7 Ways E-Commerce Marketers Are Evolving Their Roles and Teams in 2021

All too often, the human side of e-commerce marketing is overlooked. It’s tempting to focus on new technologies that shape e-commerce marketing, but equally important are the marketing professionals who implement those tools. There's a gap in the industry’s understanding of e-commerce marketing teams and how they've evolved alongside technology.

That is why the team at Sidecar (where I work) developed the 2021 E-Commerce Marketer Survey. We asked marketers who specialize in online retail in North America about the top skills, talent and processes their teams want to adopt in the year ahead. The survey also explores the biggest challenges e-commerce marketers face, their approach to automation vs. human-led strategy, data, and much more.

For example, we were surprised to find that only 38 percent of e-commerce marketers make the majority of their marketing decisions based on data. There's a significant runway for growth, which points to untapped opportunities for e-commerce marketers.

Insights like this will help e-commerce marketers identify new opportunities to advance their teams and perform at peak in 2021. Following are the top findings from our report and seven key trends that will define e-commerce marketing teams in 2021 and beyond.

Mike Perekupka is the director of product marketing at Sidecar. He specializes in data, technology, and retail. He's an expert in statistics and mathematics, and guides retail marketers in strategies and best practices for data-driven decision making.