Publication
5 Considerations for a Strong E-commerce Product Strategy
https://www.toptal.com/product-managers/ecommerce/ecommerce-product-strategy
Jonathan is currently unavailable
Jonathan Lau
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal member since September 7, 2020
Bio
Jon is a seasoned Product Leader with expertise in AI/ML, IoT, and CX. He's currently leading AI initiatives for an international humanitarian organization and is the founder of a generative AI gaming startup. Jon has worked with companies such as Instacart, Loblaw Digital, Ford, PepsiCo, and Purina, consulting across various industries, including healthcare, retail, and adtech. His latest client says, "Jon's strengths are product strategy and innovation. He always comes to work with a smile."
Project Highlights
Gatorade Gx eCommerce Site
Led the launch of a DTC Gatorade Gx checkout experience end-to-end, running user tests and collaborating cross-functionally, leading to an NPS increase of 15% and a forecasted annual revenue of more than $5 million.
Nintendo Switch Social Club
Started and grew a global Meetup & Discord community to 350+ members in a span of eight months, while spending $0 in marketing budget.
KinderBox Prototype
Completed the web design: Wireframes to Prototypes course (as part of the CalArts UI/UX Design specialization), receiving a grade of 94%.
Expertise
- A/B Testing
- Analytics
- Consumer Applications
- Digital Product Design
- Front-end Design
- Marketing
- Product Management
- Strategy
Work Experience
Technical GenAI Product Lead
2025 - PRESENT
TELUS
- Coached product/program managers (70%) and led AI initiatives (30%) focused on operationalizing GenAI across the organization.
- Developed a scalable AI strategy and roadmap by conducting internal user research and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders, prioritizing initiatives to enhance AI skills and boost organizational productivity.
- Designed and deployed a RAG chatbot using internal AI tooling (including LLMs from Claude, Gemini, Meta, OpenAI) to scale 1:1 coaching and rapidly increase team member AI proficiency and adoption.
- Delivered technical lunch-and-learns focused on generative AI concepts, effective prompting, and project implementation, directly enabling product, project, and program managers to initiate their own AI solutions.
- Leveraged tools such as LLMs, FueliX, Gemini Enterprise, Gems, Google AI Studio, VSC, Cline, GitHub Copilot, Google App Script, n8n, LangGraph, crew.ai, GCP, and VertexAI.
Founder and CEO
2024 - PRESENT
Electric Sheep Studios
- Led a technical team in the end-to-end development of an online party/social game at the pre-seed stage, successfully leveraging generative AI and LLMs to create core game mechanics.
- Defined the product vision, crafted the strategic roadmap, and served as the UX designer to guide the product from concept through to a minimum viable product (MVP), ensuring technical functionality met player engagement goals.
- Spearheaded and executed fundraising and business development initiatives, resulting in acceptance into the AWS QuickStart program ($23,000+ secured).
- Demonstrated strong leadership and presentation skills by delivering investor pitches at Western Angels' Demo Day and pitching to a crowd of 400+ attendees as a finalist at CodeLaunch Canada 2025.
Product Consultant, UX & Conversion
2024 - 2025
SpotOn Computing, Inc
- Conducted comprehensive UX analyses of client interfaces and workflows, validating known issues and uncovering new opportunities and bugs.
- Developed strategic frameworks and innovative solutions to address challenges, including sign-in processes and conversion from free to paid services.
- Created detailed wireframes and architectural diagrams to communicate design concepts and implementation strategies effectively.
Product Lead (TopVolunteer)
2024 - 2024
International Humanitarian Aid Organization
- Led a team of AI experts to assist an International Humanitarian Aid Organization in leveraging AI to enhance operational efficiency, resulting in the development of an AI pipeline.
- Collaborated with the client to design a comprehensive strategy and roadmap that lays a strong foundation, ensuring progress toward outcomes remains consistent regardless of execution team changes.
- Introduced processes and tools, including a scorecard, to help the client effectively organize and evaluate AI opportunities to focus on.
