Retail News CRM

Tag: Watsons

  • L’Oreal China get fuel from Colorlab by Watsons

    L’Oreal China get fuel from Colorlab by Watsons

    International health and beauty retailer AS Watson has teamed up with L’Oreal to launch Colorlab by Watsons, a new concept makeup store in China.

    The first Colorlab launched in Shenzhen early this year as a trial, followed by more openings in Guangzhou and Shanghai. Now the company has revealed plans to roll out a further 50 stores across China by the end of this year. The stores feature modern black interiors to convey a fashionable and trendy experience-led makeup space, with access to on-hand makeup artists.

    L’Oreal brands occupy more than 30 per cent of retail space, and such an arrangement is exclusive to Colorlab only.

    With the rise of online shopping and changing shopping behaviours of younger customers, it is expected that the focus on innovative physical spaces and refreshing shopping experiences will help attract younger buyers.

    AS Watson Group COO Malina Ngai said: “Makeup was identified as a huge growth area for Watsons, and working with L’Oreal on the development of this new store concept meant that we had the expertise of an established makeup supplier at the forefront. Colorlab stores put the customers experience first and rather than just purchasing makeup, we wanted to give customers access to advice and expertise from skilled makeup artists, as well as the opportunity to try out different looks and play about with new products.”

    View the gallery below (4 images) :
    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Japan’s Utena debuts in Singapore

    Japan’s Utena debuts in Singapore

    Japanese beauty brand Utena has launched in Singapore.

    The 91-year-old heritage brand, which is currently distributed throughout Greater China and Thailand, is now available at selected Watsons stores, Yue Hwa, Welcia-BHG, Tokyu Hands, Don Don Donki, Metro Singapore, and online via Shopee, Lazada, Redmart and Qoo10.

    Its key products are a high-level beauty serum mask called the Premium Puresa Golden Jelly Series, now selling in Singapore, and the Matomage Hair Styling series fortified with natural ingredients, arriving in stores next month.

  • Thailand’s Mistine launches in Korea

    Thailand’s Mistine launches in Korea

    Better Way Thailand, trading as cosmetics brand Mistine, is aiming to establish itself as an Asian brand by 2020.

    From this coming August, Mistine products will be exported for retail in Korea’s Incheon airport and in downtown Seoul, in the hope of attracting the destination’s annual 10 million Chinese visitors.

    Mistine already has a strong online presence in the Chinese mainland, where it is also available over the counter at Watsons health and beauty stores. It will launch its own flagship store in Beijing next year.

    These moves will constitute part of an effort to increase export volumes from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of its stock in the face of lagging demand at home.

    The company’s president Danai Derojanawong said Better Way needs to rely more on technology to make its logistics more efficient for customer satisfaction. “Direct sales may be disrupted by the rise of online shopping,” he said, “but we still believe they will not disappear from Thai society, because direct sales is a social business.”

    Currently 60 per cent of Mistine products are sold via direct sales, which Danai expects will drop to 30 per cent over the next five years.

    Danai said there is huge potential in the Chinese market. “We’ve only penetrated four cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We plan to expand our business into two new cities next year, Chengdu and Beijing. With those plans, we aim to enter the top five for regional colour beauty brands in Asia by 2020.”

    Mistine’s sales in China totalled THB3 billion (US$90.47 million) last year, and are expected to reach THB5 billion (US$150.78 million) this year.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • New phase of Sands Cotai Central opens with Apple anchor

    New phase of Sands Cotai Central opens with Apple anchor

    Sands Cotai Central has opened phase four of its retail offer, adding almost 100,000sqft of retail space and 25 retailers.

    At the heart of the expansion is an Apple store, which opens today.

    The new space is home to several brands new to Macao: Calvin Klein Performance and Razzle. Other stores to open are MLB, Esprit, Guess, Watson’s, Noble Mart, Levi’s, Florsheim, Timberland, The North Face, Boy London, Zaxy and Bauhaus.

    Later this year, several restaurants will be added to the line-up, including Chiado, a modern yet authentic Portuguese concept developed in partnership with celebrity chef Henrique Sa Pessoa, and Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, which brings a contemporary twist to classic Beijing, Szechuan and Shanghai cuisine.

    “The addition of these new stores, especially the introduction of an iconic Apple Store, continues to ensure we provide our customers with more new-to-market brands, more choice and more amazing experiences,” said David Sylvester, executive VP of global retail at Las Vegas Sands Corp.

