YATA's CEO Susanna Wong steps down after 7 years

Japanese-lifestyle department store YATA's chief executive officer Susanna Wong (pictured) will step down from her role on 31 July.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Wong said she has not yet made up her mind about her next career step and intends to take short career break and spend more time with her family after leaving YATA. She added that she still has keen interest in the retail and FMCG industries and she might return to any of these fields in the future. 

During her seven-year tenure, Wong expanded the company’s retail stores from seven to 14 outlets, all while dealing with the challenges posed by the pandemics lasted for three years. She said she has many unforgettable experiences over her seven years with YATA, including experiencing 15 VIP Days.

Wong joined YATA in 2016 as CEO, where she was tasked at achieving growth above market performance and profitability every year despite challenging market situations; building professional and strong functional teams on merchandising, operations and business development; modernising and digitalising company management, tracking and customer experience; establishing solid relationships with Japanese associations, vendors and partners, according to her LinkedIn. 

In 2014, Wong was the director of planning and operations, non-property portfolio businesses at Sun Hung Kai Properties. During the time, she was tasked at providing strategic directions and action plans on portfolio businesses including mobile business, data center business, transportation and logistics; leading teams on strategic investment projects and key business transformation projects, amongst others. She carried dual roles for Sun Hung Kai Properties and YATA since 2016.

Previously in May, YATA launched a two-week special promotion, looking to achieve a two-percent growth in sales mainly driven by travel-related goods. During the ''golden week'' holiday in May, sales at the department store increased by double digits from that of last year despite a mild decrease in supermarket sales, according to Wong. 

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