According to recent research from NRF, 3.6 million stores draw on a vast array of suppliers and support 42 million jobs and $2.5 trillion of annual GDP in the U.S. While the impact of the industry just keeps growing, a very important part of that is the double-digit growth area of digital. According to the Shop.org and Forrester Research 2011 State of Retailing Online Report: Merchandising, Headcount & Global Strategies, as the web has grown in importance, we’re seeing retailers invest in the additional staff needed to support their growing businesses. In general, the average online retailer reported web dedicated teams of full-time hire counts (excluding customer service and fulfillment) of 50 employees and 29% expect to increase full-time headcount between 10-20% for web and e-commerce teams. These numbers show conservative increases given the overall growth in the e-commerce channel, but growth nonetheless. So where are these retailers investing in additional headcount for their teams? In general, web retailers are investing in the following: * Mobile: According to our survey, increased web traffic from mobile devices and lofty goals for mobile to drive sales is sparking jobs for mobile-savvy retailers. About 44% of retailers say they plan to hire full-time employees dedicated to mobile efforts. * Merchandising: Over 58% of online retailers plan to add headcount in the areas of merchandising, a core component of an e-commerce business focused on website design and usability, customer experience, product categorization and details, and conversion. * Analytics: More devices being used at increasing frequency means retailers have access to more data than ever before. But, what good is the data without time to efficiently manage the volume, analyze it, and turn insights into action? A deeper dive into data from site and vendor analytics are enough to push 46% of retailers surveyed to add headcount to their analytics function in the coming year. Overall, we’re seeing conservative growth taking place, but job creation when it matters most. At Shop.org, we’re proud that for years, our community has supported the retail community with our own job board, dedicated to helping retailers and the technology providers that support retail to help find and hire talent. In fact, in just the last month, over 50 jobs in the digital space were posted at companies including: Bed Bath & Beyond, Henri Bendel, Office Depot, The Home Depot, ModCloth, Talbots, and The Tractor Supply Company. As retail continues to power millions of jobs around the United States (and around the world) we can only predict that retailers with a strong and growing web team will lead the pack as consumers continue to expect and demand better, stronger, and faster personalization, product availability, and customer service at every screen (and store) at their disposal. 42 million strong, and counting…

Go to article

According to recent research from NRF, 3.6 million stores draw on a vast array of suppliers and support 42 million jobs and $2.5 trillion of annual GDP in the U.S. While the impact of the industry just keeps growing, a very important part of that is the double-digit growth area of digital.
According to the Shop.org and Forrester Research 2011 State of Retailing Online Report: Merchandising, Headcount & Global Strategies, as the web has grown in importance, we’re seeing retailers invest in the additional staff needed to support their growing businesses.

In general, the average online retailer reported web dedicated teams of full-time hire counts (excluding customer service and fulfillment) of 50 employees and 29% expect to increase full-time headcount between 10-20% for web and e-commerce teams. These numbers show conservative increases  given the overall growth in the e-commerce channel, but growth nonetheless.
So where are these retailers investing in additional headcount for their teams? In general, web retailers are investing in the following:

• Mobile:  According to our survey, increased web traffic from mobile devices and lofty goals for mobile to drive sales is sparking jobs for mobile-savvy retailers. About 44% of retailers say they plan to hire full-time employees dedicated to mobile efforts.
•  
• Merchandising:  Over 58% of online retailers plan to add headcount in the areas of merchandising, a core component of an e-commerce business focused on website design and usability, customer experience, product categorization and details, and conversion.
•  
• Analytics: More devices being used at increasing frequency means retailers have access to more data than ever before. But, what good is the data without time to efficiently manage the volume, analyze it, and turn insights into action?  A deeper dive into data from site and vendor analytics are enough to push 46% of retailers surveyed to add headcount to their analytics function in the coming year.

Overall, we’re seeing conservative growth taking place, but job creation when it matters most. At Shop.org, we’re proud that for years, our community has supported the retail community with our own job board, dedicated to helping retailers and the technology providers that support retail to help find and hire talent.  In fact, in just the last month, over 50 jobs in the digital space were posted at companies including: Bed Bath & Beyond, Henri Bendel, Office Depot, The Home Depot, ModCloth, Talbots, and The Tractor Supply Company.

As retail continues to power millions of jobs around the United States (and around the world) we can only predict that retailers with a strong and growing web team will lead the pack as consumers continue to expect and demand better, stronger, and faster personalization, product availability, and customer service at every screen (and store) at their disposal.

42 million strong, and counting…