Hi, I'm

Ellen Lo

E-Commerce Leader. Global Team Builder.
Builder of the Tools My Team Runs On.

I lead Global Commerce Operations at Mindgruve, where I grew the team from 1 to 23 across the US, Mexico, and Brazil and built the AI‑powered tools it uses every day. I build the strategies, teams, and systems that make brands win on Amazon, Walmart, Mercado Libre, and beyond.

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About Me

The short version of 15+ years in e‑commerce

Portrait of Ellen Lo

I specialize in taking brands from marketplace presence to marketplace dominance. Over my career, I've driven $20M+ in annual Amazon revenue, improved gross margins by 28% through strategic Vendor-to-Seller transitions, and launched products that achieved 10x sales growth in their first month.

My approach is hands-on and data-driven. Whether it's negotiating Amazon Vendor terms, redesigning checkout flows for 3x conversion lifts, or relaunching a Walmart channel to 491% YoY growth, I focus on the levers that actually move the needle. I've built and led teams across Victorinox Swiss Army, Spire Health, Rowkin, HarperCollins, and Accenture.

Today I lead Global Commerce Operations at Mindgruve, where I built the team from 1 to 23 people across the US, Mexico, and Brazil. When I saw the team losing hours to spreadsheets and manual work, I built the internal platforms to fix it with AI coding tools, even though I don't have a software engineering background. I'm a native English and Mandarin speaker and hold a BSBA in Marketing & Finance from Washington University in St. Louis (Olin Business School).

Skills & Expertise

Amazon Vendor & Seller CentralRetail MediaWalmart & Mercado LibreE-Commerce StrategyGlobal Team LeadershipCommerce OperationsAI-Built Internal ToolsClaude CodeAEO / GEO SearchData AnalysisProduct ManagementCertified Scrum Product OwnerSix Sigma Green Belt

Work History

A track record of driving growth across major online marketplaces

Jan 2025 – Present

Sr. Director, Global Commerce Operations

Mindgruve

Modern media, commerce, and data technology company

  • Built the Global Commerce Operations team from 1 to 23 people across the US, Mexico, and Brazil, establishing the leadership structure and growth paths
  • Evolved a country-by-country marketplace cataloging team into a global commerce operations function with three pillars: marketplace and creative operations, insights (catalog audits, SWOT analysis, AEO/GEO search), and data and automation
  • Defined cross-functional swimlanes across Account Management, Project Management, Creative, Retail Media, and Operations to clarify ownership and improve delivery consistency
  • Lead scoping and renewals for enterprise accounts including The North Face and SanMar, with operations across Amazon Vendor and Seller Central, Walmart, and Mercado Libre
  • Created the Lo Machine and the SWOT Dashboard, AI-built internal tools used across the US, Mexico, and Brazil teams to cut manual work and speed up new-business analysis
Sept 2020 – Dec 2024

Head of Online Marketplaces

Victorinox Swiss Army

Manufacturer of Swiss Army Knives, luggage, watches, and cutlery

  • Drove $20M in annual revenue on Amazon US and Canada and led Amazon Vendor Negotiations (Sports & Outdoors) through 3 price increases with no change in terms
  • Improved gross margin by 28% in 2023 by transitioning from a Vendor account to an exclusive Amazon Seller partnership
  • Directly reported to the President to develop and execute strategic initiatives to create a hybrid Amazon Seller/Vendor model for premium brand positioning
  • Relaunched Walmart online sales channel, achieving 491% YoY growth and securing first-ever in-line reviews with Walmart store buyers for cutlery
Jun 2018 – Sept 2020

Head of Marketing

Spire Health

Healthcare tech wearables for monitoring sleep, stress, and activity

  • Managed Amazon and Apple go-to-market digital strategy for the flagship product, Spire Health Tags, resulting in a 10x increase in online sales within the first month
  • Generated a 20% YoY revenue increase with the launch of a premium subscription offering in collaboration with engineers, UX designers, and data science teams
  • Increased website conversion rates 3x through a data-driven approach, incorporating customer insights from focus groups and implementing iterative checkout page redesigns
  • Designed retail packaging of Spire Health Tags distributed globally at Apple stores
Oct 2016 – Jun 2018

