Fundamentals of eCommerce
Whether you’re starting up or scaling up, discover the strategies, tactics, tools, and platforms to grow your eCommerce business.
Duration
Approx 12 weeks3 hrs per week
Learn how to build a successful eCommerce website from start to finish
eCommerce is going through explosive growth. The adoption of eCommerce by shoppers and businesses has seen a step-change recently. And with smartphones in the hands of every shopper, eCommerce is forecast to keep growing to become a way of life.
If you can develop strong eCommerce strategies, you’ll be able to reach new customers around the world and open up a huge new market online.
This ExpertTrack is specifically designed to help you create your eCommerce strategy from scratch or, if you’re already up and running with your eCommerce business, this course will teach you how to grow and scale. You’ll learn everything you need to know to grow and scale your eCommerce business.
Explore the core frameworks to manage your eCommerce business
eCommerce can be a confusing industry especially considering all of the decisions you need to make when starting out.
On the first course in this ExpertTrack, you’ll delve into the basics of eCommerce, comparing the different business models and setting out a framework to manage your tasks. You’ll then assess the numerous platforms available and decide which one best suits your business.
Get to know your customers
Understanding your customers is one of the most important parts of any business, especially eCommerce. The deeper your knowledge of your target audience, the better you can position your products to sell.
You’ll look at how your products are going to be searched and browsed for, and how you can best display them on your site to create the most revenue growth opportunity for your store. You’ll also cover how to create a great customer value proposition to ensure customers visit, stay, and return, and how to get great customer reviews to boost your social proof.
Succeed online with robust eCommerce strategies and processes
Once you’ve built your foundations of eCommerce knowledge, you’ll start to bring everything together to help you develop strategies and processes to grow your business. You’ll also look at key performance indicators (KPIs) and how best to define and measure success in eCommerce.
Learn with eCommerce and marketing expert Colin Lewis
Colin is a coach, advisor, and facilitator in marketing and eCommerce across Europe and the Middle East to brands such as Unilever, Samsung, Britvic, TK Maxx, Facebook, and Experian.
Having taught eCommerce for over 10 years, Colin is uniquely positioned to help you set up your eCommerce store and grow your business successfully.
Key skills you will learn
- Business models
- eCommerce platforms
- Customer personas
- SEO
- Customer acquisition
- eCommerce strategy
- Digital marketing
- Performance indicators
Learning outcomes
By the end of the ExpertTrack, you’ll be able to...
- Apply the 9Ps and 4Cs of eCommerce: the discrete activities and processes that underpin every aspect of an eCommerce business
- Explore your customer, customer segments and their real needs
- Experiment to grow your eCommerce store using multiple channels
- Calculate and measure metrics and KPIs
- Evaluate your competition
- Identify eCommerce platforms that you need to power your store
Experience required
No previous experience is necessary, as this Expert Track is designed to bring you from Novice in Expert in just 12 weeks. Some knowledge of digital marketing would be helpful.
Getting started
This ExpertTrack will suit you at any stage in your eCommerce journey. This course will be useful to you whether you:
- are new to eCommerce and wish to create a business from scratch,
- have a few years of eCommerce experience and want to scale and grow your business, or
- are working in the eCommerce industry and would like to upgrade your skills, knowledge, and learn best practices.
ExpertTrack course overview
Course 1
How to Get Started in eCommerce
4.5 (6 reviews)Discover the basics of eCommerce and develop frameworks to boost your chances of success when selling online.
1 test
3 weeks
3 hours per week
Course 2
Research and Prepare: Understand eCommerce Customers, Products, and Propositions
Explore how to research your target shopper, understand how they discover products on the digital shelf, and capture reviews.
1 test
3 weeks
3 hours per week
Course 3
Grow and Scale Your eCommerce Business
Discover how to grow your eCommerce store using the best marketing techniques to acquire, convert, engage, and retain customers.
1 test
3 weeks
3 hours per week
Course 4
Creating and Measuring Success in eCommerce
Learn how to develop clear and effective strategies to run your eCommerce business and measure success.
1 test
3 weeks
3 hours per week
Prove you're job ready
Highlight the new, job-relevant skills you’ve gained and supplement existing qualifications with a hard-earned, industry-specific digital certificate – plus one for every course within your ExpertTrack.
- Learn the latest in your chosen industry or subject.
- Complete each course and pass assessments.
- Receive certificates validated by the educating organisation.
- Impress employers with learning outcomes you can add to your CV.
- Make your career dreams a reality.
Download a PDF
How ExpertTracks work
Join an ExpertTrack to master new skills in your chosen specialist area. Work through a series of topic-focused courses at your own pace, and pass the final assessment to earn a digital certificate award which proves your expertise.
Decide if the ExpertTrack is right for you with free access to the full suite of courses and assessments for a week.
Pay a monthly subscription fee of $39 for as long as it takes you to complete the ExpertTrack. You can learn at your own pace and cancel at any time.
Receive a certificate for every completed course and pass the final assessment to earn a digital certificate.
Use your specialist training to progress further in your career or build expertise in areas you’re passionate about.
World-class learning with Colin Lewis
Multi-award-winning author, speaker, investor and eCommerce expert, Colin has over 25 years of hands-on international marketing experience. An adviser and active investor in eCommerce, Colin ran his first eCommerce site in 2006 and been teaching eCommerce since 2011.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn
What are our learners saying?
Add a new skill or forge a new path
"I recommend Futurelearn to anyone looking to learn and upskill...If you are in the job market, you might want to add a new skill or forge a new path."
They bring the classroom right to you
"FutureLearn courses are always interesting and informative. They bring the classroom right to you and send you on a journey to explore new ideas and offer interesting topics."
Start learning today - free 2-day trial
After your free trial you can:
- Pay $39 per month to keep learning online
- Have complete control over your subscription; you can cancel any time
- Work at your own pace and set your own deadlines at every stage
- Only pay while you’re learning; the subscription will cancel automatically when you finish
- Complete online assessments to test your knowledge and prove your skills
- Earn digital course certificates and a final award that you can share online, with potential employers, and your professional network
- Keep access to the content of courses you complete even after your subscription ends
FAQ
ExpertTracks are a series of online courses designed to help you master new skills in specialist areas. You pay a monthly subscription fee which includes access to all courses within the ExpertTrack, as well as assessments and the final digital certificate.
Each ExpertTrack comes with a 2-day free trial period. You may cancel your subscription at any time and your subscription will automatically cancel when you finish the courses and assessments in your chosen ExpertTrack.
Yes. All of our ExpertTracks come with a 2-day free trial. You may claim one free trial period per ExpertTrack.
You have two days before you will be charged your first monthly subscription fee. When you join an ExpertTrack you automatically receive a 2-day free trial period. You can cancel at any time during the trial period and no payment will be taken from your account.
Please see our full refund policy here.
No, all of our ExpertTracks consist of fully online courses. This means you can take an ExpertTrack from anywhere in the world.
No. ExpertTracks are designed for you to master new skills in a specialist area. You will earn a digital certificate that proves your learning, but it does not carry accreditation.
If you’re looking for certified or accredited courses, many of our microcredentials offer university credit or professional certification.
Have more questions about ExpertTracks? Read the ExpertTracks FAQs, or contact us.