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Tag: CK Hutchison

  • Watsons Vietnam opens first store this month

    Watsons Vietnam opens first store this month

    Hong Kong-headquartered healthcare and beauty retailer Watsons is to launch in Vietnam. The first Watsons Vietnam store will open on January 17, in the lower floors of the high-profile Bitexco tower in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. The store will take up at least one floor of a two-storey space recently vacated by Topshop. Teasing the launch, a huge backdrop with the slogan “Look good, Feel great” has been built outside the space, attracting many Vietnamese youngsters to take selfies and check in on social media.

    On its LinkedIn page, Watsons Vietnam has been recruiting staff for the store and featuring the same artwork as on the Bitexco backdrop.

    Watsons Vietnam will compete with rival Hong Kong healthcare and beauty chain Guardian, owned by Dairy Farm International, which launched in Ho Chi Minh City in 2011 and now claims to have more than 60 stores in four cities.

    Watsons is operated by AS Watson, a subsidiary of retail and telecommunications giant CK Hutchison which is quarter-owned by Singapore sovereign investment fund Temasek Holdings. AS Watson has some 6800 Watsons health and beauty stores in 12 markets in Asia and Europe, including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Macau, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. The broader AS Watson group has 14,500 stores, including electrical retailers and grocery stores.

    Watsons has just celebrated the opening of its 500th store in Bangkok, Thailand. The store photo accompanying this story is of Watson’s new-generation store at IconSiam in Bangkok.

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  • CK Hutchison and Meitu Form Strategic Alliance

    CK Hutchison and Meitu Form Strategic Alliance

    CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (“CK Hutchison”) announced a strategic alliance with China’s leading image processing and social sharing platform, Meitu Inc. Striving to combine beauty with social media, Meitu will partner with CK Hutchison’s retail division, A.S. Watson Group, and Hong Kong telecom subsidiary, 3 Hong Kong, to build a brand-new business model integrating social media and retail. This cooperation will bring together the many facets of user experience, user system, technology research and development, precision marketing, and big data with business strategy.

    Leveraging Meitu’s artificial intelligence technology and CK Hutchison’s expertise in retail and telecom, the alliance will bring a refreshing and interactive online and offline shopping experience to customers of the millennial generation. Canning Fok, Group Co-Managing Director of CK Hutchison, said, “This partnership further enhances our customer connectivity, improving CK Hutchison’s online and offline interaction with customers. Meitu users can try beauty products virtually on their mobile phone and get product recommendation through advanced artificial intelligence. In addition to expanding the customer base in China and Hong Kong, Watsons aims to provide the best shopping experience for its patrons. 3 Hong Kong customers can design personalised products and enjoy a new, onestop mobile shopping experience through our cooperation with Meitu. We are confident of this partnership and believe that it will create a three-way win for customers, Meitu and CK Hutchison.”

    Bryan Cheng, Chief Operating Officer of Meitu, added, “With a huge number of female online users from Meitu and strong female customer base from CK Hutchison, the partnership can further improve the value of Meitu’s user platforms while combining beauty with social media, strengthening the connection and interaction with our customers as well as making them look more beautiful.”

    Meitu and CK Hutchison’s 3 Hong Kong will partner to introduce “MeituDIY” customization service to Hong Kong, and 3 Hong Kong’s customers will be the first to experience this onestop value added service to create personalised products. After editing photos through the Hong Kong version of the Meitu app, users can print their photos directly on mobile phone cases, clothes, umbrellas, cloth bags, cups and mouse pads, creating unique personalised products and presenting them as gifts to relatives and friends.

    CK Hutchison’s Watsons Hong Kong will take the lead in introducing Meitu’s “Magic Mirror” which offers around 600 makeup products from international makeup brands. Backed-up by big data technology, customers can try different makeup looks, download the previews, try-on products while enjoying the online and offline shopping experience anytime, anywhere. “Magic Mirror” offers a variety of fashionable makeup styles recommended by beauty advisors, helping customers to choose their favourite makeup style for work or dating.

    Meitu’s “Magic Mirror” will first be launched in Watsons Hong Kong’s Mongkok Bank Centre and Cameron Road branches in late-October this year, and then will be introduced to around 30 more Watsons stores in the first half of 2019. With Meitu’s facial recognition and AI analysis technology, users will be able to apply real time makeup virtually. Through big data technology, Watsons can recommend the right products based on customers’ habits and behaviour in the Meitu app, which will eventually enhance customer connectivity.

