AS watson names new co-managing directors for Watsons China

AS Watson Group has appointed Fred Chan (pictured left) and Vivian Nie (pictured right) as co-managing directors of Watsons China, succeeding Kulvinder Birring, current CEO of Watsons China, who will be appointed as CEO of Marionnaud Group, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings.

Both Chan and Nie's roles are effective from April 2024, they will report to Dominic Lai, group managing director of AS Watson group and executive director of CK Hutchison.

Within their new roles, both Chan and Nie will continue to evolve Watsons' growth strategy to navigate the rapidly changing market in Mainland China, and stay focused on serving our customers with differentiated shopping experience, quality products, and excellent services, according to Lai. 

Chan joined Watsons China in 2011 as operations director of South China. At the time, Watsons China had just over 1,000 stores and today the business has grown to 3,800 O+O stores.

Over the years, Chan's role has expanded geographically, and was promoted to his current role as general manager of sales operations in 2023. He has been instrumental in building operational excellence in sales operations, is passionate in developing talents on the field, and has been one of the key driving forces in the O+O transformation in the business.

Meanwhile, Nie joined Watsons China in 2018 as the marketing director, and was subsequently promoted to general manager, customer growth in 2021. In 2023, she took on additional responsibility for the trading function.

Nie has demonstrated her versatility and ability to effectively manage multiple areas of the business, and she has been instrumental in the development of MyStore O+O business model on the Wechat Enterprise Platform interacting with 43 million customers, and the recent launch of OptimO, Watsons’ retail media business.

Lai said: “I am delighted to have Chan and Nie taking over the leadership of Watsons China as co-managing directors. Both Chan and Nie have been with the business for many years and instrumental in the successful transformation of the O+O (Offline plus Online) retail model in the business."

On the other hand, Watsons China's current CEO Birring will transition to the role of CEO of Marionnaud Group. Lai said: “I would like to warmly thank Birring for his great contributions to Watsons China in the past eight years. Under his leadership, he has successfully repositioned the Watsons brand as the top retailer in our category nationwide. He has led the organisation through a remarkable cultural transformation, fostering a scientific, collaborative, agile, and growth-oriented mindset."

"Despite operating in a highly competitive retail market, his team has demonstrated resilience and a relentless drive for innovation, continuously enhancing the customer experience. I look forward to him bringing his experience to lead the growth strategy in our luxury perfumeries and cosmetics retail brand Marionnaud in Europe,” Lai added.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to AS Watson for more information. 

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