Ecommerce Confessions: How 1,000+ Store Owners Spend Their Time
Let’s talk shop.
We surveyed 1000+ store owners about what it takes to keep their ecommerce shops running smoothly. Turns out, it takes a lot of time and various roles to run a successful ecommerce store.
This is especially true now, when each new day seems to bring new headlines and new challenges for your store. So how are shop owners investing their time? And where do they see the greatest return for that investment?
Take a look at the insights we discovered in Ecommerce Confessions: How 1,000+ Store Owners Spend Their Time.
Thank you!
The guide is on its way to your inbox. Check it out and start revolutionizing your store.
Here’s a preview of what we cover.
- 70% of shop owners take on two or more roles daily, and 53% take on three or more roles. And we discovered which roles are getting in the way and which ones owners see as the biggest key to growth in the upcoming year.
- Respondents only spend an average of 7.8 hours per week on marketing—even among those store owners who say it’s their top priority for the upcoming year. And 15% don’t work on marketing at all.
- When faced with bandwidth limitations, the most common response is for store owners to roll up their sleeves and do everything themselves (30%) instead of hiring an outside team or utilizing technology. Unfortunately, there are perceived challenges that stop store owners from leaning more heavily on technology that actually have simple solutions.
- Only 16% of people believe their time is spent effectively—meaning 84% do not.
- Store owners who make more than $1M in revenue are most likely to spend their time with customers or working on operations and finance, while store owners with revenue around $500k and below are more likely to spend their time working on product creation and innovation.
Get the guide. Revolutionize your store.
What do these findings mean for you in the current economic climate?
Data is the lifeblood of your business, but when it comes time to actually plan your week, month, or year, you’ll need more than the numbers.
In the guide, you’ll learn not only where people report spending their time, but also where that time proves to have a powerful return on investment.
Thank you!
The guide is on its way to your inbox. Check it out and start revolutionizing your store.
Nothing but the numbers.
We had over 1,000 respondents give us responses to the following questions. Some questions required only one response while others allowed for multiple answers to be selected.
If you’re into raw data, here it is. If you want to see how the numbers can make a difference for you, download the guide.
What is your annual revenue?
| Less than $50,000 | 15% |
| $50,000 to $150,000 | 22% |
| $150,000 to $500,000 | 19% |
| $500,000 to $1M | 18% |
| $1M to $5M | 17% |
| More than $5M | 8% |
What is your team size?
| Just myself | 18% |
| 2-9 | 47% |
| 10-24 | 21% |
| 25-49 | 12% |
| 50+ | 0 |
How long has your business been operating?
| Less than one year | 4% |
| 1 year | 7% |
| 2 years | 15% |
| 3 to 5 years | 22% |
| More than 5 years | 52% |
In a typical week, how many hours do you work?
| 0-20 hours | 6% |
| 21-30 hours | 9% |
| 31-40 hours | 34% |
| 41-50 hours | 31% |
| 51-60 hours | 13% |
| 61-70 hours | 4% |
| 71-80 hours | 1% |
| 80+ hours per week | 2% |
What ecommerce platform do you use?
| Shopify | 56% |
| WooCommerce | 16% |
| BigCommerce | 28% |
| Other | 20% |
What are the primary roles that you’re responsible for on a daily basis?
| Administration and HR | 50% |
| Customer support and sales | 57% |
| IT | 32% |
| Marketing | 51% |
| Operations and finance | 64% |
| Product creation and innovation | 40% |
| Other | 2% |
How many hours do you spend on each specific task in an average week?
| Administration and HR | 7.6 hrs |
| Customer support and sales | 9.2 hrs |
| IT | 6.5 hrs |
| Marketing | 7.8 hrs |
| Operations and finance | 10.5 hrs |
| Product creation and innovation | 8.7 hrs |
| Other | 8.0 hrs |
Do you believe your time is spent effectively?
| No | 84% |
| Yes | 16% |
If you had more time, which field would you most want to spend it on?