    Meitu’s BeautyCam app has also been upgraded with the feature of making product recommendations via skin analysis, helping to match users with the right products that are available at Watsons. This feature will be activated in Mainland China by late-October this year while Hong Kong users can enjoy the feature in the first quarter of 2019. The BeautyCam app is a professional one-stop-solution for beauty enthusiasts to know the needs of their skin, and at the same time effectively increase the transaction value of Watsons customers.

    Furthermore, Watsons China will begin its cooperation with Meitu Social Media in lateOctober, enabling the retailer to get closer to their target customers by delivering tailor-made messages. The cooperation not only helps Watsons reach the right audience, but also helps bring an innovative social media experience to them.

    Watsons China will launch an official account on Meitu social media in November this year. When customers edit their photos using features like “face-lift” and “acne-removal”, Watsons will recommend products that suit each customer’s needs. This allows the retailer to match customers with the right products available at its stores, driving consumer conversions. Through Meitu social media, Watsons can interact with users by encouraging word-of-mouth recommendations on Watsons products. As a result, users can browse hot items and related information online.

    The cooperation between Watsons China’s loyalty programme and Meitu will bring mutual benefits to both parties, riding on the collective network of Meitu’s 350 million monthly active users and quality customers from Watsons online and offline channels. The strategic alliance unfolds opportunities in recruiting new loyalty members, and brings more transaction by recommending the right products according to big data and user habits and behaviours in the Meitu app. To attract more new members, Watsons China will promote their joint membership card through its online and offline platforms while the Meitu app will encourage its users to become Watsons members.

  • AS WATSON unveils new foodservice-focused concept store in China

    AS WATSON unveils new foodservice-focused concept store in China

    Located on B2 of the Cheung Kong Center, the store, called CKC18, groups together four AS Watson retail brands in a way which makes each store appear independent, but connected.

    The 26,000sqft CKC18 is home to international food emporium Food Le Parc, health and beauty outlet WatsonsLab, a TechLife by Fortress and Bar 0001 by Watson’s Wine.

    CK Hutchison Holdings chairman and group MD Victor Li and AS Watson Group MD Dominic Lai led the management team at a grand opening event last week.

    “As one of the landmarks in Hong Kong, Cheung Kong Center is located at the heart of the business district in Central with top notch financial institutions,” said Lai. “The grand opening of CKC18 indicates that Cheung Kong Center will soon become a hotspot for dining, shopping, entertaining and self-pampering.”

    TechLife by Fortress

    The electronics store brings together what AS Watson describes as “the trendiest and most innovative lifestyle gadgets”, eSports products and exclusive products from Xiaomi. There is also a GameZ area that allows customers to try on the international renowned eSports gear.

    Food Le Parc

    Food Le Parc – which translates to food park in English, offers 8500 choices of food from around the world, of which 1600 products are exclusive to CKC18.

    WatsonsLab

    A specialised Watsons boutique, WatsonsLab includes a ‘beauty bar’ that carries leading global cosmetics brands. A ‘Style Me’ app available in-store leverages Augmented Reality technology to offer virtual make-up services, offering more than 100 mix-and-match looks.

    Bar 0001

    Watson’s Wine and its in-shop Bar 0001 offers almost 100 wines, sakes and spirits sourced from around the world by the glass and more than 700 wines to take away.

     

    New technologies

    Lai says the team which created CKC18 wanted the store to demonstrate AS Watson’s determination to speed up digital transformation.

    The Scan & Go function in the app MoneyBack allows customers of Food Le Parc to simply take the products, scan the barcodes with their phones and pay at self-checkout counters. And at WatsonsLab, the Style Me tablet equipped with AR technology instantly and virtually shows customers how they look like when applying different makeup products.

    “We are glad to introduce the latest retail technologies to optimise shopping experience in a convenient and innovative approach. CKC18 applies technologies intensively. Besides the use of Alipay and other mobile payments, unmanned checkout counters are also available at WatsonsLab.

    Customers can simply checkout by placing their shopping baskets on checkout counters that automatically scan and tally up the total, and electronic payments are supported.

    “In addition, customers can use the TasteToGo function in MoneyBack app to reserve their meals in advance at Food Le Parc, minimising their waiting time during rush hours.”

    The store will also host events such as cooking exhibitions, gaming shows by eSports players, sake tasting and personalised make-up designs.

