As Hong Kong’s retail sector continues to adapt to shifting consumer behaviour and economic uncertainty, traditional department stores face mounting pressure to modernise.
Among them is Sincere – a household name founded in 1900 – which recently demonstrated that digital transformation is not only possible for heritage retailers, but also highly profitable.
Sincere partnered with WhatsApp business solution provider Sanuker and retail solution expert Linkage to deliver a tightly integrated WhatsApp reactivation campaign. The goal was to re-engage dormant customers and drive footfall back to physical stores. The result is phenomenal, a 72 per cent coupon redemption rate, a 25 per cent click-through rate, and an impressive 290X return on ad spend – outcomes that have since been recognised by Meta as a success case.
The “Sincere Crazy Sale” campaign combined WhatsApp message broadcasting and real-time coupon redemption via POS. It leverages Sincere’s customer past purchase activities to deliver highly personalised digital coupons via WhatsApp, redeemable in-store through a QR code system validated by Linkage’s POS. This approach created a smooth and measurable online-to-offline (O2O) experience, helping drive traffic back to physical stores.
“We were able to reconnect with our dormant and VIP customers in an engaging and impactful way,” said David Li, marketing manager at Sincere. “The integration of this campaign significantly boosted store traffic and delivered results far beyond what we anticipated.”
Many retailers today still run business messaging in silos – disconnected from their POS or CRM systems. This limits both scalability and personalisation. By contrast, the Sanuker and Linkage solution allows for programmatic audience targeting, campaign automation, and performance feedback loops – turning WhatsApp into a true engagement engine rather than a one-off messaging tool.
“Many businesses adopt WhatsApp Business messaging but keep it separate from their internal systems. That limits scalability and leads to inefficiencies,” said Burton Chau, co-founder and CEO of Sanuker. “True transformation happens when messaging is embedded into core operations – that’s what we set out to do with Linkage.”
Sanuker, a Meta business partner and official WhatsApp business solution provider, has long advocated for messaging as part of a broader business process. By partnering with Linkage, a trusted retail solution provider with over 30 years of experience, the team was able to deliver a fully integrated, scalable solution tailored to Hong Kong retailers.
With over 30 years of experience in retail systems, Linkage ensures POS and CRM data and campaign logic stay tightly synchronised. This makes it possible to run precision programmatic marketing – for example, targeting customers who previously purchased specific product categories, or setting up tier-based offers for high-spending members. Redemptions and responses are logged in real time, giving marketing teams actionable insights on read rates, response rates, redemptions, and even post-campaign purchase behaviour.
“Retailers want results, not just tools,” added Clarence Chan, founder of Linkage. “Integrating WhatsApp into our POS platform allows retailers to segment audiences by behaviour, launch smart promotions, and track what works – without adding manual work at the store level.”
As retail marketing shifts toward first-party data strategies and direct-to-consumer reactivation, WhatsApp offers unmatched reach and immediacy. With open rates often far surpassing email or SMS, it has become one of the most effective channels for re-engaging lapsed customers and activating high-value segments.
“We see growing interest from retailers who want to move beyond pilot programs to scalable, integrated solutions,” said Chau. “Sincere’s success proves that with the right partners, even the most traditional brands can modernise without losing their identity.”
At a time when consumer loyalty is increasingly difficult to earn, the ability to deliver personalised, timely, and trackable promotions is becoming essential. Sincere’s campaign is not just a win for the brand – it is a blueprint for how legacy retailers can thrive in a digital-first world, with WhatsApp at the centre of a broader customer strategy.
- For retailers interested in learning more about the Sanuker x Linkage WhatsApp retail solution, please visit our website here or contact us via WhatsApp at +852 5443 2330 to explore how it can be tailored to your business.
