nding her groove as a leader and mentor. If you ask an industry leader what they love most about working in e-commerce, chances are they will talk about the ‘art and science’ of their job. The combination of data-driven insights into consumer behaviour and business performance, and human experience at the heart of decision-making, is endlessly fascinating for many people. Few professionals encapsulate the art and science of e-commerce more than Jennifer Gilbert: “In a past life, I used to be a musical theatre performer,” she told Inside Retail. “I’m also a complete maths nerd. I skipped Grade 7 in school, and I used to create Excel spreadsheets for all my report cards.” This may very well be the perfect training for an e-commerce manager. “Having empathy and being able to put yourself in different people’s shoes and see what their needs are is, I think, so important – because not everyone’s going to have the same experience on a website, and we know the e-commerce funnel is not linear,” Jennifer said. She started her online retail career between musical theatre contracts at RY, an online beauty and hair-care site. “I was helping around with little odd jobs, admin – bits and pieces. I got an opportunity to touch so many different parts of the business, from warehouse and admin to customer service, and then I ended up transitioning out of performing and just into e-commerce,” she recalled. Early on, Jennifer found her niche in improving RY’s customer service offering and looking at the shopping journey from the customer’s perspective. She learned how to balance CX with the company’s commercial objectives. “I was fortunate that they trusted me with so much of the business and ended up giving me a new business that they had just acquired to manage and grow, and it really lit that fire for driving growth and change and from a customer’s point of view,” she said. ‘Another tool in my toolbox’ In 2017, Jennifer joined Makeup Cartel, the business behind online beauty brands Esmi Skin Minerals and Poni Cosmetics. The company was at a point in its journey when it needed a digital marketing specialist, she said, and gave her a lot of room to make decisions. In 2020, Makeup Cartel ranked 4th in the Australian Financial Review’s annual list of the fastest-growing companies in Australia, and by the time she left in 2021, its monthly sales had increased 10-fold. She briefly worked at premium kids’ brand Olli Ella and then landed her current role, as head of e-commerce at online supplements and superfood brand Nutra Organics, in 2022. “Everywhere I’ve worked just feels like another tool in my toolbox,” she said. Over the past 12 months, Jennifer has helped drive Nutra Organics’ growth by implementing a subscription model, increasing its presence and performance on Amazon Marketplace and overseeing the launch of a new website. She also led the brand’s international expansion into the US. While the initial trial went well, an issue with US agricultural standards meant the US website had to be temporarily turned off. Getting it back up and running is a top priority for 2025, as is improving the brand’s CX through content personalisation and being more specific about how it uses AI. “[AI is] another buzzword everyone’s talking about,” she admitted, but she sees the opportunity in “being really specific around what has to be a human touch and what is the fastest information that we can get to you right as you ask it, right as you need it.” ‘A part of who I am’ From a leadership perspective, Jennifer is a passionate manager and mentor. This comes from her previous career in the performing arts, in which she ran a dance business and taught dance. “Teaching just feels such a part of who I am, and I’ve definitely brought that into the e-commerce world as well,” she explained. Within her own team, she makes sure they always know what is expected of them, how they’re delivering on that expectation and what the future looks like. She also likes to praise them publicly when they’re not around. “It feels so much nicer because they know I’m not just saying it because they’re standing right there,” she said. “And when people feel valued, they’re always going to give better work.”