Marketplace manager: how to find a really competent specialist

Marketplaces are online hypermarkets where any seller can place their goods. These platforms are becoming popular — in 2020, marketplace turnover tripled, and growth continues in 2021. The profession of a marketplace manager – an employee who manages the company’s products, services and promotion on these sites, is becoming more and more popular, and specialists are in demand.

What does a marketplace manager do

The manager responsible for marketplaces can be called a superhero. What are his responsibilities?

• Registration on the marketplace.
• Market monitoring
• Monitoring prices.
• Monitoring competitors.
• Updating knowledge on platform rules.
• Shop profile design.
• Create product cards.
• Updating prices and descriptions.
• Sales and bounce analytics, use of special services.
• Develop a plan to promote and increase sales.
• Place orders.
• Control of dispatch of orders, delivery and storage of goods.
• Residue control.
• Processing reviews, answering customer questions and dealing with negative feedback.
• Reporting
• Document management.
• Search for freelancers: photographers, designers, copywriters, etc.

Here, for example, are the duties in one of the vacancies in the region (the salary level is 40 thousand rubles).

Sometimes the responsibilities of an inhouse marketplace manager include goods acceptance, labeling, preparation for shipment to the site warehouse.

Each company determines the duties and workload of the manager. Some marketplace managers manage only one store, others up to 10. An employee can connect to an existing account or start a campaign from the very beginning, by creating a seller profile on the site.

Thus, the marketplace manager must understand on which platform the product will sell better and how to achieve this. If earlier these tasks were divided between several employees, modern realities require sociability and versatility of one person.

Finding a marketplace manager with all these skills is difficult; the price of his services is high, especially if you are looking for a staff member. As a rule, it is much more profitable to involve a marketing agency. In addition to its own marketplace specialist, there are copywriters, editors, SERM specialists on staff who will work with content and reviews. It is very convenient to combine promotion on the marketplace with SEO: in this way, the product card will be on the first line in the search results, and the user will be able to immediately go to the order without considering competitors’ products in the catalog.

Related material: Online reputation management: promotion of goods on marketplaces

Required Marketplace Manager Skills

A marketplace manager has a lot of professional and personal merits. Among them:

• understanding internet marketing and ecommerce. Online commerce is different from offline. But they are united by knowledge of the audience and competitors, the ability to present the product;
• understanding the specifics of marketplaces. A specialist must understand algorithms, select the most profitable sites in terms of commission, popularity among the audience. The manager compares the seller’s capabilities with the site’s requirements: for example, whether the requested commission will suit the client, whether storage space is needed, etc.;
• Document management skills. It is required to study and conclude contracts with the site, suppliers, transport companies, specialists. The manager also prepares reports for the customer and the marketplace based on the results of work, calculates commissions and performs reconciliation;
• knowledge of the law. To avoid problems with regulatory authorities, you need to understand the nuances of online trading. For example, for the sale of goods of foreign production, certificates are required. Thus, the seller becomes the official representative on the platform;
• the ability to work with content. Content refers to texts, photos, presentations, infographics, etc. You need to have at least a minimum level of knowledge of graphic editors, write optimized descriptions, and select attractive headings. The alternative is to quickly find copywriters, photographers, designers who perform these tasks with high quality;
• the ability to use promotion tools. To do this, you need to delve into SMM, targeting, advertising strategies, etc.;
• SERM specialist skills. The marketplace manager often works with reviews on the platform: it is important to neutralize the negative, demonstrate the company’s expertise, and encourage buyers to leave positive comments;
• Analytical mindset. Many analytics services have been developed, but they show the effectiveness of already created content. The manager, on the basis of the results obtained, must develop a promotion strategy.

How much do marketplace managers earn

Over the past 2 years, the number of vacancies for managers working with trading platforms has increased significantly. Employers realized that the future lies with marketplaces: the audience is constantly expanding, now not only young people, but also the older generation are buying in online hypermarkets. How much do employers rate the work of managers?

On hh.ru, the minimum salary threshold is 20,000 rubles, on Avito – 10,000 rubles. The average is 50,000 rubles. But it is important to understand how experienced the manager is. The more practice, the higher the pay, but at the same time, the employee has more responsibilities. Let’s take a closer look.

Marketplace manager without experience

10,000-40,000 rubles The working functionality is limited: a person fills out cards, answers customer reviews and questions. Some vacancies involve part-time employment.

Junior marketplace manager

40,000-100,000 rubles Experience has already been gained, so responsibilities are expanding. It is difficult to say what will be added to the duties – analytics, control of deliveries and the quantity of goods. They are determined by the customer himself and agreed with the applicant.

Middle Marketplace Manager

100,000-150,000 rubles This requires a demonstration of successful work with projects on marketplaces. The employee will manage the campaign “from and to”, be responsible for logistics and warehouse fullness.

Senior marketplace manager

150,000-no limit. Such a marketplace manager will bring the seller to payback and will lead the campaign from the first step. Responsible for sales strategy and brand promotion, contacts with platforms, supplier employees. Experience is required, salary directly depends on sales volume.

There are three ways to pay for the services of a marketplace manager:

• salary. Limited amount. Income does not depend on the results of work, only on the time spent;
• salary +%. The base part is minimal (for example, 10,000 rubles), and the percentage is small. The final amount of payment depends on the efficiency of the manager. This option is suitable for beginners who are just mastering the principles of work, in any case they will receive a reward;
• %. The salary depends on the results of the work. There is no maximum bar, but there is also no minimum salary.

A full-time specialist is an employee who is required by far not all companies. It is often more profitable to order a service from a marketing agency: after all, a person in the state needs not only to pay a salary, but he needs to be trained and supervised. And agencies perform no less functions than a marketplace manager at the Middle or Senior level. For example, the cost of promotion on the marketplace from the Exiterra agency is up to 4,500 rubles per unit of goods. Check out the rates and get analytics for free!

Where and how to find a marketplace manager

Despite the large number of offers, it is difficult to find a worthy marketplace manager. Some companies train employees from 0, but this is not always justified: courses are expensive, information is quickly forgotten and outdated, an employee has to switch between familiar tasks and maintaining marketplaces.

Two sources are often considered:

• Online exchanges, specialized sites. But here you can only check the artist by experience – reviews and portfolios will help. There is always a risk that a freelancer will switch to another project. Also try to make sure to conclude a contract – the manager will know information about purchase prices and sales. Can you be sure that he will not use this data or sell it to competitors?
• Marketing agency. A priority option, as managers select a strategy for any budget. You can only transfer the filling of cards, or you can entrust the full management of the campaign. There are different tariffs: you can start with the most budgetary, and then, making sure of professionalism, entrust more tasks. You will not encounter a sudden loss of a specialist: even if your marketplace manager quits, a replacement will be quickly found for him and the campaign will not suffer. The agency also employs copywriters, SERM-specialists, SEO-specialists — with their help, the marketplace manager will receive the necessary content, and the cards will quickly come out on top.