Watsons pumps US$250m to refresh in-store experience in Asia

Watsons, the flagship health and beauty brand of AS Watson Group, has invested US$250 million to refurbish existing stores and open new stores across Asia.

The rebrand comes after Watsons recognised that customers’ expectations for seamless and enjoyable shopping continued to rise. As a two-year store upgrade, the brand invested in opening and upgrading over 2,200 O+O (Offline plus Online) stores across 15 markets in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in 2023.

To ride on the momentum, the company expects to have over 3,800 new and refitted O+O stores by the end of 2024. This rebrand covers the Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand markets, aiming to enhance customers' in-store experiences. 

It begins with redefining the beauty experience that aligns with Watsons stores’ design to appeal to modern beauty lovers seeking a more exciting shopping experience.

Watsons Hong Kong has redesigned its flagship store, introducing the HealthQ health decoding station. It features pharmacists, Chinese medicine practitioners, and nutritionists who provide personalised health consultations, vaccinations, and health assessments to help customers stay healthy.

While in China, Watsons introduced Watsons Pink, where the entire interior design revolves around a captivating pink colour theme, creating an ambience that is particularly appealing to young customers. Additionally, spa services are offered in the stores, allowing customers to pamper themselves while shopping.

Watsons China also features a designated beauty playground zone in the new concept stores. The beauty playground zone offers customers a fashionable and trendy experience-led makeup space, with access to on-hand makeup artists who can offer advice and expertise, as well as the opportunity to try out different looks and play around with colour cosmetics.

On the other hand, Watsons Taiwan has transformed its store into an aesthetically pleasing space that is perfect for social media. The stylish makeup zone features a lipstick-shaped makeup table and a circular pink light box on the ceiling.

Watsons Taiwan also offers My Colour Studio, where customers can receive seasonal colour analysis, which helps them understand their skin tone, eye, and hair colour and find the perfect colour palette for their clothing, makeup, and hair.

Zooming into the SEA region, Watsons Malaysia takes shopping to a whole new level of fun and engagement, introducing a K-pop Land dedicated to showcasing K-beauty products in addition to a variety of experiential zones such as My Beauty, Hair Studio, and Watsons To Go.

The vibrant, colourful, and Instagrammable design of this zone attracts young customers, who can enjoy memorable moments with their friends while shopping together. The Kid’s Wonderland has also been introduced to provide a perfect opportunity for customers to shop with their children and enjoy quality family time together.

To meet the needs of the growing number of health-conscious customers, Watsons Thailand unveiled an enhanced health experience featuring a modern and stylish store design along with a diverse selection of health products. To help customers in their journey to wellness, a private health consultation room has been introduced where pharmacists can provide personalised and professional advice tailored to individual needs.

Malina Ngai, group CEO of AS Watson, said, “As the leading health and beauty retailer in Asia, we’re committed to offering our customers the highest quality range of products at great value, as well as providing them with a very pleasant shopping experience.”

“We constantly hear from our customers about where we can improve, and we work closely with key brands to improve category-specific experience. Watsons has been at the forefront of revolutionising the in-store environment for customers, and over these two years, we are investing USD$250 million in new store opening and upgrading existing stores across our 15 operating markets,” continued Ngai.

Ngai added, “We are opening over 1,200 new stores in 2023-24 and investing in refitting approximately 4,800 stores in the same period. This means 75% of the store portfolio in Asia will provide a more innovative and upgraded experience for our customers.”

“Watsons understands that simply providing the best products is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of our customers,” emphasised Ngai, “We’re committed to continuous expansion and innovation, offering the best O+O customer experience. Watsons will always strive to inspire our 100 million loyal members to look good, do good, and feel great with us.”

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

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