    AS Watson Group is the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, currently opening a new retail store somewhere in the world on average every seven hours. That equates to 1300 this year, including more in Hong Kong.

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  • Watsons stores lead 1000 openings for Hutchison

    Watsons stores lead 1000 openings for Hutchison

    Watsons stores account for the bulk of more than 1000 new stores to be opened by parent CK Hutchison this year.

    Hutchison said in its six month results released Friday it has added 257 stores to its global network already this year and 800 more would open by year-end. About two thirds of those will be Watson healthy and beauty outlets, mainly in China and Asia.

    CK Hutchison had more than 12,600 stores across 25 markets at the end of June. The vast bulk of those are Watsons stores, but the group also operates Fortress electronics stores, supermarket ParknShop and Watsons Wines.

    The group’s total retail revenue was HK$73.413 billion and net earnings were $5.338 billion, were all 2 per cent lower than the same period last year, results adversely affected by foreign currency translation to Hong Kong dollars.

    “Despite strong growth in the health and beauty segment, the retail operations in Hong Kong experienced mounting pressure from the severely reduced tourist arrivals and spending in the first half, which dampened the growth in the overall retail division,” Hutchison said in its half-year report.

    “In local currencies, revenue increased by 1 per cent, while EBIT increased by 2 per cent.”

    The Watsons health and beauty business represents 94 per cent of the retail division’s net income, which grew 6 per cent in local currencies. In Europe, EBIT grew 11 per cent, reflecting a 4 per cent increase in store numbers, 3.6 per cent comparable-store sales growth and generally improving margins.

    “In particular, health and beauty UK was a major growth contributor with an encouraging comparable store sales growth of 6.5 per cent for the period.”

    In Asia, despite the comparable store sales declining 3.1 per cent, the organic expansion of stores continued with a 15 per cent increase in store numbers against the same period last year, resulting net EBIT growth of 3 per cent in local currencies.

    “Watsons China’s total revenue was flat against the same period last year in local currency against a 17 per cent increase in stores numbers, as comparable store sales growth was negative 8.5 per cent due to weak retail market sentiment and competition from the eCommerce segment.”

    Despite these difficult conditions, EBIT growth was 3 per cent “from well-executed margin and cost management”, the company said.

    “Watsons China will continue to build up and expand its eCommerce platform to compete in the rapidly growing eCommerce segment.”

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  • Billionaire Li Ka-shing sounds alarm over Hong Kong’s economy

    Billionaire Li Ka-shing sounds alarm over Hong Kong’s economy

    Hong Kong’s economy is at its worst in 20 years, billionaire Li Ka-shing said on Thursday, warning that the city’s stock market could fall by more than half if the financial hub does not get backing from mainland China.

    Li, who held court and joked with reporters for more than an hour during an earnings news conference, is the latest person to sound the alarm after Moody’s downgraded Hong Kong’s sovereign credit rating at the weekend, citing its links to China’s economic slowdown.

    “Today’s Hong Kong is getting worse, the worst I’ve seen in 20 years,” said Li, 88, referring to the Asia financial crisis in the late 1990s. Our home sales and retail now is worse than the SARS period. During SARS (the effect) was short-lived but now it is long,” he said, in a reference to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that crippled the city in 2003.

    Hong Kong retail sales, which suffered their worst decline in 13 years in 2015, have been hit by a slump in tourist from the mainland which has been blamed in part on increasing cross-border tensions and political unease on both sides.

    “If we respect tourists, no matter where they’re from, today our retail, hotels would not be this bad. So everyone has to reflect on themselves, there are a lot of issues the politicians need to reflect on how they can do better,” Li said.

    In February, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary John Tsang said “political volatility” was threatening to undermine the economy and warned disputes would intensify ahead of this year’s elections which pit the city’s democratic opposition against pro-Beijing parties.

    A former British territory, Hong Kong is ruled under a “one country, two systems” formula that allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, but many in the city have voiced concern over what they see as increasing interference by Beijing in its affairs.

    Li, known as Superman for his deal-making savvy, said he does not think Hong Kong people want independence and urged residents to allow the city to be stable and prosperous.

    Earlier on Thursday, Li’s ports-to-telecoms conglomerate CK Hutchison reported a net profit of HK$31.17 billion ($4 billion) for 2015, in its first full-year earnings report after a reorganisation last year.

    Li continued to take questions from the packed conference even as company officials tried to usher him out, saying finally with a smile: “You guys are just expecting me to slip out something wrong.”

     

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