The eCommerce Academy

The eCommerce Academy - Practical eCommerce Learning

The eCommerce Academy is a boutique remote-learning institute designed to provide ROI-driven customised learning for people who want to become eCommerce/Digital leaders or gain a greater appreciation for eCommerce to enhance their own role.

The eCommerce Academy is "boutique" because it offers one-on-one or small group learning environments.

The eCommerce Academy was created for four reasons...

#1. The eCommerce channel is the most complex and impactful business channel in history and needs a dedicated teaching institution.

#2. The eCommerce department is the fastest growing of its kind around the world. The absence in the right standard/type of teaching has resulted in individuals in key positions who are not equipped to drive the online channel.

#3. The journey to learning eCommerce is a unique one. Regardless of a person's background, the methods to teach and absorb critical eCommerce principles cannot be taught in one way to a broad audience. Learning complex eCommerce principles is best done by wrapping teaching around the needs of an individual. This has been proven from over 20 years of teaching experience.

#4. The world needs a teaching institution founded in delivering ROI. The eCommerce Academy is the first eCommerce teaching institution that guarantees return on training budget investment (typically within 12 weeks): see more on this below. eCommerce teaching institutions need to be held accountable for what they are offering in their curriculums.

Read on to learn more about what is being taught and why its being taught. Or contact Greg Randall to learn more about how an eCommerce program of learning can be customised for you and/or your team. Email Greg at greg@commaconsulting.com.au.

ROI Driven Learning

It may sound cliche to say, "a business who invests in its people will see long term business value". Research proves this to be true, but the eCommerce Academy takes a short term ROI approach to help businesses justify training costs.

Even though "training budgets" must be spent, the eCommerce Academy focuses all course material to be practical AND commercial. This is achieved through lessons AND homework aligning to commercial interests of the business.

Once assignments are applied to the business, (with permission) the eCommerce Academy tracks the outcomes of the homework, proving the work translated to value.

This approach enhances student learning and justifies investment.

ROI is consistently occurring within 12 weeks.

What others had to say.....Bridget Harding - eCommerce Leader

When I started the eCommerce Academy I was nervous because I had no background in eCommerce other than my own online shopping experiences. Greg Randall's eCommerce Academy immersed me into a new world I never knew existed. Even though it was all new to me, Greg's methods of teaching made none of the topics daunting or scary.

Greg's ability to take complex eCommerce concepts and break them down into easy-to-understand principles was one reason I learnt so quickly. The second valuable part of the eCommerce Academy was how ALL course material was customised to my new role in eCommerce. Everything I learnt I was able to immediately apply to my job. This allowed everything to stick.

I can confidently say, if it was not for Greg Randall's eCommerce Academy, I would still be in customer service. Instead, I am in the exciting eCommerce space where I am now well respected in the community.

Why is the eCommerce Academy the best environment for learning?

#1. It's a customised teaching structure based on the needs of the individual or small group. There is a wide range of topics that can be taught (see topics below). The student (and/or the employers) can pick and choose.

#2. The small groups are comprised of people who know each other making this great team building.

#3. Homework is customised to benefit the business where the student is employed (assuming the employer is paying for the course). This practical approach cements learning.

#4. Once a course has been completed, there are ongoing Mentoring services on offer enabling students to keep in touch with Greg to ask questions. This serves as a valuable feedback loop for the Academy enriching future course material.

#5. Greg's experience in Consulting in eCommerce is over 20 years and he has been teaching eCommerce for over 15 years (see more below on Greg's experiences).

i am ready to start my ecommerce learning journey

About Your Professor - Greg Randall

Greg has been an international eCommerce strategist for over 20 years and continues to work with some of the largest brands in the world.

As a result of Greg continuing his work with international clients, he cannot take on many students, but you want that.

You want and need a customised learning environment from someone who is living and breathing eCommerce across an array of business environments in various global regions.

You want to be taught by someone who continues to be on the cusp of what works and what doesn't in this dynamic business channel.

Greg has degrees in Education, Sports Psychology, English Literature and a Masters in Business (specialising in Change Management). His background in Education means he knows how to articulate and present complex principles in a way that can be absorbed by anyone.

Greg is a published author of five eCommerce business books. Click here to see these publications.

Click here to learn more about Greg's background.

Who can benefit from the eCommerce Academy?

The Academy offers customised teaching solutions because every business professional can benefit.

The eCommerce channel no longer operates in a silo. It touches every department either directly or indirectly. For people who are immersed in eCommerce and those who are not, this Academy has something to offer everyone.

