Leaders of Change: Wayne Duan

WAYNE DUAN is Constellation’s Vice President of eCommerce and has responsibility across both the Beer and Wine & Spirits divisions for driving the eCommerce growth agenda. This includes strengthening and aligning both eCommerce and digital resources, strategies and investments to further propel Constellation’s leadership position in the Total Beverage Alcohol (TBA) category. His team oversees Constellation’s eCommerce and emerging omnichannel activities in sales, category management, marketing, strategy and digital shelf catalog management.

Wayne joined Constellation in 2017 from Walgreens where he held various digital and eCommerce roles. Previously he was the General Manager for Walgreens Digital Commerce. In addition, his team supported various strategic omnichannel and digital marketing initiatives including same-day delivery and auto-reorder-and-save. Prior to Walgreens, Wayne was a management consulting professional.

He is an avid mountain climber and scuba diver.

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I’m a big believer in ensuring that you have differentiating skills that give you a competitive advantage and I noticed that I was personally buying more and more online and thought it would be good differentiator to start to pivot into this area as more and more consumers shifted toward shopping online. I’m also really interested in the intersection of business and technology, and eCommerce has been one of the clearest examples of the overlap between the two. 

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? Fortitude. It takes a certain mix of conviction, stubbornness, empathy and storytelling in order to influence partners. We need to be prepared to go where the consumer is going, and also shift how we think about the consumer and the retail experience.  But like any change, it can take time. There’s still much room to help bridge those knowledge gaps and collaborate with partners to help us, collectively, fully realize the opportunity. 

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? Coming up with analogies and metaphors. These help when having to breakdown seemingly complex eCommerce and digital concepts to partners and stakeholders who are less familiar with the space. Being able to effectively communicate and influence is an important trait in this burgeoning space!

How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? Speaking of analogies, one of my favorite examples is describing the impact eCommerce and digital like an iceberg. You can see a portion of the iceberg above water but the majority of the iceberg is underwater. This would be analogous to describing the impact of eCommerce: the iceberg portion above the water are eCommerce sales that can be measured with traditional metrics like shipments and scan data and the iceberg portion underwater that is hard to see is the digitally-influenced store sales from consumers researching products online but ultimately making the purchase in stores. Therefore the impact of eCommerce and digital needs to be looked at the whole iceberg as a whole.

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? Being told by one of my early managers in my career that I probably wouldn’t have what it takes to succeed in retail/CPG. I replay that feedback in my head when I need the extra boost and motivation to get through a business challenge.  

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? Embracing JOMO: the Joy of Missing Out. It’s easy to get pulled in multiple directions and opportunities whether that it’s in my personal or professional life. I’ve learned that most opportunities aren’t worth pursuing and rather than fearing that I’m missing out on something (FOMO), I’m embracing the joy of missing out and staying focused!

What are you learning right now? Learning more about the Beverage Alcohol industry. I’ve picked up a lot in my ~18 months but the industry has such a storied history and I really enjoy talking to colleagues, retailers and distributors to learn the in’s and out’s of the industry. It’s only when you have an appreciation and respect for the history of your industry can you influence change.

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?

• Learn to Fly by The Foo Fighters

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why?

• From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership by Harry Kraemer: He was one of my grad school professors and his course and his book greatly influenced how I lead organizations and teams today.

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”. - Joshua J Marine

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? “It’s a fad and that’s where CPG/retail careers go to die.”

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? Know what you know and know what you don’t know and revisit this everyday to continue to be flexible and to grow. The eCommerce space changes too quickly to anchor oneself to a defined set of knowledge and facts.

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? For me, it’s never underestimating the power of the consumer’s desire for convenience and the never-ending evolution in the definition of convenience. Consumers will continue to go to the store, but the role of the store will increasingly be focused on the experience. Anything that can be purchased as a regular “routine” will shift to recurring online purchasing whether that’s fulfilled through click-and-collect or delivery.

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? A case of our favorite wines for my wife and me to enjoy at home. We generally like to have a variety available at home – for that casual Tuesday night glass of wine to the celebratory bottle!

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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.