Jasleen Kaur ’16: From NC State to the Forefront of E-Commerce

Her passion for pursing novel and creative solutions to practical problems led Jasleen Kaur, MBA ’16, to her current role as the e-commerce growth leader at Kraft-Heinz. The company is among those situated at the cutting edge of online grocery shopping, an innovation that took off at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The days of standing in seemingly endless check-out lines or waiting for the produce section to restock are long gone. Now, more and more customers can shop from the comfort of their own homes and have their groceries delivered within the hour.

With accelerating technological advancement comes more than enough data for marketers to dissect. In the e-commerce space, available data covers everything from what customers are buying to when they’re making purchases to their basket size. When it comes to deciding which personalized ads to show to specific market segments, Kaur must exercise exceptional judgement to maximize sales conversions. 

Diversity of thought

Kaur’s depth of experience in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer capacities has given her a comprehensive understanding of the complex interactions between stakeholders in the marketing sphere. She is adept at applying these perspectives to her work at Kraft-Heinz, where she is responsible for executing the details of e-commerce marketing plans without losing sight of broader industry trends. “It’s like an intense strategy game,” she describes. “The stakes are high, which makes it exciting.”

This big-picture mindset is something she began to cultivate while studying in North Carolina State University’s Jenkins MBA program.

Throughout her MBA experience, she interacted with faculty and students with a diverse background of educational and professional experiences. Looking back, Kaur realizes that these conversations gave her the confidence to voice her opinions in the boardroom while maintaining a posture of empathy when considering the perspectives of her colleagues. “The environment at NC State naturally encourages difference of opinion and worldview,” she affirms. “It creates a space that welcomes new ideas and allows open dialogue to flourish.”

Upward and outward

As she helps her company navigate the transforming landscape of e-commerce, Kaur views the rise in online grocery shopping as just one step in a greater movement toward providing a more convenient, customer-centric shopping experience. “People are realizing how much time they can save, and they’re not likely to go back to doing things the long way,” she explains.

Kaur has noticed emerging trends in the online apparel industry and is eager to see how the world will shift toward more eco-friendly and fair-trade clothing products. Paired with the growth in e-commerce, the goal will be to make these products more accessible and affordable for the general public without sacrificing sustainable production, she says. The same can be applied to the grocery industry, and Kaur is rising to the challenge. “I always want to be in a place where something new is happening,” she says.

This post was originally published in Jenkins MBA News.