| Administration and HR | 6% |
| Customer support and sales | 21% |
| IT | 9% |
| Marketing | 33% |
| Operations and finance | 14% |
| Product creation and innovation | 16% |
| Other | 1% |
What are the hurdles that prevent you from investing more in email automation within your business?
| Cost | 40% |
| Security concerns | 24% |
| Lack of knowledge | 29% |
| Privacy concerns | 22% |
| Not sure how to find the right tool | 25% |
| Not enough time to set up automation | 25% |
| Lack of personnel to manage solutions | 27% |
| Other | 6% |
Which of your current duties are getting in the way of your top priority initiatives?
| Administration and HR | 29% |
| Customer support and sales | 31% |
| IT | 23% |
| Marketing | 24% |
| Operations and finance | 32% |
| Product creation and innovation | 19% |
| Other | 5% |
How do you solve bandwidth limitations?
| Delegate and/or hire a team in-house | 21% |
| Delegate to an outside agency or freelancer(s) | 20% |
| I manage everything myself | 30% |
| Utilize technology to automate certain processes | 28% |
| Other (please specify) | 1% |
Which explanation fits your store’s approach to each of the following areas of business improvement?
| Not applicable | Not worth time or resources | Want to improve, but lack skill set | We do this well | |
| Automating and personalizing email campaigns | 6% | 8% | 40% | 45% |
| Growing your social media following | 4% | 6% | 42% | 45% |
| Incorporating a new technology | 7% | 6% | 42% | 45% |
| Leveraging customer reviews across platforms | 5% | 6% | 43% | 46% |
| Promoting highly-rated products | 4% | 3% | 43% | 50% |
| Gathering UGC for promotional materials | 6% | 7% | 44% | 42% |
What initiatives are your competitors pursuing that you don’t have the bandwidth to match?
| Automating and personalizing email campaigns | 30% |
| Growing your social media following | 36% |
| Incorporating a new technology | 24% |
| Generating and leveraging customer reviews across platforms | 24% |
| Promoting your highly-rated products across platforms | 30% |
| Gathering user-generated content | 25% |
| Blogging, podcasting, and/or creating videos | 33% |
| Investing in paid media | 40% |
| Other | 4% |
What one area will be the biggest key to your success in 2020?
| Administration and HR | 6% |
| Customer support and sales | 21% |
| IT | 9% |
| Marketing | 33% |
| Operations and finance | 14% |
| Product creation and innovation | 16% |
| Other | 1% |
What area is taking the most time in 2020?
| Administration and HR | 9% |
| Customer support and sales | 23% |
| IT | 9% |
| Marketing | 22% |
| Operations and finance | 20% |
| Product creation and innovation | 17% |
| Other | 1% |
Do you have technology in place to cut down the time you spend on administrative tasks?
| No | 49% |
| Yes | 51% |
Do you have technology in place to cut down the time you spend on ecommerce tasks?
| No | 60% |
| Yes | 40% |
Do you have technology in place to cut down the time you spend on marketing?
| No | 65% |
| Yes | 35% |
What task provides the most return for your time? Ranked from 1 (best return) to 6 (worst return).
| Best | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Worst | |
| Administration and HR | 7% | 11% | 11% | 16% | 20% | 27% |
| Customer support and sales | 24% | 21% | 17% | 12% | 10% | 7% |
| IT | 7% | 9% | 11% | 18% | 21% | 27% |
| Marketing | 22% | 21% | 17% | 14% | 10% | 9% |
| Operations and finance | 15% | 14% | 19% | 20% | 17% | 8% |
| Product creation and innovation | 17% | 17% | 17% | 12% | 13% | 15% |
Just because you can do it all doesn’t mean you should have to.
With all the tools you need to connect your store and grow your brand using automated email marketing, CM Commerce lets you take off your email hat and get back to running your business.
Learn more about how CM Commerce takes care of business for you here, or start your free trial here.