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Ken Ip, Chair of the Asia MarTech Society (AMS), meeting 2021-22

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Passionate about keeping the retail industry abreast of the ever-evolving world of technology, Ken Ip is currently the Chair of the Asia MarTech Society (AMS) for the 2021-22 session for a two-year term.

As an award-winning marketing and brand communications strategist, Ip has held a variety of leadership roles, from management consulting to public affairs consulting for leading multinational corporations and conglomerates. He is currently Assistant General Manager and Group Head of Marketing at BSC Group overseeing the marketing of the engineering, design, construction, wholesale and retail businesses with a portfolio of over 200 lifestyle brands.

Ip is also an active speaker, columnist, and contributor on Marketing Technology (MarTech) and e-commerce. To share MarTech’s knowledge, he is also an associate professor and author of the two best-selling titles “Life Hacks” and “Growth Hacks”.

“MarTech is an excellent tool for winning customers and getting in contact with them and thus maintaining their loyalty,” explains Ip. “However, it has often escaped the light of darkness in Hong Kong.”
For those unfamiliar with the subject, Ip explains, “In short, MarTech is the continuation of digital marketing. MarTech develops from digital marketing, in which companies are only put online on a website, and shapes the marketing landscape by using artificial intelligence, block chain, cloud computing and data together with various means such as online to offline (O2O) and virtual Shop works and omni-channel to facilitate the improvement and convenience of traditional marketing processes in the current era of big data. “

With over 20 years of experience, Ip has carried out a number of notable projects during his trip with MarTech. “One of them is my most recent work, turning the conventional business model of the group’s retail business into a virtual one within 30 days,” he recalls. “It enables shopping in the midst of the pandemic. The virtual shop offers customers a unique shopping experience when they visit every floor of the retail store at their fingertips and buy any number of avant-garde and design-oriented products at will. “

“The biggest challenge on this project was racing against time,” he says. “With stores either closed or without customers at the beginning of the pandemic, I had to set up an online platform for our brand in no time to revive the business. The next step was integration into e-commerce. “
While the current pandemic is affecting the frequency of shopping, Ip believes MarTech is the solution that allows customers to shop anytime, anywhere. “Despite the social block, life goes on, albeit in a modified form,” notes Ip. “This is where MarTech comes into play and helps companies, whether large or small, to deal with the new reality of customers who dine and shop online.”

When you go online, retail businesses no longer have to worry about exorbitant rents, limited retail space, non-24/7 stores, and cross-border sales. “If businesses in the midst of the pandemic do not keep up with the flow and are digitized, it will be even more difficult for them to catch up in the post-pandemic period,” emphasizes Ip.

“Digitization does not mean sacrificing the commitment and interaction between customers and shop staff, as customers can easily access the information they are looking for with chat boxes and AI and interact seamlessly with the shop.”

As Chairman of AMS and Group Head of Marketing at BSC Group, Ip has set itself the goal of promoting learning, exchange and knowledge sharing between the AMS community, bringing the new MarTech knowledge back to his workplace and the BSC Group to keep at the forefront of the digital market trend.

The Asia MarTech Society

Email: [email protected]