Product Lead (Hardware, IoT, AI/ML)
2022 - 2024
Purina
- Worked as product lead for a future release pet healthtech IoT product that leverages AI/ML (www.petivity.com).
- Defined product value proposition, requirements, and strategy through market research tools such as JTBD, e-tailer scraping, surveys, interviews, and more while considering current and future trends.
- Drafted system flows to connect software vendors and experts in Edge and cloud computing.
- Collaborated with the PTC & Edge Impulse team to commercialize R&D tech by building H/W prototypes to train and test classification models and analyze results.
- Managed global partners (Spain, China, and the US) specializing in industrial design, hardware design, contract manufacturing, software, and cloud to design the product and execute the project.
Product Career Coach
2021 - 2022
Product Faculty
- Assisted students in enhancing their cover letters and resumes.
- Conducted mock interviews and provided feedback to prepare students for product interviews.
- Provided actionable career direction advice by understanding students' backgrounds.
Senior Product Manager
2021 - 2022
Spin (A Former Subsidiary of Ford Motor Company)
- Launched Spin Team, a mobile app used by the ops team to service IoT micromobility vehicles. Developed the product strategy and tactics and led the execution, exceeding defined OKRs: 1.6x target markets launched, 99% usage, and 34% NPS improvement.
- Defined product strategy and roadmap for Q1 and Q2 through collaboration with upper management, opportunity scoring, leveraging Agile, and product thinking. Shared extensive experience, leading to well-defined goals, OKRs, and a focus on usage KPIs.
- Saved the operations division over $50,000 annually by conducting discovery work on a vendor tool, interviewing internal customers, building an ROI model, and presenting the results to upper management, which deprecated the tool.
- Transformed the team culture through organization, communication, defining and justifying team direction, and product evangelization, resulting in the fulfillment of Q1 goals, upper management recognition, and 0 team member turnover.
- Mentored an APM, a 1st-time PM, and a senior PM through empathy, communication, understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and providing constructive feedback and SMART goals.
Product Manager
2021 - 2021
PepsiCo
- Led the launch of a DTC Gatorade Gx checkout experience end-to-end, running user tests and collaborating cross-functionally, leading to an NPS increase of 15% and a forecasted annual revenue of more than $5 million.
- Inherited and analyzed a 1-month-old B2B pilot using a combination of the service design model, how might we design thinking, stakeholder interviewers, and presented insights and recommendations leading to the immediate conclusion of the pilot.
- Identified platform analytics improperly tracked for core-user journeys during week one and collaborated with engineers to prioritize and resolve the issue, enabling upcoming key initiatives to access correct data.
- Collaborated with the product lead to define team OKRs and the product roadmap for leadership and managed re-prioritization throughout the year to mitigate risk using testbeds and deliver various B2B and B2C initiatives on schedule.
- Bootstrapped an NPS email solution for SendGrid and SurveyMonkey with the lead engineer in one day after learning the OTS marketing tool did not meet legal requirements. Ensured the on-time delivery of pre-migration NPS surveys to customers.
Product Manager
2020 - 2021
Dawn Foods
- Led the launch of a B2B special-orders feature in only four weeks, leveraging user interviews and prototype testing, resulting in a 42% increase in requests with an additional 100 monthly orders.
- Improved data culture by implementing best practices, processes, and documentation to address KPIs, data pulls, and metric tracking strategies, leading to insights that inform prioritization and UI/UX design.
- Persuaded leadership that the new marketing shopping list feature was customer-focused by pulling usage stats and screen-size data to simulate various viewports in a demo, alleviating concerns and leading to a launch sign-off.
- Analyzed user journeys on the eCommerce platform, identified inefficiencies with the click-to-reorder function, and designed a more informative CTA and direct-user path, resulting in a 5% improvement in cart conversion.
- Identified, designed, and prioritized user-security updates surrounding login status and temporary passwords to continue the site optimization initiative, bringing the platform up to industry standards.
eCommerce Product Manager
2018 - 2019
Instacart
- Launched the Food Lion and Price Chopper eCommerce delivery and pickup platform with zero delays by leading a 9-month integration between Unata's platform and Instacart's fulfillment system and redesigning the checkout UI and UX.
