Leaders of Change: Jamie Dooley

JAMIE DOOLEY is the Head of eCommerce for Dorel Juvenile Group, the largest manufacturer of hardlines baby products in the US, with brands that include Safety 1st, Maxi-Cosi, Quinny, Disney Baby, Eddie Bauer, and Tiny Love. Prior to Dorel, he held leadership roles in eCommerce strategy and merchandising with BabiesRUs.com, Dunkin’ Brands (DunkinDonuts.com), and Wayfair. Jamie’s 20+ years of retail experience also includes having served as a Buyer for Target Corporation and Staples, Inc. He received a BS in Business from Northeastern University, and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I fell into eCommerce by accident via CSN Stores (Wayfair.com) and ended up loving it because of its fast pace and ability to make a more immediate impact for customers.

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? I consider myself somewhat of a teacher at heart which has been helpful in teaching eCommerce principles and effecting change within organizations attempting to shift towards a more digital mindset.

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? The joke that started when I was interviewed on the Jason & Scot Show is that I’ve worked for 480 of the Internet Retailer Top 500…

I’ve had the fortune of working for many of the largest retailers in eCommerce and Digital including, Wayfair, Staples, Dunkin’ Brands, Target, ToysRUs.com and BabiesRUs.com. An so it’s been helpful to apply many of the best practices and mistakes I’ve seen in trying to build successful omnichannel / eCommerce businesses.

How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? The most important part of successfully implementing change is establishing a vision that has your leadership’s alignment and that the organization is excited to rally around. I’ve been very fortunate to have worked with so many great teams. The biggest role I was able to play was to communicate effectively across the dozens of functions who help our eCommerce business grow.

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? In one of my past lives, I hired a senior buyer who had fantastic industry experience and looked great on paper, but ended up having a horrible impact within my team and throughout the company.  

This was a great lesson for me as manager that cultural fit is much more important than technical skills.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? With more than half of most traffic now occurring via mobile devices, taking a “mobile-first” approach to the business has been one of the most impactful practices I’ve tried to embrace. I’m still amazed that some of the digital industry’s largest retailers and agencies still only present "desktop" screenshots and haven’t thought through their strategy, execution and analytics via a mobile lens.

What are you learning right now? I’m currently learning how to answer “Leaders of Change” interview questions without offending entire groups of people or coming off as pompous. (It’s a work in progress…)

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?

• Renegades by X Ambassadors
• Human by Rag’n’Bone Man
• HandClap by Fitz and the Tantrums

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why? 

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? “It’s easier to put on a pair of slippers than to carpet the entire world.” A personal reminder to myself about the difficulty of trying to change consumer behavior.

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? Any advice that assumes it’s the silver bullet for all of eCommerce. For example, to compete with Amazon, you need to offer Fast, Free Shipping. Some categories don’t need / can’t afford to offer free shipping to win with the consumer. Almost no eCommerce advice is true for "every" industry. Most depends on the category (ies) to which they are being applied.  

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? I always like to advise those new to the eCommerce industry that building their strategy requires a mindset shift that will touch all parts of their organization and will span across 7 Centers of eCommerce Excellence (Marketing, Operations, Consumer Experience, People & Partnerships, Business Intelligence, Products & Availability, and Technology).

This is such a fun, competitive space, so be open to constant change and get ready for the ride!

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? The marriage of inventory transparency and on-demand eCommerce. Today, nearly all brick and mortar retailers still struggle to show the customer a truly accurate snapshot of what inventory is available in what locations. The game changer will occur when customers are able to quickly see what inventory is closest to them and are able to purchase that inventory on-demand via in store-pickup, ship-from-store, ship-to-store or direct ship from DC to their homes.

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? On Walgreens.com, I found “The Clapper,” which as a child of the 80’s, I’ve wanted for years. (My wife still makes fun of me for this purchase, but as soon as I saw this I knew I had to have it. I’m not made of stone…)

Best $19.99 that I’ve ever spent, and it let me turn my Christmas tree lights on and off with two easy claps!  

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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.