Matthew is a speaker and writer focusing on Chinese mobile technology and innovation. In particular he's known for analysis of WeChat, China’s famous super app, and Tencent, China’s largest tech giant. His opinions are regularly featured in global media: The Economist, Wall Street Journal, BBC, The Financial Times, Harvard Political Review. Matthew is also co-host of the China Tech Talk podcast and his book ‘The Story of WeChat’ is due for release later this year. Matthew works with a select few international businesses to help form and implement their WeChat and China digital marketing strategy.
More information about speakerIndustry veteran Andrew is the CEO of Grata. He works with multiple global brands particularly in the areas hospitality and automotive industry to provide scalable and innovative customer service through WeChat.
More information about speakerA serial entrepreneur, professional speaker, bestselling author, vlogger, podcaster, media contributor and female entrepreneurship spokesperson. Ashley is the founder of several startups, including social media agency Alarice and resources & training company ChoZan.
More information about speakerGroup photos & refreshments
Kim Leitzes is CEO and founder of ParkLU, a marketplace connecting consumer brands with China KOLs. Her career started in New York, working exclusively with luxury, retail & consumer brands on strategy, M&A and investing. After moving to China in 2010, Kim began working with global e-commerce companies, including ASOS, Shopbop (owned by Amazon) and YOOX Net-a-porter Group on digital and influencer marketing strategies. In 2015, ParkLU launched its web and mobile platform, which has since enabled independent and global brands, including H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Macy's and Swire Properties, to collaborate with KOLs.
More information about speakerDue to internal policies, this special guest speaker cannot be announced publicly.
More information about speakerSocial Marketing used to be low cost where the formula for success was simple: share shining content, build an audience and cash in. These days just having a presence on social media wont get you far, instead paid social native ads and KOL marketing are fast becoming the surest way to reach your target audience.
In short, you’ve got to pay to play and its not cheap and this is the new social reality!
Lee Mack has been working in digital in China since 2008, first as Digital Publisher of City Weekend where he implemented innovative publishing processes using the web to power print, and pioneering the move to publishing on Wechat. Since 2014 he has been focused solely on the Chinese market, leading digital strategy for Octave, a luxury wellness start-up, and now the naked Group, where he provides leadership to naked's main businesses which include resorts (naked Stables and naked Castle), co-working (naked Hub) and retail (naked Things).
More information about speakerCo-founder and COO of cross-border e-commerce platform WalktheChat. Helping foreign SMEs and multinational brands to sell to Chinese through WeChat with a step-by-step investment plan. Jenny writes and edits much of WalktheChat's weekly content covering WeChat and China digital marketing.
More information about speakerJB began his career in Sales in the travel industry in New York in 2001. Quickly moving to Marketing roles he relocated to Paris its hometown and then to Shanghai in 2011 where he hold the position of CMO for ACCORHOTELS China till 2017. In early 2018 he operated a change in its career to become General Manager at SPLIO China, an omnichannel customer platform (CRM) specialized in data management and marketing automation accompanying brands in building and refining their customer journey.
More information about speakerJoseph is the co-founder of 31Ten, a future-forward digital agency focused on China’s fast-moving digital ecosystem and consumers. He has combined his experience as a corporate strategy consultant for fortune 500 companies with his passion for digital and entrepreneurship. 10 years on the field, he now helps businesses to design, build and scale consumer facing and enterprise-grade online software solutions using WeChat as an anchor.
More information about speakerAaron began his career in advertising in New York with McCann Erickson before he found his true calling in the web in Seattle. Aaron moved to Shanghai in 2006, founding ACHANG webdev in 2008. Changing focus to the Chinese market in 2013 JING digital was founded and has built JINGsocial an advanced WeChat marketing automation platform.
More information about speakerAlex runs KAWO.com the leading enterprise Weibo and WeChat platform for foreign brands in China. He is a serial entrepreneur, designer, developer and user experience expert.
More information about speakerSheng is the CEO of Juplus Digital, a digital marketing agency based in Shanghai, with worldwide presence. Juplus’ key competencies lie in digital creativity, digital technology and digital media buying. We employ our innovative ideas in various digital marketing campaigns on Chinese digital spaces, including Wechat, Weibo, Baidu, online community forums and other digital channels to delivery measurable results for our clients. Juplus has a good track record of helping B2B companies to use digital marketing tools in China to their business advantages.
Sheng has over ten years of experience in digital marketing in the UK and China across the e-commerce, SEO, SEM and social media marketing. He has a master’s degree in e-Commerce, certified Google Adwords and Analytics Professional. He is an active public speaker on Wechat, Chinese e-commerce, Baidu SEO and SEM, digital media buying in China.
Digital Transformation & Artificial Intelligence in Omni-Channel Retailing
Digital transformation is rapidly changing the way consumers interact with brands. Online no longer drives offline or the other way around. Consumers expect an integrated and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled customer experience. Retail is an important sector experiencing digital transformation but also experimenting innovative solutions. Offline, consumers can experience face- and body recognition, augmented and connected experiences or AI enabled in-store advice to improve their customer journey. Online, retailers and eCommerce giants use data-driven insights to facilitate voice assisted shopping, automated customer services and personalised product recommendations. The sky is the limit, and customers want more. Retail therefore invests heavily in omni-channel merchandising allowing consumers to seamlessly switch between devices and continue their experience online, offline and across borders. According to the research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), retail will lead expenditure in cognitive and artificial intelligence investing some 2,76 bn EUR (21,69 bn CNY) in 2018.
What best practices exist in the market and which are the most expensive mistakes to be avoided at all costs? What technology solutions provide customers with an integrated, augmented and connected experience? Will Chinese tech giants lead the charge or is the West better placed to revolutionise retail?
Speakers
- Ted HOPKINS, Head of Innovation at Wal-Mart, China
- Monica XU Yan, Co-founder and CEO at Shoplitics Co
- Renata THIEBAUT, Director at Alibaba TMall Partner Web2Asia
- Eliza MAO, Customer Success Director at SPLIO
Moderator
- Maximilian RECH, Academic Director of the MSc Digital Marketing and Business at ESSCA Shanghai #MBADMB