What is a successful e-commerce project?

What even is an e-commerce project? The definition can be quite broad. It might be a platform replacement or entirely new functionality on the site, or replacing your logistics, or outsourcing your customer service. In short, almost anything can be an e-commerce project. Let us for the moment just agree that your project in some way involves and affects your e-commerce.

I have worked with project management for over 20 years, and it has been drummed into me that a successful project is a project that the buyer considers successful. And in the classical definition of a project, where there is only one buyer, this is straightforward. But I would like to complicate things a little. Having sat many years on the vendor side as well as on the client side, my experience is that if you only think that I as the client should be happy and not the vendor, it will end with no one being happy. 

It is so easy to think as a client that you should tie your vendor down to a fixed price and squeeze every last drop out of the delivery. But I KNOW it will end with an unhappy vendor. And how does an unhappy vendor act? Do the best resources work overtime for you as a client, or does the vendor cut corners wherever possible? The answer is fairly obvious. 

A few years ago I was at a conference with two very different companies. One was successful with a well-known brand. The other was working hard to get traction on its business and sales. The struggling e-commerce operator pulled me aside one evening and wondered how the other, successful e-commerce operator got so much done and moved at such pace. What were they doing differently? I described how the successful e-commerce operator had bought a team of X consultants and then continuously discussed with them what to do. The team worked on and were given time to improve and prioritise together. They discussed whether something was more or less complicated and complex. The team could question design and choices and features. Everything was up for discussion. The struggling e-commerce operator was completely stunned. They could not imagine not having detailed estimates on everything, and why they should pay for rewriting code that needed refactoring, and so on. It was unthinkable to work like that. Then you would not have detailed control over the vendor. And what if the estimates did not hold? How would you hold them accountable? You could be taken for a ride. 

I probably do not need to tell you which of these two has more than multiplied its revenue several times over and has a world-class e-commerce operation today, and which one you have never heard of. It has happened more than once that I have met clients who cannot understand that their rock-hard negotiation and pressure on the vendor delivers a team that is less motivated to perform. The commercial deal and the contract are not decoupled from the delivery.  

The very best projects are the ones where you have respect for each other. Where you build a real partnership. Where you actually pay for quality and trust each other. Believe me, I have seen it again and again. Short-term thinking gives short-term results, but think long-term if you want to be a winner.  

For help with putting these tips into practice for you, get in touch with us at Commerce Mind. We are experts at helping companies move faster with their digital commerce.