    Sands Cotai Central, which celebrated its sixth anniversary in April, has been the focal point of a wide range of products, offerings and experiences on the Cotai Strip, with access to four hotels since it opened in 2012.

    Earlier this year Sands China revealed plans to transform Sands Cotai Central into The Londoner Macao, which will feature new attractions including some of London’s most-recognisable landmarks.

  • 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.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Watsons Thailand embraces both online and offline approach

    Watsons Thailand embraces both online and offline approach

    Health and beauty retailer Watsons Thailand has announced it will have an “O and O” (“online+offline”) focus for its growth this year.

    AS Watsons regional MD Rod Routley says a strong store network, digital capabilities and growing e-commerce platform position the company well to meet evolving customer expectations.

  • Watsons in Korea has a new name: Lalavla

    Watsons in Korea has a new name: Lalavla

    Watsons personal and beauty care stores across Korea will go through a makeover under a new name “Lalavla,” its operator GS Retail announced on Tuesday in hopes to take on the dominant player Olive Young in the burgeoning street beauty market through localized appeal.

    GS Retail introduced Watsons, the biggest multi-beauty and personal care store brand in Asia, in a 50:50 joint venture with Hong Kong-based A.S. Watson Group in 2005. Last year it bought the remaining 50 percent stake from the retailer’s holding company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. for 11.9 billion won ($10.8 million) to make Watsons Korea its fully-owned entity. It has since been working on a rebranding initiative.

    The new name – a combination of lalala and blah blah to mean happy chattering – aims to better appeal to young female customers, said a GS Retail official. The shops will be refurbished with the new logo by the end of March.

    There are currently 188 Watsons stores across Korea. GS Retail plans to bolster the number to catch up with CJ Group’s Olive Young, the country’s first and largest health and beauty retailer with 950 shops. Lotte Group runs 96 LOHBS stores and Shinsegae 10 Boots stores.

    Shares of GS Retail closed Tuesday down 1.31 percent at 37,800 won.

  • Net profit slumps 92 per cent for GS Retail, raise questions

    Net profit slumps 92 per cent for GS Retail, raise questions

    GS Retail, which runs South Korea’s GS25 convenience store chain, is facing questions over its profitability after it posted contracted numbers in its earnings last year.

    According to its regulatory filing, GS Retail logged KW30.9 billion (US$28.4 million) in operating profit last year, down 19.3 per cent from 2016. Its net profit also skidded to KW10.7 billion, a  dive of 92.4 per cent.

    It has had slumps in its core business of convenience stores, which account for 70 per cent of its earnings.

    GS Retail last year posted KW1.57 trillion in sales from its convenience stores, up 6 per cent from 2016. The number of GS25 stores also increased from 12,199 to 12,429 last year.

    Despite this growth, the operating profit at its convenient stores declined by 6 per cent to KW37.1 billion during the same period. Per-store sales also shrank by 9 per cent.

    Saturated market

    Analysts say GS25’s weakening profitability is related to the saturation of the domestic convenience store industry.

    There are about 40,000 convenience stores in Korea. Between them, the main players – GS25, CU run by BGF Retail and 7-Eleven run by Lotte affiliate Korea Seven – have more than 30,000 outlets. This means there is one convenience store to every 1250 Koreans.

    Meanwhile, at the start of the year the government hiked the minimum wage rate by 16.4 per cent to KW7530, which is expected to add extra burden on franchise owners.

    Also, GS Retail has seen poor performance for its health and beauty products store chain. It has been the sole operator of Hong Kong-based Watsons in Korea since February last year.

    GS is hoping its earnings deadlock will be broken by its hotel and leasing subsidiary Parnas Hotel. This runs the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas, the Intercontinental Seoul Coex and other hotels and malls in Seoul. It is also in charge of leasing Parnas Tower in Gangnam.

    Parnas Hotel logged KW75.4 billion in sales last year, up 15 per cent. Its operating profit also improved to KW17.1 billion, up 141 per cent as the leasing rate at Parnas Tower rose to 98 per cent.

    As part of its efforts to diversify revenue sources, GS Retail signed a memorandum of understanding with internet company Kakao last month for the development of a chatbot for the retailer.

    The company has also opened its first convenience stores outside Korea – in Vietnam’s commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City, last month.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba to thank New Retail for Its record sales

    Alibaba to thank New Retail for Its record sales

    Continuing momentum in Alibaba Group’s New Retail business helped drive a 56 per cent year-on-year growth in sales for the quarter to December 31.