- Increased customer engagement and app ratings from 2.6 to 4.7 stars (an 81% improvement) by creating a hypothesis, gathering qualitative and quantitative data, analyzing design patterns, and executing a prepared strategy.
- Assembled and led Unata's first A/B testing team to build necessary tools and processes to run A/B tests after defining metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and success criteria for customer-checkout conversion.
Product Manager
2017 - 2018
Loblaw Digital
- Grew revenue by 2.5x and decreased cart and checkout abandonment rates by 7% and 20% through integrating and launching PC Optimum, PC Insider, PCid, Mobile Wallets, Tracking Pixels, GoData, Qualtrics Site Intercept, and Dermatology Product Finder.
- Increased cart conversion (+5%) and checkout conversion (+38%) by managing the end-to-end user research, design, development, A/B testing, and go-to-market strategy for beauty BOUTIQUE's new optimized checkout experience.
- Persuaded the trading team to choose an optimal solution and approach by building an ROI model (including sensitivity and break-even analysis) of an unvalidated idea and conducting an in-house vs. off-the-shelf solution analysis.
Product Manager
2016 - 2016
Eyereturn Marketing
- Decreased user effort by 50% after launching a flagship customer-facing analytics and insights dashboard, which was designed by leveraging data analysis for revenue, Google Analytics for user flows, and prototyping.
- Reduced user friction by 50% through redesigning the date selection UI and UX in Moqups and InVision, conducting customer interviews, and prototyping.
- Conducted user research and technical feasibility studies on the integration of various vendor APIs (e.g., Facebook Ads) into the analytics and reporting platform.
Project Manager
2012 - 2015
Zulimar
- Received the Royal College Innovation Award for Continuing Professional Development and improved patient care by directing 30+ innovative online Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs that influence behavioral shifts in physician practice.
- Achieved an unprecedented adoption rate (1,000+ physician sign-ups in two weeks) and won repeat business after leading the design and development of an online compendium in collaboration with the CCS under a tight budget and time constraints.
- Enhanced user experience and reduced customer assistance requests by 75% through analyzing user flows and usage patterns and redesigning the UI and UX of Zulimar's CME tool.
Project History
Toptal Hackathon Product Lead, Generative AI Online Game
Placed second at the 2022 inaugural Toptal Hackathon.
Assembled and led a team of engineers and designers to create an online game using Stability AI, which placed 2nd. This team was the only hackathon team to use Generative AI and the only team in the Top 2 with a functional prototype.
Gatorade Gx eCommerce Site
Led the launch of a DTC Gatorade Gx checkout experience end-to-end, running user tests and collaborating cross-functionally, leading to an NPS increase of 15% and a forecasted annual revenue of more than $5 million.
Gatorade Gx is a subsidiary of Pepsi, which focuses on the Gx brand. This brand offers Gx bottles, Gx pods, Gx sweat patches, the Gx App, and other products to help athletes maximize their training and replenishment.
Nintendo Switch Social Club
Started and grew a global Meetup & Discord community to 350+ members in a span of eight months, while spending $0 in marketing budget.
Nintendo Switch Social Club (NSSC) is a safe and inclusive environment for adults to meet other adults to share their love for Nintendo and video games. Founded during the pandemic, NSSC has hosted over 100 online events and has become an important community for many members feeling the effects of isolation.
KinderBox Prototype
https://invis.io/3GSN9YTSKHECompleted the web design: Wireframes to Prototypes course (as part of the CalArts UI/UX Design specialization), receiving a grade of 94%.
KinderBox is a fictional app that helps parents and guardians order healthy meals for their child(ren). These meals can be picked up or delivered to a school. A mood board was created to define the color scheme, style, fonts, and feel of the app.
This prototype was a capstone project to demonstrate product design and the use of Sketch and InVision.
StyleMe Prototype
https://invis.io/CBS0QYAY6SGCompleted the web design: Strategy and Information Architecture course (as part of the CalArts UI/UX Design specialization), receiving a grade of 91%.