Director of E-commerce (Senior Product Manager 2016–2017)

Ashley Chloe / Rowkin

Innovative fashion tech startup with award-winning audio products

  • Led a team of 7 to establish the Rowkin brand as a top seller on Amazon through participation in Amazon Launchpad, receiving in-store placement at Best Buy
  • Created Rowkin.com website and generated 1M+ sessions and $10M in E-commerce sales within the first year through continuous A/B testing and heatmap optimization
  • Increased retention rate by 10% by using a CRM to offer loyalty program incentives
  • Grew subscribers by 1,433% within 1 year by scaling customer acquisition strategy
May 2012 – Jun 2016

Senior Product Manager

HarperCollins Publishers

Book publishing E-commerce, digital, and app platforms

  • Piloted E-commerce activation of HC.com marketing website, creating a 20% lift in purchases through data-driven cart and product page redesigns
  • Delivered customer journey and wireframes for global E-commerce systems for 80,000 books, yielding over $0.5M in targeted sales
  • Developed and implemented a new e-book giveaway platform and operational process, resulting in a 91% reduction in publicity and marketing costs
Apr 2008 – May 2012

Consultant

Accenture

Major global consulting firm specialized in IT solutions and strategy

  • Oversaw 4-person team to address key business needs and improve delivery service standards
  • Automated recurring SQL-based application status reports, reducing workload by 0.25 FTEs

Tools I've Built

Internal platforms I built with AI coding tools so my team could spend less time on manual work and more on strategy

Multi-client commerce operations platform

Lo Machine

Replaced the error-prone spreadsheets my teams used to manage client catalogs with one permission-controlled source of truth. It pulls catalog, inventory, advertising, and content data from PIM systems, Amazon’s Selling Partner and Advertising APIs, and retail media platforms into a single app with role-based access and a full change history. Modules for inventory flags, image batching, retail readiness scoring, and retail media were each added to eliminate a specific manual time sink.

Impact through Nov 2026

saved on one image audit
~16 wks
colleagues using it
49
client workspaces
33
saved weekly on exports and uploads
9–18 hrs
Claude CodeNext.jsNestJSPostgreSQLGoogle Cloud RunAmazon SP-API

AI brand teardown for new business

SWOT Dashboard

Type a brand name and pick a country and marketplace. The dashboard returns a six-part teardown: executive summary, SWOT, competitive analysis, listing and SEO recommendations, an advertising starting point, and LLM brand visibility. An optional multi-model run sends the same analysis through GPT, Gemini, and Claude and shows where they disagree. Live marketplace data grounds the figures, and output is localized for Spanish and Portuguese marketplaces.

Through Nov 2026

brands analyzed in the US and Brazil
90+
client wins from analyzed brands
16
colleagues signed in
25
languages (EN/ES/PT)
3
Gemini (Vertex AI)ClaudeGPTNode.jsGoogle Cloud Run

Both tools are internal and limited to company accounts, so there's no public demo.

Projects

Personal projects in community building, writing, and illustration

Ellen Lo in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

AskMeSF →

Created a community platform to counter the doom loop narrative and spark positivity about San Francisco. A learning opportunity to hone skills in content creation and SEO/SEM.

WordPressSEO/SEMAhrefsContent Strategy
Cover of Norman's Voice, a children's book by Ellen Lo

Norman's Voice

Authored and illustrated a children's book published in Taiwan. A personal creative project combining storytelling with original artwork.

IllustrationWritingPublishing

Get in Touch

I'm always open to discussing new opportunities, creative projects, or just connecting over a good conversation. Feel free to reach out!

Email MeLinkedInAskMeSF