Consider the eCommerce channel as a unique weapon, and the eCommerce Academy is specialist combat training.

Below are some examples of who can benefit from the eCommerce Academy with a brief explanation as to why:

eCommerce Department Juniors: Employees joining the eCommerce department who have no previous experience in this channel.

Heads of eCommerce/Head of Digital: People who have experiences in eCommerce but seek a deeper understanding of how to use the eCommerce channel to drive business-wide growth.

Designers/Creatives: Knowing the wider principles of eCommerce enhances their role of a creative. User experience design has many eCommerce specific dependencies. Building out this appreciation turns a Designer into a Customer Experience Design specialist: a rare skill set.

Digital Marketers: To be successful in their role there must be harmony between Digital Marketing and eCommerce teams. For digital marketers to have a greater appreciation for eCommerce will make them far more effective in their role.

Software Solution Salespeople: Agencies and Software Technology vendors need to understand eCommerce principles if they are to engage with businesses and sell technical solutions which either integrate with or run alongside eCommerce platforms.

Managers/Management from other Departments: Every department is now influenced by the eCommerce channel. Managers will gain a deep perspective of the eCommerce channel and the need for inter-departmental collaboration to drive overall success. This will only enhance a Manager's ability to compliment this channel.

Members of the Executive Team: The eCommerce channel is now the business wide growth enabler. Driving the eCommerce channel is now part of every executive strategy. However, in order for the C Suite to truly leverage its power, these individuals require a greater understanding of the principles behind it in order to truly leverage it.

I am ready to start my eCommerce learning journey

Foundation eCommerce Topics

The topics needed to create eCommerce leaders

From over 20 years of teaching, the topics below represent the eCommerce foundation and is what i s needed for individuals to excel

Topic - Being Strategic with the eCommerce channel:

Research/case studies prove, those businesses who continue to grow during global crisis phases, like the Pandemic, do so because the online channel is strategically aligned to the entire business.

But how is this strategic alignment created? What does the strategic planning process look like to create a plan that drives this strategic alignment?

Students will get a hands-on exposure to this process and how to apply it to their own business.

Topic - Customer Experience Design – Creating amazing online journeys:

“Customer Experience Design” is the ability for retailers to create relevant and meaningful end to end experiences that match consumer’s needs and wants online and in store.

This is the center of the universe for the success of all businesses and is also referred to as UX or User Experience Design.

“Experience Design” planning is not a “design/creative” function. That is one small piece.

While some courses take a superficial look at this topic, this course conducts a deep dive into this process and will give students the confidence in leading “experience design planning” at the end of this course.

Topic - The Data, the mining process, and the insights needed to create customer empathy:

You will understand…

1. To plan online experiences requires empathy. You will comprehend how to become empathetic to customers and the target consumer.

2. Breaking down the data sets needed to bring forward the customer voice.

3. You will understand the differences between qualitative and quantitative data sets and how they are used to stitch together insights to build empathy for customers and target consumers which is then used to drive business critical decision making.

Topic - The power of Google Analytics:

The above “Data” topic extends out to introduce the power of Google Analytics which is the most underutilized business tool in the world.

You will gain a strong understanding of its power and how to pull out the right data to help a business make the right decision for change in a business.

Topic - The Role of Best Practice in eCommerce:

There is a science to the development and construction of intuitive online experiences due to the 30 years user interfaces have been around.

You will be introduced to such principles as “Interaction Cost” and will understand how to use this to plan new user experiences or enhance existing experiences in their own business.

The extension to this is understanding the role the subconscious mind takes in consumer online engagement and how to leverage Heuristics to prompt the right consumer behaviours resulting in more online buying.

Topic - eCommerce Technology – the Experience Design Enabler:

This topic tackles the process of taking a Customer Experience Design plan and apply it to eCommerce platforms. It’s one thing to plan experiences, but it’s an entirely different challenge in applying the plan to rules-based technologies (eCommerce Platforms).

Students will learn about the constraints that come with this process and how to overcome them to achieve the right results.

Specific effort will go into hands-on wireframe training and building, a key step in Experience Design planning process.

Topic - Understanding the power of the Tech Stack

This topic is broken down into two subsets...

1. Tech Stack and the Customer Experience Design:

Understanding how the Technology Architecture (this is the series of business systems and how they connect and talk to each other) influence end to end customer experiences and how tech stack planning plays a part in Customer Experience Design.