StyleMe is a fictional app that helps users assemble and choose an outfit after they have imported a virtual avatar and filled their virtual closet with clothing and accessories. Aside from the social media buttons, all elements (e.g., buttons) are designed with Sketch.
This prototype was a capstone project to demonstrate product design and the use of Sketch and InVision.
Other Experience
Education
2015 - 2016
Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Richard Ivey School of Business - London, Ontario, Canada
2004 - 2009
Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Electrical Engineering
University of Waterloo - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Certifications
SEPTEMBER 2020 - PRESENT
Front-end Web Developer Certification
LinkedIn Learning
JUNE 2019 - PRESENT
UI/UX Design Specialization
California Institute of the Arts | via Coursera
JULY 2014 - JULY 2020
Project Management Professional (PMP)
PMI
Skills
Tools
Jira, Confluence, Slack, Retail Technology, UX Tools, Balsamiq Mockups, Google Analytics, InVision, Adobe Analytics, Claude, Sketch, R, Zeplin, Figma, Zoom, Trello
Paradigms
Agile, Key Performance Metrics, Requirements Analysis, Design Thinking, Agile Product Management, B2C, Mobile App Design, Data Product Management, Testing, Agile Project Management, User Testing, Waterfall Development, Scrum, Quantitative Research, B2B2C, Acceptance Testing, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), Gamification, Kanban, UI Design Standards & Best Practices, Microservices
Platforms
Omniture
Industry Expertise
Consumer Products, Healthcare, Health, Energy, Marketplaces, Professional Services
Other
Email, WhatsApp, Project Management, Project Planning, Quality Management, Quality Assurance (QA), Quality Control (QC), Task Management, Root-cause Analysis (RCA), Scope Management, Microsoft Office, Metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Roadmaps, Product Roadmaps, Feature Roadmaps, Business Analysis, Business to Consumer (B2C), Estimations, User Requirements, Design Requirements, Business Requirements, Product Delivery, Teamwork, Requirements, Functional Requirements, Project Coordination, Product Frameworks, Product Launch, Product Management, Technical Product Management, eCommerce, eCommerce UI, eCommerce Design, Web App Development, Product Ownership, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Sprint Planning, User Stories, Technical Project Management, eCommerce Development, Two-sided Marketplaces, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Ideation, Planning, Implementation, Consumer Behavior, Product Development, Business Planning, eCommerce Fulfillment, Mockups, User Interface (UI), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Backlog Management, Product Owner, Web Applications, Pitch Decks, Pitch Presentations, Web & Mobile Applications, User Conversion, Conversion-driven UX, Sales Funnel, Funnel Optimization, Creative Problem Solving, Consumer Insights, Backlog Grooming, Product Discovery, Project Timelines, Release Management, Agency, Cross-functional Collaboration, Storytelling, AI Integration, ChatGPT, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Web Platforms, Notion, Product Management, Project Management, White Labeling, UX Strategy, Competitive Analysis, Online Payments, Proof of Concept (POC), Resource Planning & Analysis, Behavioral Design, Dashboards, Data-driven Frameworks, Customer Journey Design, Customer Journey Optimization, Website Redesign, Project Scoping, Product Leadership, Execution, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Strategy, Product Strategy, Agile Project Management, Data Analytics, Business Strategy, Consulting, Marketing, Design, UI Design, UX Design, A/B Testing, Product Research, IT Projects, Large-scale Projects, International Projects, IT Project Management, Project Delivery, Project Lifecycle, Project Management Operations, Web Project Management, App Design, Web UI, App UI, App UX, Web UX, Web App UX, UX Flows, UI Prototyping, Wireframing, Wireframe to Product, UX Wireflows, User Flows, User Needs, User Personas, User Research, User Retention, User Engagement, User Metrics, User Journeys, User Workflows, User Onboarding, User Interviews, User Behavior, Story Mapping, User Journey Maps, Research, Data Analysis, Risk Management, Cost Management, Budgeting, HTML5, Processing, SQL, Analytics, Product Analytics, Web Analytics, Mobile Analytics, Modeling, Strategy, Project Tracking, Online Tracking Analysis, Demo Designs, Customer Interviews, Stakeholder Interviews, Customer Support, Customer Insights, UI Research, UX Research, Customer