The SMCP Group, a prominent player in the international fashion arena, provides a distinctive portfolio of accessible luxury brands, including Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot, and Fursac. Operating across 43 countries with an extensive network of over 1,660 points of sale, the group delivers unique products and premium customer experiences, embodying Parisian elegance and style on a global scale.
To enhance the effectiveness of marketing promotional campaigns and streamline sales operations, SMCP has strategically adopted Omnichat‘s advanced omnichannel chat commerce solutions. This initiative aimed to transform the group’s customer engagement strategy across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
By consolidating marketing and sales communications onto the WhatsApp platform, SMCP has successfully enabled data-driven analysis, facilitating the optimisation of remarketing initiatives and significantly improving overall sales performance and customer lifetime value.
SMCP recognised the increasing importance of digitalising communications. However, their marketing and sales teams encountered several key challenges.
SMCP faced the challenge of managing customer interactions spread across a multitude of online channels, including Facebook, Instagram, Email, and SMS. This fragmentation created data silos, hindering a holistic view of the customer journey. The inability to unify customer data from these disparate channels made it exceedingly difficult to deliver consistent and personalised services. Marketing efforts were less effective as it was challenging to target customers with relevant messaging based on their past interactions and preferences across different platforms.
A significant challenge arose from sales associates’ reliance on personal WhatsApp accounts for communicating with offline clients. Upon staff departure, the valuable customer contact details and interaction histories accumulated within personal accounts were often difficult to retrieve or transfer effectively. This practice led to the potential loss of valuable client data, jeopardising management of long-term customer relationships. Additionally, the absence of centralised oversight and monitoring of these conversations posed a risk of inconsistent brand messaging and diminished quality in customer service. It also hindered the ability to effectively track sales performance.
Ultimately, the absence of centralised communication tools resulted in inefficient workflows, limited collaboration between teams, and a compromised ability to manage customer interactions effectively.
SMCP’s adoption of Omnichat’s WhatsApp Business Platform solutions has facilitated the creation of a centralised chat engagement platform that seamlessly integrates customer service, sales, and marketing functions. This unified platform, augmented by sophisticated chatbot automation, has not only streamlined communication workflows but also provided SMCP with a more robust and efficient system for monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs).
The SMCP WhatsApp chatbot enhances customer engagement by delivering instant, automated responses to frequently asked questions, such as store locations and operating hours, ensuring timely support. Its user-friendly button menu simplifies navigation, enabling customers to effortlessly select their desired service or information category.
By adeptly managing routine inquiries, the chatbot optimises efficiency, freeing human agents to concentrate on more complex or nuanced customer issues. When detailed or personalised assistance is required, the system seamlessly transitions the conversation to a live agent, guaranteeing comprehensive support throughout the entire interaction.
The strategic decision to consolidate all WhatsApp communications for Sandro and Maje branches onto a unified platform delivered several key benefits:
The storage of customer preferences and interaction data within the Omnichat system ensures the retention of critical knowledge, even in the event of staff changes. Leveraging customer tags, SMCP can deliver highly personalised interactions tailored to individual preferences, significantly enhancing customer satisfaction and fostering long-term loyalty.
“Our focus is on personalised 1-on-1 service, both pre- and post-sale, and on understanding our customers through data,” said Howell Wong, Regional Director of Transformation and Operations of SMCP.
Given its extensive international presence, SMCP operates across diverse markets, including Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Omnichat‘s solutions empower SMCP to efficiently deploy targeted WhatsApp marketing campaigns across these various territories. Utilising deeply integrated customer data for intelligent audience segmentation, the platform enables campaigns that maximise reach and effectiveness while actively optimising return on investment (ROI).
As Howell elaborated, “By analysing customer data and browsing behaviour, we create targeted segments for WhatsApp broadcasts, delivering tailored offers that have driven click-through rates of over 14%, compared to 3-6% for email. This approach has also resulted in a noticeable increase in traffic to both our e-shop and physical stores, optimising our marketing spending and efforts.”
Omnichat’s WhatsApp broadcast functionality supports sophisticated customer segmentation through tagging. This enables SMCP to precisely identify and target the most relevant customer segments for each broadcast, ensuring that customers receive personalised and engaging content that resonates with their individual needs and interests, thereby significantly enhancing both customer interaction levels and overall communication effectiveness.
With a robust communication system powered by Omnichat, SMCP has transformed the way it manages customer inquiries. Through the chatbot automation, the platform enables the efficient routing of various customer enquiries to the appropriate representatives, whether it be individual offline stores, the e-shop, or general customer service. This streamlined process eliminates the need for customers to navigate between multiple accounts to engage with the relevant personnel, significantly enhancing the customer experience. Furthermore, the presence of Meta’s blue tick verification lends an added layer of trust and credibility to these interactions, assuring customers of the authenticity of the brand representatives they are communicating with.
When a customer’s enquiry is directed to a specific store and they are successfully connected with a designated sales associate, they unlock the potential for highly personalised, one-to-one service. Sales associates can leverage comprehensive customer profiles to provide tailored product recommendations, style advice, and a truly bespoke shopping experience.
SMCP’s success in transforming its customer engagement strategy underscores the power of combining personalised communication with innovative technology. Omnichat‘s solutions have enabled SMCP to cultivate stronger customer relationships, optimise marketing campaigns, and drive sales growth through WhatsApp. Looking ahead, SMCP is poised to further elevate its personalised service approach. As Howell highlighted, the group is also taking the next step by exploring AI-powered personal shoppers, signifying a continued dedication to leveraging cutting-edge technology to create more meaningful and engaging customer interactions.
The 2026 Landscape: From "Omnichannel" to "Unified Intelligence" In 2026, the tolerance for fragmented communication…
In 2026, with advertising costs skyrocketing, relying solely on paid traffic is no longer enough…
Many brands and social media managers have noticed that despite having a large number of…
The boundary between digital and physical commerce has vanished, leaving retail operations to grapple with…
We would like to extend our gratitude to Brain Magazine (a famous marketing publication in…
March is a traditional low season for the retail industry. Rather than spending heavily on…