, and I hope this article helps you.
Also, if you are a great Product Manager, you know that bringing something of value to the market requires relentless prioritization. It’s one of the most important characteristics of your job. You can be a Product Manager for a digital property or eCommerce if you acquire the hard skills in those domains.
I’ve often been asked why I’ve moved from one position to another. I don’t regret any decision I’ve made so far because each has shaped the person I want to be and helped me grow. Don’t limit yourself if you want to make a change—transferable skills are important.
I have experience in eCommerce, SaaS, and hundreds of web projects across industries. I admit that I love websites, and my contributions have expanded from content audits and SEO structure to recommendations regarding information architecture, content strategy, technical requirements for engineers, and funnel optimization. From the outside, it may look like you are specialized in one area, but in reality, to be a good eCommerce consultant, you need to be a real eCommerce Product Manager. Don’t be afraid to take the leap.
eCommerce Product Management - Why and What
Today, I’m sharing my stance on eCommerce Product Management—what it is, why it’s important, and some concrete examples. I decided to write this because I recently worked on an exciting eCommerce project and want to share my experience.
Some Truths and Myths Debunked
You need a developer and a designer.
You need an eCommerce consultant.
Your Analytics ninja will do a great job.
Your content team will put all the pieces together.
You need to put your architecture in place.
Analyze your past performance.
And the list goes on…
All of these hold true when you have a new eCommerce website or embark on a new digital project. You need technology, design, business, and administration in place, along with a solid marketing strategy.
Do you need a product expert?
NO, it’s just a website. It’s just eCommerce.
You’re WRONG. Your eCommerce website is a digital product on its own, and as long as it exists to solve a problem (someone needs to buy from you for a specific reason) and has a business model behind it, then yes, you need a Product Manager for key projects or ongoing activities. Without one, you risk spending money on engineering without clear direction.
Beware: Many great eCommerce specialists excel in analytics, but they may not know how to translate their requests into technical requirements—and that’s a problem. Don’t annoy your developers. They are too smart to waste time building something just for the sake of it.
Why Do You Need an eCommerce Product Manager?
This person is the glue between business, product development, engineering, design, marketing, content, and users. If you can afford it, invest in product growth. If not, bring in an expert, especially if the digital project is complex and impacts the business and users.
Do you ask yourself:
What images do we need to tell our brand story?
What’s the mobile layout and experience?
What products should we showcase from our catalog?
Where do I place my newsletter form to capture leads?
Where should testimonials be placed?
Which provider should I use for reviews?
Which CMS should I use (Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce)?
Which content tools will help my eCommerce team?
If so, you need someone to orchestrate all this and bring more value. Beyond that, communication and translating information between teams is critical.
eCommerce Product Manager Tasks
Optimize product assortment and category presentation
Design the UX and user flow of the website
Drive experimentation for business results
Focus on growth and acquisition
Conduct content audits to refine content strategy
Review & recommend CMS solutions
Select an eCommerce provider for reviews (Yotpo, Bazaarvoice, Trustpilot)
Define eCommerce metrics & track KPIs
Conduct competitive research
Plan and review landing pages, user stories & checkout flows
Prioritize testing with the biggest impact (A/B testing, trust signals, testimonials, etc.)
Own the roadmap to continuously drive eCommerce growth
What Tools Do You Need?
Prioritization & trade-off mindset
Attention to detail & clear communication
Ability to say ‘NO’ firmly but politely
A positive, solution-oriented attitude
Recommended tools:
Google Analytics
Tableau
Google Ads & Search Console
Hotjar
Optimizely
JIRA / Confluence
Balsamiq or Figma
Trello, Asana, or Monday.com
SQL (for eCommerce data insights)
Final Thoughts
You cannot improve what you don’t measure. Track, measure, experiment, and incorporate feedback quickly.
One of the key components of ongoing work is effectively reporting findings and business results to secure more buy-in, resources, and continuous improvement for your eCommerce website.
Example: An eCommerce User Story
Title: Fixed Header
Description: Ensure the company’s contact details remain visible throughout the site.
As a visitor,
I want to see the company’s phone number and email address at all times,
So that I can easily contact support.
Requirements:
The header is fixed while scrolling.
It includes the company address, phone number, delivery details, guarantees, and trust signals.
Non-functional: The header must be non-obtrusive and mobile-friendly.
Acceptance Criteria (Gherkin Format):
Given I scroll down the page,
When I look at the upper part of my screen,
Then I can see a header displaying the company name, phone number, and address.
Takeaway
Break down work into Epics & prioritize them.
Keep user stories clear, actionable, and value-driven.
Define acceptance criteria to ensure completion.
I hope you’ve learned something from this, no matter your background. Now, go take on your next challenge!
Need some product management help for your ecommerce? Contact me and see how I can help!
