Why We Love It
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$87,310Potential Avg. Salary*
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Growing DemandJob Outlook
* Salary & growth data is based on the recent Bureau of Labor and Statistics data published at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151199.htm for 15-1199 Computer occupations, all other 11/2021. Based on national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary.
With a bachelor of science in e-commerce, you’ll gain the education necessary to begin a career in marketing and selling products online.
A degree in e-commerce is a flexible degree that prepares students for careers as affiliate marketers, entrepreneurs, web developers, and digital marketers. Graduates can build their own e-commerce sites or manage online sales for a variety of businesses.
What is a Degree in E-Commerce?
E-commerce is a relatively new field, but it has exploded in popularity in recent years. Today is more common than not for brick-and-mortar stores to sell their products both in-person and online, and many businesses only have an online presence.
With consumers shopping online in increasing amounts, there’s significant demand for e-commerce professionals who can build and manage online product catalogs, shopping carts, and fulfillment workflows for products sold online.
Students in e-commerce programs study all aspects of building online stores. They take development courses to learn how to code product catalogs and shopping carts, digital marketing and SEO courses to grow site traffic, and online business courses to learn how to use affiliate marketing, search ads, social media, and display advertising to grow site revenue.
Graduates are prepared to launch their own online businesses or to get hired to manage e-commerce for a variety of businesses across all industries.
Recommended Schools
What Courses Would I Take For a Major in E-Commerce?
- Web and Database Programming
- Digital Marketing
- Graphic Design
- Project Management
- Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
- Writing for the Web
- Database Management
- Information Systems Management
What Jobs Can You Get with a Degree in E-Commerce?
Since its advent, online shopping has increased in usage and popularity each year. An online presence and e-commerce site in no longer a nice-to-have—it’s a must-have for successful businesses.
As such, small, mid-sized, and major corporations alike have a serious demand for e-commerce developers, marketers, and managers to oversee their online sales properties, which should significantly increase demand for e-commerce specialists in the coming decade.
How Long does it take?
A bachelors in E-Commerce will have a typical length of 4 years in a full time schedule. That said, there are many ways to speed up the timeframe by either taking more units via online coursework, community college, or taking free classes at OnlineDegree.com that could transfer to universities in the US.
Online E-Commerce Degree
The popularity of online e-commerce degree programs has been increasing in recent years with the massive growth of this industry. Additionally, the nature of the work makes it well-suited for online learning.
Students are required to complete around 120 credit hours to earn a bachelor’s degree. Most of the programs also require some practical experience in the form of projects and internships as a requirement for the degree.
What Can You Do With an E-Commerce Degree?
E-commerce refers to the trading of services and goods over the internet. The use of e-commerce started in the early 1970s when technologies for secure transactions were first introduced. E-commerce witnessed massive growth in the last two decades with the appearance of companies such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba.
The value of goods and services traded online in 2019 was estimated to be more than $3.5 trillion and is expected to reach $4.9 trillion in 2021 which is more than the economy of almost all countries around the world. The importance of e-commerce has increased even more with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic as a tool to achieve social distancing.
It is estimated in the US that online trading accounted for more than 10% of all retail trading in 2019 and it is expected to grow by 15% each year.
What does an e-commerce student learn?
Ecommerce requires specific marketing strategies and solid knowledge in internet technologies, website development, and mobile applications. E-commerce as a college program was introduced relatively recently compared to other degree programs. Studying usually includes the following courses:
- Ecommerce marketing: the marketing strategies used online are significantly different from conventional marketing techniques. Websites as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Amazon offer targeted advertisements that are based on age, sex, location, preferences or browsing and purchase history.
- Ecommerce strategy: this course prepares students to set goals, vision and plan for their online stores. This is a vital step for the success of any online business.
- Entrepreneurial management: many of the online stores are startup companies that started with limited resources. You should have entrepreneurial skills to overcome such difficulties and still gain success.
- Internet technology: this refers to technologies particularly in use on the internet which includes indexing of websites, search engines, the use of cookies, and artificial intelligence among others.
- Internet Law: the massive growth of online shopping has motivated the issuing of laws to control activities and define related crimes as online fraud. This is important to know to avoid legal consequences or problems
- Management information systems: this course introduces the fundamentals of the hardware and software systems used for the storage, analysis and transfer of data which is an essential part of any e-commerce business.
- Venture capital: this is one of the most common funding sources for startup companies. You should learn how to benefit from venture capital if you are going to run a startup business.
Now I have the e-commerce degree…where can I work after graduating?
Ecommerce is a rapidly growing field which results in high demand for graduates. There are more than 20 million e-commerce websites and growing, all in need of good executives. The following list shows different career options available for graduates:
- Web developer and webmaster: you may choose to work in building e-commerce websites or to manage already built websites. Your knowledge will give you a significant advantage over unspecialized web developers.
- Advertising and promotional managers: the role of this job is to manage the marketing of the websites, products and services offered online with the use of targeted advertisements, pay-per-click or other techniques. Amazon was the leading company to use artificial intelligence techniques to provide personalized experiences to users.
- E-commerce consultant: if you have good experience and a decent client portfolio, then you may choose to work as a consultant to businesses that are facing difficulties or limitations.
- Business owner/entrepreneur: you may choose to start your own online store and company
Should I choose an e-commerce degree?
E-commerce is a dynamic and exciting field that is rapidly changing with intense competition. You should have the following skills to be competitive and ensure success:
- Writing and communication skills: this is essential as you need to communicate with clients to solve their problems and market your products effectively.
- Data analysis: the use of data can make a significant difference in the success of your business.
- Attention to detail: small details can make huge difference in ecommerce and a small mistake on your website. It can make the user experience unpleasant, lower sales, or completely drop your website from the results in search engines.
- Design: it is not enough to make your store functional and useful. You should make sure that the design of the website is attractive and user friendly as well.
Recommended Schools
Best Jobs for E-Commerce Degrees
With a bachelor of science in e-commerce, you can find work in a variety of careers.
Some graduates go on to create and manage their own e-commerce websites, some manage e-commerce sites for employers in a variety of industries, and some go into marketing to help businesses build revenue with digital marketing campaigns designed to increase the number of sales sent through an e-commerce site.
How to save time and money
Our mission is to help you to avoid paying full price for college. We want your E-Commerce degree to be affordable and accessible. Here’s how you could save:
Create Your Free SmartPlan
There are many ways to make college affordable and accessible.
That’s why we created a helpful tool called SmartPlan.
It’s free, and helps you find potential ways to save and tons of information about each school you’re considering
Think of it as your “college blueprint”, to help you instantly craft a path to your degree:
- Which Colleges Match Your Needs
- Ways You Could Save Time & Money
- Free Courses You Could Take for Credit
- Valuable Data and Insights on Each College
- Detailed Steps You Should Take!
See what’s possible for you and generate a free plan within just a few minutes
Create My SmartPlanGet a Certificate in E-Commerce
If your interest in the field of e-commerce is solely to build and run your own e-commerce business, you may find that a certificate program meets your needs. While most employers will want to hire individuals with bachelor’s degrees, running a successful e-commerce business may be possible with less education.
With a certificate, you can learn the basic and most important concepts of e-commerce without spending four years and thousands of dollars in a bachelor’s degree program.
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