Top 25 eCommerce leaders 2022: Sharon Tan

With 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and general management, of which more than 10 were focused on starting up and scaling businesses, Kellogg’s head of digital commerce for Southeast Asia, Sharon Tan (pictured), was deservedly recognised as one of the top 25 eCommerce leaders at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Asia eCommerce Awards 2022.

At Kellogg’s, Tan operates at the intersection of commerce, consumer and technology, driving the sales ambitions for the region’s digital business across the ready-to-eat-cereals and snacks portfolios, comprising Kellogg’s and Pringles.

In her role, this translates to the end-to-end management of the digital business, including business planning; strategy and development; eCommerce online and performance campaigns; eCommerce brand partnerships; merchandising and promotions; data and analytics – across marketplaces; quick commerce; and omni-channel retailers such as hypermarkets and supermarkets.

Against the backdrop of the macro landscape, and eCommerce being a new channel of growing importance for Kellogg’s, Tan’s core business objective can be summarised as fast-tracking eCommerce sales across SEA.

In addition to being a channel partner to country teams, with her leadership skills, Tan guides and directly manages local eCommerce managers in all local planning and executions, and actively leads planning and commercial negotiations with key distributors, retailers, eCommerce brands, and marketplace partnerships.

Tan is a big believer of co-brand partnerships, and she and her team actively seek out brands for eCommerce trade partnerships. In addition to a consumer promotion that is expected of trade partnerships, Kellogg’s and its partners came together to drive up visibility of the partnership and promotion, resulting in strong page reviews and unique visitor uplift, and importantly, sales uplift.

Given Kellogg’s is still new to eCommerce, Tan and her team are focused on building strong foundations, and as such, adopt the approach of doing what it knows is right for its business, for the specific market, instead of doing what’s on-trend.

Tan is a firm believer in an omni-channel approach, evident from her previous role at Lazada Singapore, where she spearheaded Lazada’s first multi-category, physical pop-up home – “Come Home to Lazada” – which gave shoppers a one-of-a-kind omni-channel shopping experience.

Tan is well-respected in her field. She was previously appointed APAC associate commercial director at Italian pharmaceutical powerhouse Menarini, during which she led the firm’s cross-border eCommerce entry into China. She spent the earlier part of her career in international creative agencies where her last position was general manager (healthcare) at Publicis Singapore.