Lauren Livak Gilbert is the Executive Director of Digital Shelf Institute (DSI), a commerce community driving industry transformation.
“Where should e-commerce sit in my organization?” is a question I hear often. But this is the wrong question to ask. Many brands are still wrestling with antiquated organizational structures built for a retail world that no longer exists.
My company held 33 interviews with leaders from omnichannel functions and surveyed more than 90 brand leaders to inform our report “Reinventing the Organization for Omnichannel Success: Beyond ‘Where Ecommerce Sits.’” We found that the fundamental issue plaguing modern commerce organizations is that they treat omnichannel as an add-on capability rather than a complete reimagining of how business is conducted.
Why The Organizational Chart Is Lagging Behind Consumer Behavior
A study of 46,000 consumers, conducted in 2015 and 2016 and published in Harvard Business Review, found that 73% of participants use multiple channels during their shopping journey. They discover products on social media, research them on brand websites, compare prices, read reviews on retail sites and ultimately purchase on the platform that gives them the best experience.
The modern consumer journey is fragmented, fast and unforgiving, and retailers are working to adapt to this reality. Salsify’s whitepaper “What Is the Next Gen PXM?” found that in 2023 alone, retailers updated their digital shelf requirements frequently. Amazon, for example, made 217 requirement changes, Walmart 241, Target 150 and The Home Depot made nearly 400. (Full disclosure: My company is part of Salsify.)
Traditional organizational structures, built for the slower cadence of in-store resets and annual planning, are simply not designed for this pace. In my experience, this often results in teams bolting on e-commerce functions, channel conflict, duplicated efforts and growth that fails to materialize despite increased investment. Meanwhile, disruptive brands, born digital and unencumbered by legacy structures, are grabbing share. Bain’s data shows that insurgent brands captured nearly 20% of incremental category growth in 2023, despite holding less than 2% of the market share.
The typical organizational evolution follows a predictable path: E-commerce starts embedded within an existing team, grows into a center of excellence model and then gets integrated back into traditional functions. However, integration alone isn’t solving the problem. Many brands are integrating e-commerce back into an organization that is built for in-store without fundamentally changing how they operate. Every organization is at a different level of maturity and can’t jump from an embedded model to an integrated organizational model overnight, but there are key mindset shifts that need to occur.
The Reinvented Organization Model
I propose a mindset shift that diverges from current thinking. Rather than asking where e-commerce should sit, successful brands should rebuild their go-to-market approach around how consumers actually shop.
There should be no “digital marketers”; there should just be marketers who understand all channels. Sales teams shouldn’t specialize in either online or offline; they should own the entire consumer relationship. The supply chain team shouldn’t think in terms of wholesale versus direct-to-consumer; they should optimize for omnichannel fulfillment.
No matter what the structure looks like, the organization of the future should have empowered, agile decision making; shared goals and accountability; cross-functional alignment around a unified strategy; consumer and customer centricity and a data-driven focus.
Every organization is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all organizational structure. However, there are mindset shifts and actions that need to occur in any organization, regardless of its level of maturity. Some of the most relevant include:
• Join commercial leadership. Instead of separate sales and marketing leaders, brands can create chief growth officers or chief commercial officers who own the entire consumer journey from awareness through purchase and retention.
• Develop shared goals and accountability. Our research found that 47% of surveyed organizations have implemented shared goals, while 46% have shared omnichannel sales targets. Those with shared goals showcased a higher percentage of e-commerce sales and cross-functional alignment.
• Establish one unified profit and loss (P&L) statement. Eliminating shadow P&Ls and conflicting financial perspectives can allow teams to focus on consumer value rather than internal politics.
The Cost Of Inaction
Organizations that continue operating with legacy structures face mounting pressures. For example, retail media networks, now exceeding 250 worldwide, squeeze brands for advertising dollars while expecting integrated campaigns across channels. Organizations that have disjointed teams risk driving retail media ads to incomplete product detail pages, which can cost them ad dollars. I’m seeing the cost structure for managing these relationships increase, which requires brands to show up as one connected company.
Brands thinking of simply adding more roles to support omnichannel growth without changing the organization’s foundation will only create inefficiency. Failing to unify around the consumer risks wasted media spend, fractured retailer relationships and diluted consumer experiences.
Meanwhile, I believe the emergence of AI shopping assistants will further accelerate the need for omnichannel consistency. Brands that can’t present unified data, messaging and experiences across all touchpoints risk disappearing from consumer consideration entirely.
The key insight across all models is that regular organizational reviews can help drive better results. While 60.2% of companies we surveyed said they don’t have a cadence for updating their organizational structure, those that conduct a quarterly review reported higher e-commerce sales percentages compared to their peers.
Beyond The Org Chart
The fundamental shift required goes beyond reorganization; it’s about reimagining how business gets done in a consumer-centric world. To succeed in omnichannel today, your business needs to build around the consumer, not internal convenience. It needs to be agile enough to respond to weekly changes, not just annual planning cycles. And it needs to be unified to present a coherent brand experience across every touchpoint.
I believe the brands that make this transition can position themselves to thrive. Those who continue to ask where e-commerce should sit will find themselves disrupted by competitors who have eliminated that question by building organizations that flow seamlessly around consumer needs.
Evolve your organizational structure to match how consumers shop, or risk watching more agile competitors capture the growth you’re leaving on the table.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
link
