Top 25 eCommerce leaders 2022: U-Fong Chua

U-Fong Chua (pictured), head of eCommerce, SEA, at The LEGO Group, has been in the marketing industry for more than a decade. Currently, he is responsible for growing the LEGO Group’s online channel across Southeast Asia by building and managing the eCommerce team.

Before LEGO Group, he honed his experience at well-established companies such as P&G, L’Oréal, and RB. He graduated studying engineering, after which he took a 180-degree turn and changed his career path.

Like his career choice post-graduation, he believes it is this same boldness that makes any campaign today stand out, while authenticity is what makes consumers stay.

Chua’s resolve gave birth to one of his proudest executions alongside his team – “The Gamification Pilot”. It was a collaboration between the LEGO Group, a global gaming firm, and Alibaba.

At first, the campaign seemed like an impossible task because of several factors such as time zone differences, a limited budget, and differences in languages. Yet, the resolve to make the campaign a success saw he and his team hit huge engagement rates in the game on Lazada.

Another campaign that did well under his influence was the 2022 Black Friday Cyber Monday. The team elevated the campaign to not just a sales channel, but also a brand-building event by launching a physical experiential area partnering with Amazon to create a Play Area at Amazon House. The campaign was a success with more than 10,000 visitors to the LEGO Play Area and a very high QR code scan rate.

All of the innovations mentioned had their challenges. However, Chua and his team see themselves as change agents for the LEGO Group to shift the mindset where eCommerce is not just a sales channel, but also a brand-building channel.

It is the many small pilots – supported internally and externally – that lead to bigger scale innovations.

Chua thinks big, and in 2022, he and his team took it to the next level by celebrating the company’s 90th anniversary on eCommerce. This resulted in the LEGO Group receiving a lot of media coverage, favourable KOL mentions and social content that went viral.

He is a firm believer that eCommerce is no longer just a conversion or shopping channel, but a driving force for brand building and recruitment.

At the end of the day, strong partnerships within the community, and with consumers, is where brands stand to succeed in creating enriching and memorable campaign experiences.