Electronic commerce or e-commerce is a sunrise industry where buying and selling takes place over the internet. It dwells on technology like mobile commerce, supply chain management, electronic funds transfer, online transaction processing, internet marketing, electronic data interchange, automated data collection and inventory management systems.
With the deployment of numerous functionalities, the need for skilled professionals has also plummeted. The following article will discuss about e-commerce as a business and the work opportunities it creates.
About e-Commerce
While there is always a requirement for entry-level programmers, the e-Commerce sector also offers excellent scope for senior-level IT professionals due to the development of conceptual integration projects at high levels. Online marketing pros are experiencing an increasing demand for their aptitude and skills as technology firms chalk out case studies that reflect the success of e-commerce investments and e-mail marketing.
The Remuneration for the Technical Staff
Productive minds behind online marketing and e-commerce are fast replacing the incompetent CEOs when it comes to spinning the virtual world to their advantage. The lower end of the pay scale in the e-commerce industry starts at US$25,000 on an average for jobs such as creative directors and online marketers. The more tech-savvy experts at bigger companies are drawing over $150,000 a year.
An e-commerce site’s structure is created with Java, thus, Java e-Commerce Developers are an extremely significant part of the workforce. They are responsible for the development, design and maintenance of e-commerce transactions. According to the pay, application and network engineers and multimedia developers start working with a minimum pay of $50,000, while the senior Java developers take home an average annual salary of $150,000. On the creative front, there are big opportunities for designers to design advanced interfaces for web browsers for handheld devices that get in-store messages from offline retailers.
Future Scope
There is further scope for more digitalization of order management and inventory processes, which are likely to generate more job opportunities in these segments.
Opportunities for Photographers, Stylists and Models
E-commerce websites are mainly online retailers selling products and services from books and clothing to electronic and cosmetics. To improve the means of communication and increase the appeal of a commodity, sites have to put up attractive pictures which may demand an entire team of production, including photographers, stylists, make-up artists and models. The companies also require high-quality descriptive content in the form of captions and specs. This is where the need for writers comes in.
The production team that comes together to make a product more coveted to shoppers hires models to pose as online mannequins, providing them a new source of income and a brighter scope for a career in modeling.
According to online retailers and modeling agencies, models earn about $50,000 and e-commerce firms are ripe with modeling opportunities for professionals who can show off their products and boost sales.
The Upcoming MarketsÂÂ
Among the various developing online shopping markets, the Indian e-commerce industry is emerging at a phenomenal rate, generating a plethora of job opportunities with it. Even though the country has made a late entry to the sphere of e-commerce, it is fast catching up with global players like Amazon.com, eBay and Walmart.com.
With new Indian start-ups and other e-commerce multinationals arriving in India or setting up back-office operations here, professional opportunities are immense, especially in functionalities like IT, analytics, search engine marketing, back-office, online merchandising, marketing, content writing, fashion designing, styling and photography. Companies are seeking educated and skilled staff to pull their business to the next level.
Some of the other work positions created are in the areas of marketing, web programming, digital marketing, management, merchandising, copywriting and digital content editing.
The Industry Players
Over the past few years, the Indian e-commerce industry had seen a major dominance of travel portal, but now e-tailer sites like Flipkart, FashionAndYou, Myntra.com, Yebhi.com and Jabong.com have acquired a major chunk of the pie. These companies have been raising the number of employee and have been strategizing aggressively for the future.
The portal Myntra.com has boosted its headcount by five folds to 1,100 in 2012, while FashionAndYou had 1,500 personnel with further plans to expand.
The biggest of the lot, Flipkart’s staff strength was up to 5,000 from a mere 1,500 the previous year. Headquartered in Bangalore, Flipkart has been a pioneer in the Indian e-commerce industry.
The company, which started out as a humble venture, is a mid-sized company supported with a solid funding of $31 million. The enterprise has ambitious plans to expand its network of distribution centers, warehouses, 24X7 customer support groups and procurement operations. These plans are going to create several new jobs at Flipkart. Flipkart jobs will be made available across the following categories Website, ERP, Business Planning and Analytics, Business Development, Supply-Chain Management, Customer Support and Product Management and Marketing. Flipkart Careers are presently offering jobs for the positions of Visual Designers, Team Leader Logistics, and Human Resources.
About the Author: Devika Arora
Devika is a prolific writer who compiles relevant facts and analyzes current state of affairs pertaining to varied domains, including employment and online job search. She is currently writing informative articles, news stories and blog posts related to internet marketing and e-commerce portals.