A.S. Watson injects HK$902m for digital transformation

International health and beauty retailer A.S. Watson has injected anadditional HK$902 million in technology this year to accelerate digital transformation and delivery of its offline plus online (O+O) platform strategy. Key technology focus areas include heavy up resources in its in-house eLab and TECHLab, and further building machine learning, AI, big data and retail technology.

The company prioritises the top three consumer-facing technology investment, including O+O technology solutions for health and beauty shopping, personalisation in customer experience powered by the use of AI, as well as instore technologies such as digital payments, smart shelving. In addition, the company also values its investment in backend technology in three areas such as big data management and visualisation; cyber security and promotion optimisation.

Malina Ngai, group COO of A.S. Watson Group and CEO of A.S. Watson (Asia and Europe), said: “Technology is vital for us to deliver the right O+O customer experience. We are committed to our customers to lead and shape the new standard of retail for them, and have set our consumer-facing and back-end technology investment priorities accordingly.”

“Just as importantly, we are mindful that digital transformation is not just about how much investment we put in technology or how many more digital devices we put in the stores. It is also about genuine revolution in the organisation culture - the way we think, the way we work, and the way we communicate and serve our customers.” Ngai added.

With the rapid evolvement of retail industry, A.S. Watson Group strives to build agility in the organisation, and to empower their consumers with data insights in real-time, cloud-based dashboards, said Ngai, “It is key to fast and smart decision making. O+O continues to be A.S. Watson’s core strategy and technology is the critical engine for future growth.” she added.

Apart from A.S. Watson’s in-house digital development agency eLab in Hong Kong and Milan, its TECHLab has expanded its new technology experience centre to Shenzhen in Mainland China, alongside its existing TECHLab in the Netherlands, to increase its capabilities for developing new solutions and testing new customer experience technology before it’s rolled out in A.S. Watson businesses around the world.

The new technology experience centre showcases the latest shopping technology including unmanned stores, smart shelves, unmanned cabinet, interactive games, store entrance with facial recognition and seamless payment.

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