E-commerce company org chart example
A direct-to-consumer home goods brand of about thirty, drawn around what makes an online retailer's chart different from a store's: the sales floor is a website, so marketing and merchandising are the shop, the warehouse belongs to someone else, and the customer service team is the only part of the company a customer ever talks to. Six lines under a founder, a contractor doing the shipping, and three dotted lines where the site's two owners and the channel's two owners meet.
How an e-commerce company is usually structured
An online retailer is a retailer whose store is a website, and the chart follows from that. E-commerce and growth own the store: the site's conversion, paid acquisition, email and CRM, search, the marketplace channel, and the on-site merchandising that decides what a visitor sees first. Brand and creative make everything the store shows: content, social, design, the photography. Merchandising and planning decide what the store sells and how much of it to buy, which is the buying office of a retailer with different tools. Draw the three as peers under the founder, because the argument between what sells, what looks right and what is in stock is the company's daily meeting, and no one of them should chair it.
The site has two owners and the chart should admit it. Growth owns its revenue; the engineering lead owns its uptime, its speed and its integrations, with a developer and a data analyst beneath. The analyst reports to engineering for the data and works for growth for the questions, which is the first dotted line. The marketplace manager sells on the platforms the company does not own, sits in growth because it is a channel, and carries a dotted line to merchandising because assortment on a marketplace is a merchandising decision. The CRM and email manager sits in growth for the revenue and is dotted to brand for the calendar, because the email is the brand's voice sent on growth's schedule.
Operations is where the physical company lives, and most of it is not employed. The third-party warehouse picks, packs and ships every order and is a contractor on the chart under the head of operations, because a chart that omits it shows a company of thirty that ships nothing. Customer service reports to operations, not to marketing, because its work is orders, shipping and returns, and a service lead with a stacked team of two, a returns specialist and a logistics coordinator is the whole department. Finance is a manager and an outside bookkeeper, which at thirty people is the right size and the right shape.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Founder, Chief Executive Officer; Head of E-commerce, Head of Growth, Chief Marketing Officer; Head of Brand & Creative; Head of Merchandising & Planning; Head of Operations; Engineering Lead, Chief Technology Officer; Finance Manager |
| Growth and marketing | Performance Marketing Manager, CRM & Email Manager, SEO Specialist, Marketplace Manager, Site Merchandiser, Conversion Rate Optimization Specialist, Content Manager, Social Media Manager, Graphic Designer, Copywriter |
| Merchandising and operations | Buyer, Assistant Buyer, Demand Planner, Inventory Analyst, Logistics Coordinator, Customer Service Lead, Customer Service Representative, Returns Specialist, Warehouse Manager (where the warehouse is owned) |
| Technology, finance and outside | Web Developer, Data Analyst, Product Manager (at scale); Bookkeeper; third-party logistics provider, photography studio, paid media agency (as contractors); Social Media Intern |
Where these charts go wrong
Online retailer charts go wrong by leaving the third-party warehouse off, so thirty people appear to ship every order themselves; by putting customer service under marketing; by making merchandising report to growth, so assortment is decided by what converts this week; by drawing engineering as a vendor of growth with no owner of uptime; by omitting the marketplace channel, which is often a third of revenue; and by giving the founder every specialist as a direct report because the company was eight people last year.
Questions people ask
- How is an e-commerce company structured?
- Under a founder or chief executive, three peers who run the store: e-commerce and growth (the site, acquisition, email, search, marketplaces), brand and creative (content, social, design, photography), and merchandising and planning (buying and demand planning); beside them, operations (the warehouse, usually a contractor, plus customer service, logistics and returns), a small technology team and finance. Below about fifteen people the founder runs growth and the head of operations runs everything physical; draw the six lines anyway.
- Should the 3PL be on the org chart?
- Yes, as a contractor under the head of operations. The third-party logistics provider picks, packs and ships every order, which is the company's biggest operational dependency, and the chart should show who manages it. Left off, the chart describes a company of thirty that ships nothing; drawn as a department, it describes a company that employs a warehouse it does not.
- Who does customer service report to in an online store?
- Operations. The team's day is orders, shipping and returns, so it belongs with the people who run the warehouse relationship and the carriers. Under marketing it turns into a sentiment report; under the founder it turns into an escalation path. A lead with a small stacked team, a returns specialist and a logistics coordinator is the department at this size.
- Where does the marketplace channel sit?
- In e-commerce and growth, because Amazon and the other platforms are a sales channel, with a dotted line to merchandising, because what goes on a marketplace and at what price is an assortment decision. A marketplace manager with no line to merchandising sells whatever is in the warehouse; one under merchandising with no line to growth is a listing clerk.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- LogisticsDispatch runs the day; supervisors run the people.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- Software startupSquads under a CTO; product managers on a dotted line.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programs beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, drawn as lines.
- Staffing agencySales desks, recruiting desks, and a back office that pays two thousand people.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Engineering departmentProduct teams under a VP of engineering; platform, data and security under the CTO.
- Operations departmentSupply chain, fulfillment and the functions that keep both honest.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- UniversityAn academic line and an administrative line, and governance kept off the chart.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.