You will understand the process and principles of creating a customer centric business which starts with an Architecture Map/Diagram that can be submitted and used at the Executive Level to drive change.

This is a non-technical business centric method of defining system needs and system connectivity for the future.

2. Tech Stack and Personalisation:

This topic tackles how technology systems and system connectivity contribute to delivering personalisation. This topic will include the unpacking of the term personalisation and what it means to businesses and more importantly what it means to their customers.

This topic also covers the fundamentals segmentation and how email marketing software becomes a core instrument in personalisation strategy.

Homework Assignment for this topic:

The “Boxes and Arrows” drill. Create a boxes and arrows diagram of the exiting tech stack of your current company, then draw a new version of what this needs to look like to enhancing the customer experience design and prepare the business for personalisation capabilities.

Topic - Checkout Experiences:

Due to its importance and commercial impacts, specific effort will go into breaking down best practice checkout experiences so students can learn how and why this experience needs to be unique to your business to make it work.

Specific lessons will focus on the differences between one step and multi-step checkouts and how to construct amazing mobile checkout experiences. The key ingredients will be defined.

Topic - Planning for Change and Leading an RFP Process

The success in the selecting both a new eCommerce Platform and a new eCommerce Vendor (known as an RFP 'request for proposal' process) comes in two parts: the planning and the execution of the RFP.

You will learn the detail behind what is required to prepare the right planning documentation that perfectly represents the needs of a business and how this documentaiotn guides the selection process.

You will then learn the best practice RFP process. How best to select multiple eCommerce Platforms and eCommerce Agencies, and how to manage them to ensure they provide the types of responses a business needs to make the right selection,.

Topic - Leading an eCommerce Replatform Project:

You will learn…

How to business case and construct ROI calculations to justify investment in new eCommerce technologies/platforms?
How to plan and prepare for a replatform project (the act of replacing the current eCommerce technology).
How to lead and run a replatform project?
How to plan and lead specific projects where new technical enhancements are applied to an existing eCommerce platform.

Homework Assignment - Replatform Project:

Students will be taken through all key phases of a replafform project and will be shown how to lead and manage each primary phase. Some examples of the phases that will be addressed…

How to lead the wireframe briefing process
How to lead the visual design mock up process
How to manage technical teams during front end build and integration phases
How to communicate to stakeholders throughout the project
What does UAT need to look like to ensure the integrity of the Customer Experience Design plan remains intact

This topic includes the discussion of the two project development methodologies: “Agile” and “Waterfall”.

Topic - Digital Marketing for Growth - diagnosing and benchmarking Traffic Channels:

You will be taken through the following…

1. Push vs Pull. Differentiating between Push and Pull Marketing strategy. Understand the old school methods of communication and how this is no longer fit for purpose in the digital age.

2. Paid Search. Understanding the dynamics of branded vs unbranded paid search strategies and how this relates to Customer Experience Design planning.

3. SEO. Understand and unpack the complexities of SEO. Understand the future of SEO and what this looks like for a business. Learn about your role in SEO and how you can lead change to drive this function of the business.

4. Email Marketing. Breaking down how email can and should be the most profitable traffic channel. Differentiating between intentional planned messaging vs triggered/behavioural messaging.

The balance between new customer acquisition and customer retention. This topic then goes on to address customer lifetime value and what this means to businesses.

Topic - Good Company Structure vs Bad Company Structure:

For businesses to leverage the power of the online channel, evolving the eCommerce technology and the experiences are two pieces of a very big complex puzzle. However, another big piece is all about business preparation.

It’s not just a channel evolution, it’s a business-wide evolution.

Businesses are commonly structured in a way that sets the online channel up for failure. Businesses can spend literally millions on a fully capable eCommerce channel but IF the business structure and processes, which wrap around the eCommerce channel, are not set in the right way, the business will never realise its full potential.

This part of the course is designed to explain what good and bad business structures look like for students.

And students will learn what a business-wide evolution needs to look like to support the online channel and set/prepare a business for growth.

Topic - Vender/Platform/Agency Relationship Management:

How to create the perfect marriage between the business and the technical and advertising teams. What does this relationship need to look like in order for all to benefit?

Understand the importance of having harmony between Digital Marketing initiatives and the eCommerce channel. When these behave in isolation of each other, ROI becomes difficult to achieve.

Students will understand the role of Digital Agencies need to play in order for them to contribute to online growth.

I am ready to start my eCommerce learning journey