Research, Market Research, Lean Project Management, Go-to-market Plans, ROI, Optimization, Management, Process Flows, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Prototyping, Business to Business (B2B), App Development, Digital Strategy, Project Estimation, Client Reporting, Presentations, Public Speaking, Feedback Review, Team Leadership, Product Design, Product Strategy, Product Growth, Product Coach, Communication, Strategic Planning, Strategic Planning & Execution, Critical Thinking, Product Thinking, Creative Thinking, Milestones, Project Reporting, Digital Product Design, Consumer-facing Product Design, Customer Journey, Customer Analysis, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Marketing Research & Analysis, Market Research & Analysis, Quantitative User Research, Qualitative Research, Creativity, Market Fit, Product-market Fit, Detail-oriented, Organization, Feature Prioritization, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Time Management, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Documentation, Product Strategy Consultant, Social Media, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Front-end Design, App Product Management, IT Product Management, Web Product Management, B2B Product Management, Mobile Product Management, Digital Product Management, Data Product Manager, Lean Product Manager, Mobile eCommerce, eCommerce Platforms, eCommerce Management, eCommerce Payments, Customer Acquisition, Coaching, Feature Analysis, Community Management, Stakeholder Management, Product Vision, Vendor Management, Technical Documentation, Google, Microsoft, Workshops, Technical Consulting, Digital, Revenue Strategy, Gaming, B2B, Fulfillment, Order Processing, Order Management, Company Strategy, Agile Product Delivery, Mobile Apps, Requirements & Specifications, QA Testing, User Experience (UX), Advertising Technology (Adtech), Loyalty Programs, Retail & Wholesale, Brainstorming, Business Consulting, Product Consultant, Startup Consulting, Agile Delivery, Mobile UX, Startups, Consumer Applications, Business Models, Conceptualization, Healthcare IT, Mobile App Development, Internet of Things (IoT), API Integration, Mobility, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Fleet Management, App Integration, Hypothesis Testing, User Validation, Value Creation, New Product Development, Mobile, Apps, Go-to-market (GTM) Strategy, Solution Architecture, Mobile Applications, MVP Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Agile Coaching, SaaS, Consumer Electronics, Manufacturing, Electrical Engineering, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), International Growth, Industrial Engineering, AI Design, AI Product Management, Subscriptions, Scrum Master, Supply Chain, Retrieval-augmented Generation (RAG), Best Practices, Program Management, Healthtech, AI Agents, Automation, Conversational AI, NotebookLM, Chatbots, Executive Consulting, Web Design, CSS, JavaScript, Web Development, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Adobe Photoshop, Product Marketing, Digital Marketing, Python, Java, Legal Research, Integration, Process Optimization, Process Improvement, Operational Efficiency Improvement, Continuous Integration (CI), Business Development, Marketing Strategy, Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Cost Estimation, Writing & Editing, Revenue & Expense Projections, Innovation, Market Segmentation, Customer Segmentation, Forecasting, Entrepreneurship, Digital Advertising, Advertising Campaigns, Social Media Strategy, Social Media Analytics, Growth, HTML, Sass, Bootstrap, React, Create React App, Front-end Development, APIs, Data Structures, Events, Technical Direction, Software Consulting, Email Marketing, Branding, Big Data, Data Science, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Data Queries, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Affiliate Marketing, App Growth, iOS, Growth Marketing, Growth Strategy, Monetization, Growth Hacking, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Technology, Leadership, Data, Launch Strategy, Mobile Web Design, Conversion, Migration, Microsoft Teams, Geolocation, Mentorship, Culture Management, Operations, Net Promoter Score (NPS), Brand Strategy, Hardware Development, Contract Manufacturing, Hardware Design, Embedded Hardware, Hardware, Web, Large Language Models (LLMs), Software Engineering, Career Coaching, Gaming Platforms, Energy Management, Energy Utilities, Energy Storage, Early-stage Startups, AI Chatbots, Productivity Improvement, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
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