Watsons expands with first store in Qatar

Watsons continues its expansion plans as it opens up a new store in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The new store spans near 3,000 square feet, featuring new zones including the "Natural and Clean Beauty" areas which showcases the brand's sustainable choices products. The store also has an open makeup area, enabling customers to try out different looks and play around with a wide range of the latest and trendiest colour cosmetics.

“Qatar is a truly vibrant and unique market. While customers are getting more and more sophisticated about beauty and personal care, Watsons as the skin expert is delighted to bring our customers exclusive international brands. The excitement is overwhelming as customers have been eagerly waiting for Watsons to expand across the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council via our offline plus online retail model, allowing beauty lovers of all generations to shop offline and online," said Jonathan Watts, general manager of Watsons GCC at Al-Futtaim.

The new store is the addition in the Middle East. Currently, Watsons operates at Dubai Mall, Dubai Festival City, Mall of the Emirates and Al Wahda Mall in United Arab Emirates, and Mall of Dhahra in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the region.

Watsons added that it is bringing over 200 brands from around the world to customers, offering makeup, skincare, haircare to personal care. Close to half of its products are exclusive at Watsons, including brands from the UK, France, Japan, and South Korea. Some of the top pick brands include Deweytree, Holika Holika, Leaders, Superdrug, Target Pro by Watsons.

Watsons has been strengthening its offerings for overseas customers lately. For example, it unveiled its "Watsons VR Get Active Park", aiming to help consumers stay active and healthy while at home. The park recently landed in Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan and is expected to roll out in Hong Kong next month. With this park, Watsons aims to offer its customers a virtual immersive experience to live an active lifestyle. The park is said to be a virtual playland that is made up of different sections including a game zone, exercise arena, virtual Watsons store, and rewards station.

Additionally, A.S. Watson Group is planning to expand its AI offering to Asian markets this year. A.S. Watson has introduced a Tech Partner programme to accelerate digital transformation with an investment of US$1.6 billion investment since 2012. Within its Tech Partner ecosystem, A.S. Watson has been working with its Tech Partner Revieve to develop an AI-powered Skin Advisor, which analyses skin conditions to give suitable product recommendations based on biometric data. Currently, Superdrug’s customers in the UK can take a selfie and answer some simple questions to receive personalised and in-depth skin analysis, as well as a bespoke list of product recommendations on a mobile device. 

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