Fotomax reframes customer engagement with personalisation at scale

Fotomax, a leading name in Hong Kong’s photo printing industry, is evolving its customer experience strategy with SAP Engagement Cloud (formerly SAP Emarsys) as consumer expectations shift rapidly toward digital-first behaviour.  

Despite building a large customer base over its 44-year history, Fotomax struggled to capture customer information and manage fragmented customer data. A significant portion of its customers are walk-ins, and their information is captured mainly through offline POS systems, records that are often incomplete. This made it difficult for the brand to form a unified customer view or deliver personalisation at scale – especially with a lean team.   

Wanting to get a clearer picture of its customers and put them firmly in the frame, Fotomax expanded its use of SAP Engagement Cloud, shifting from traditional marketing techniques to an intelligent, automated, insight-driven approach. By centralising online and offline interactions in a single unified database, the solution now enables the team to automate customer engagement with greater accuracy and consistency.  

Ryan Sun, COO of Fotomax, describes SAP Engagement Cloud as far more than a marketing platform, calling it “a clear framework for building journeys and personalisation.” He adds, “It helps us turn scattered data into relevant, timely interactions and move much faster as a team.”  

Beyond the internal challenges, Fotomax also needed to respond to changing consumer behaviour. The rise of mobile-first content and the demand for personalised interactions have reshaped how customers expect brands to communicate. This shift is especially evident among younger audiences, with 34% of Gen Z saying their brand loyalty begins on social media platforms. Brands now need timely, tailored engagement to secure long-term loyalty. 

With improved insight into customer interests and behaviours, SAP Engagement Cloud enables Fotomax to understand its audience more clearly and segment them meaningfully. This directly supports the brand’s longstanding mission to help customers preserve meaningful memories, as more personalised and timely communication guides customers toward the products and services that matter most to them.  

Fotomax now delivers communications that are both relevant to each segment and consistent across channels. Sun notes that SAP Engagement Cloud has made its marketing approach truly customer-centric and scalable: “It gives you ready-to-use journeys, powerful segmentation, and automation that actually connects online and offline behaviour.” 

Since adopting this CX strategy, Fotomax has seen clear performance improvements. Automated communications now achieve 6% higher open rate and clickthrough rates grew by 15%, while purchase rates from email campaigns increased while the send volume decreased by 27%. Automated engagement also consistently outperformed one-off campaigns in both purchase and conversion, reinforcing the value of a data-driven approach.   

Looking ahead, Fotomax plans to continue expanding its use of AI-enabled capabilities to deepen loyalty and strengthen long-term customer relationships. By combining its decades-long heritage with modern, data-powered engagement, the brand is building a future where every interaction feels more connected, personalised, and meaningful. 

This article is sponsored by SAP Engagement Cloud (formerly SAP Emarsys).