    The performance of the New Retail category – which combines its online (non-marketplace) and fast-growing offline retail businesses, including investments in Sun Art Retail and other established businesses – was a core highlight of the quarter, according to CEO Daniel Zhang.

    “Alibaba had another great quarter driven by the continued strength of the Chinese consumer and the wide and innovative range of services we provide for merchants and consumers,” he said.

    “We are excited by the continued momentum in New Retail, which came to life during another record-breaking 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. We expanded the scale and footprint of our New Retail initiatives with the vision of delivering true convergence of the online and offline consumer experience through mobile and enterprise technology.”

    Maggie Wu, CFO, said the group’s core business generated significant free cash flow of US$7.1 billion during the quarter, “enabling us to invest in New Retail, cloud computing, digital entertainment and globalisation”.

    Revenue from core online commerce (marketplace) activities rose 57 per cent to US$11.257 billion and from cloud computing by 104 per cent to $553 million. Digital media and entertainment sales rose 33 per cent to $832 million.

    The number of annual active consumers on Alibaba Group’s China retail marketplaces reached 515 million, an increase of 27 million from the year to September 30.

    Net income was $3.586 billion with operating margin was 31 per cent and adjusted EBITA margin for the core e-commerce business 53 per cent.

    Group highlights

    Alibaba summarised group highlights in its earnings statement, including:

    Taobao: Artificial Intelligence (AI) drove user engagement, with the Taobao app’s intelligent personal recommendations and innovative content formats continuing to drive strong growth in user engagement, conversion and annual active consumers. “We continue to invest in machine learning technologies which we apply to use cases that match consumer intent and product selection to deliver the best consumer experience.”

    Tmall: Tmall recorded 43 per cent year-on-year growth in physical goods GMV during the quarter, reflecting robust growth across all major categories including apparel and accessories, consumer electronics (mobile phones) and FMCG. “Tmall continues to be the platform of choice for the world’s top brands, with Givenchy, Giorgio Armani Beauty and Volvo establishing Tmall flagship stores and Longines, Hennessy, Dom Perignon and Baccarat joining our Luxury Pavilion in this quarter.”

    11.11: Last year’s annual November 11 Global Shopping Festival exceeded the previous year’s records, with GMV settled through Alipay on Alibaba’s marketplaces up 39 per cent year-on-year to $25.9 billion. “The continuous success of this record-breaking event is enabled by our resilient and scalable technology, as well as payments and logistics infrastructure that is capable of operating at massive scale.”

    New Retail: Rapid expansion through partnerships and innovative technologies included the opening of five new Hema fresh grocery stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Ningbo and Suzhou, taking the network to 25 at year end. “Hema exemplifies the convergence of online and offline retail by leveraging our in-store proprietary technology, digitised supply chain system, consumer insights and mobile ecosystem to provide a seamless experience for consumers.”

    In November, Alibaba formed a strategic alliance with Sun Art Group, the leading hypermarket and supermarket chain by revenue in China with over 440 stores nationwide. “Through this partnership, we aim to equip traditional retailers with our proprietary technology and know-how in online offline convergence to implement their digital transformation. In addition, the partnership with Sun Art will also enable us to accelerate the expansion of our New Retail offerings with national scale.

    International:  Alibaba’s cross-border and international retail businesses continue to show strong growth. Revenue from international commerce retail business reached $727 million in the, representing 93 per cent year-on-year growth, driven by its Southeast Asian platform Lazada and its global retail marketplace AliExpress. “While the markets for Southeast Asia and cross-border commerce remain very competitive, they are in the early innings of the game. We are optimistic about the long-term secular growth prospects of our international markets and will therefore continue to make significant investments for market share growth and focusing on the best customer experience.”

    Cainiao Network: Alibaba’s logistics division, Cainiao Network, processed 812 million orders during the 11.11 event. Cainiao Network operates an electronic shipping label system that standardises shipping data into structured formats, which enables efficient pick-and-pack operations for merchants and sorting and routing operations for delivery partners. “The advantages of this system have resulted in broad adoption by merchants and logistics service providers, both on and off our platforms, putting us in position to serve the growing consumption economy in China and roll out our New Retail strategy.”

    Cloud Computing:  Cloud computing revenue grew 104 per cent year-over-year to $553 million, driven by both robust growth in paying customers and revenue mix toward higher value-add product.  “In the December quarter, Alibaba Cloud launched 396 new products and features and continued to introduce proprietary AI technologies to tackle real-world challenges, such as traffic planning and optimising efficiency in manufacturing and airport operations. Alibaba Cloud continues to expand its customer base across a variety of industries.”

