Top 25 eCommerce leaders 2022: WeiJun Liao

WeiJun Liao (pictured) is the eCommerce director at Fonterra, responsible for developing and implementing strategies to drive sales and growth of eCommerce operations within the SEA region for the company.

His role covers several aspects ranging from eCommerce operations, digital marketing and customer acquisition to supply chain management and customer service. He is also involved in developing eCommerce strategies to increase online sales and improve the customer experience.

Much of Liao’s time revolves around creating regional partnerships and collaborations with retailers to foster favourable working arrangements for the Fonterra business. He is actively involved in pushing for the development of a seamless shopper journey and experience to ensure a top-in-class experience for customers from browsing to checkout.

One of the areas he and his team have done exceedingly well in is establishing a data hub and tower to centralise information, track performance and identify opportunities for improvement. This includes analysing customer behaviour, conversion rates, and sales data to optimise the eCommerce strategy.

Liao is very hands-on in changing the way the company thinks and launches innovation. He uses a variety of marketing tactics from on-platform marketing tools to off-platform marketing for the success of the various brands.

He is also a big believer of testing and learning, especially with new media, via digital sprints to develop case studies and scale accordingly.

Overall, he believes that an integrated approach is key to eCommerce marketing through areas such as digital sampling, and cross-merchandising initiatives supported by the correct content strategy.

One area that he believes many eCommerce directors are challenged with today is in paralysis by analysis. With access to a wealth of data from various sources, many professionals are challenged to make sense of it all.

“Constantly we need to refine the key metrics and right priorities to develop and guide accurately,” he said.

One way to counter this could be to create a central data repository as a single point of truth and capabilities, and have experts to identify and build the analysis skill sets.

Liao added that eCommerce is a crowded and competitive space both internally and externally. Professionals in this space are challenged to always find news ways to stand out among competitors and be prioritised within internal stakeholders.

“It is crucial to develop strategies that cut through the noise and capture the attention of all parties,” he said.

Furthermore, there is a big contest for talent in the market. As such organisations must invest in education and involvement to bridge the knowledge gap and capabilities building.