Ivy Wong ventures into new mobile territory

If you work in media and live in Hong Kong, it is more than likely you know Ivy Wong.

Largely credited as the driving force behind Yahoo’s local success and TVB.com, Wong left her high-profile role as CEO of Next Mobile, a subsidiary of Next Media, in January this year to, literally, prove the world wrong.

Wong’s latest brainchild is Viss, an Instagram-like app that allows users to post photos of their outfits and tag them to a brand. Wong’s team then matches the look to an e-commerce platform that sells that particular garment, or similar variations.

“There’s a conception where self-generated media — as in media owned by the public — doesn’t work. I want to make that possible,” she said.

“User-generated content will have a way out. The public just needs a platform where their voice can be heard. And if successful, people will pay for it.”

In February, the site boasted more than 30 retail partners and a user base of about 1.2 million.

Her new venture, however, is not a walk in the park.

“To be honest, every app — including ours — is testing mobile behaviour. And ours is very greedy,” she said, noting that Viss requires users to upload, tag, look at the product catalogue and buy.

“That’s many actions that we’re requesting them to do, so we’re still testing the waters, but we’re optimistic.”

Aside from funds — she is also spearheading a consulting firm to sponsor the project — Wong’s biggest challenge is getting users to click the “buy now” button, which is where her revenue is generated.

“You have to start with a niche topic, but eventually, we want to expand our service platform to travel and pets and other lifestyle-oriented hobbies,” she said.