    Alibaba Cloud customers include Watsons China, carmaker Geely, and Beijing Capital International Airport.

    Digital Media and Entertainment: During the quarter, Youku video’s daily average subscribers more than doubled year-on-year, driven by several original drama series and shows that became popular hits with users.

    AI and innovation: Alibaba says its AI-powered voice assistant, Tmall Genie, surpassed 1 million unit sales since its official launch in July and the end of the year. “Tmall Genie is supported by a growing collection of sales and services and is an effective vehicle for offering a comprehensive set of every-day living applications within the Alibaba ecosystem,” the company said.

    In January, Alibaba’s Institute of Data Science Technologies (iDST), its AI research arm, developed a deep-learning neural network for natural language processing that scored higher than humans on a Stanford reading-comprehension test, the first time a machine has outperformed humans on such a test. “This development underscores Alibaba’s commitment to technology research which we believe builds the foundation for our growth in the long run.”

    Ant Financial: Alibaba Group agreed to take a 33 per cent equity stake in Ant Financial that will strengthen its strategic relationship pursuant to the series of agreements reached with Ant Financial in 2014. “We believe deepening our relationship through an equity stake in Ant Financial will bring key strategic benefits to us, including advancing our New Retail strategy with mobile payments, increasing user acquisition and retention through collaboration with the Alipay digital wallet (Alipay Wallet), and enhancing the execution of our international expansion.”

    The number of Alipay Wallet’s daily active users more than doubled during the quarter on a year-on-year basis.

  • Fourth mall in Bulacan by SM Prime

    Fourth mall in Bulacan by SM Prime

    SM Prime Holdings has continued its expansion in northern Luzon with its latest mall, SM Center Pulilan, in Bulacan.

    Its 66th mall in the Philippines, it adds 27,000sqm in gross floor area (GFA), taking SM Prime’s total GFA to 8 million sqm.

    Opening with 80 per cent occupancy, SM Center Pulilan offers three levels of retail and dining including such brands such as Ace Hardware, BDO, Miniso, Simply Shoes, SM Appliance, SM Hypermarket, Surplus and Watsons.

    It joins the group’s first three malls in Bulacan – SM City Marilao, SM City Baliwag and SM City San Jose Del Monte.

    Lees ook:

  • Is Watsons ripe for a spin-off?

    Is Watsons ripe for a spin-off?

    Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s business empire Cheung Kong has been able to get the best price when offloading some assets. For instance, the Centre, its Grade A office building, was sold for over HK$40 billion early this month on the back of soaring land prices. Some buyers offered about HK$30 billion late last year.

    When Cheung Kong planned to spin off its retail outlets including Watsons and Parknshop in 2013, the deal was shelved as the company was unhappy with the price. The wind has shifted in recent years, and leading brick-and-mortar retailers are becoming desirable again. Cheung Kong owns more than 14,000 outlets worldwide.

    On Monday, Alibaba said it would invest 22.4 billion yuan for a 36.16 percent stake in the top Chinese hypermarket operator Sun Art.

    Sun Art operates 446 hypermarkets across China. The deal marks the internet giant’s move into offline retail. Omnichannel is essential in offering the new retail experience. The transaction values Sun Art at 62 billion yuan, which roughly puts each hypermarket at above 100 million yuan.

    It’s worth noting how Alibaba will transform classic retail by integrating technology in order to provide a seamless online and offline experience to customers. In fact, the deal marks Alibaba’s latest acquisition of a traditional retailer after Suning Commerce, Intime Retail Group and Lianhua Supermarket.

    Nonetheless, we have yet to see any major reform in these newly joined partners, although customers can make payment with Alipay or collect online orders.

    It’s obvious that the retail experiment has to connect online and offline realms. Market players are still trying out the system. Amazon spent US$13.7 billion to acquire Whole Foods in August, but it has yet to start an overhaul of the latter’s 500 outlets. Currently, Amazon has designated one shelve in each Whole Foods store to sell Echo or Kindle, and move some of the goods in-store to the online platform.

    The deep-pocketed e-commerce giants are aggressively acquiring offline retailers. But it remains unclear who will be able to integrate online and offline realms successfully.

    Certainly, the traditional retailer with massive outlet network will become sought-after. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has shown that it can hold on its own in a challenging retail environment. Its share price has soared nearly 80 percent over the past 12 months, and the retailer’s market value tops US$300 billion.

    In fact, