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Johnson & Johnson’s Nimble Approach to E-Commerce

The CPG giant takes more of a startup approach to tackling packaging issues for e-commerce channels, sticking with a small team that can react quickly to changing demands.

Johnson & Johnson's Melissa Dandy details e-commerce lessons learned at E-Pack Summit US as R&D team leader Laszlo Moharita looks on.
Johnson & Johnson's Melissa Dandy details e-commerce lessons learned at E-Pack Summit US as R&D team leader Laszlo Moharita looks on.

The face of retail continues to change. Brick and mortar stores are closing while online business continues to grow. The world is being disrupted by e-commerce, with consumers gaining more knowledge about what retailers are doing and demanding more personalized experiences. There are new expectations for brands and the packages that carry their products.

Rather than go the way of the lumbering giant, falling prey to the difficult demands of consumers, Johnson & Johnson has opted to act like a startup, creating a small team of R&D specialists to drive brand and packaging decisions through e-commerce channels. At the E-Pack Summit US this week in Seattle, Johnson & Johnson executives explained the route they’ve taken, sharing the lessons they’ve learned in the relatively early stages of their journey.

“There’s unprecedented change in industry,” said Melissa Dandy, associate director of R&D e-commerce and new business models for Johnson & Johnson. “We’re being asked to compete in a very competitive landscape where there’s very low barriers to entry. The classic months-long development process doesn’t work anymore. Consumers want us to be where they are, not where we think they should be.”

In a classic scenario, Johnson & Johnson could spend two years working to develop a new product—only to pull it off the shelves two months later because it was the wrong execution. Instead, they’re looking at small players like Harry’s that have started small, building up brand loyalty online before moving on to other retail channels like Walmart. And they’re wondering why they can’t do the same.


Keep it small and simple

They’ve started doing just that, building a purposely small team—one that could be fed with just one or two pizzas—and creating a very collaborative environment that’s biased to action, Dandy said. With just five to seven people on the team, they can bring in more resources as they need them. “We can identify people in the organization and say, ‘We need you for a short period of time,’” she said. “We bring in people as we need them.”

Keeping the arrangement small and simple is key to success in this new landscape. It’s given the R&D group the ability to maintain an agile mindset. Another strategic change Johnson & Johnson made for this team was end-to-end ownership. “We’re blessed with our own budget and leadership structure,” Dandy said. “We found this to really benefit us at J&J when we’re working on small projects. We can make decisions on the spot and move forward. We have spirited discussions and challenge the norms.”

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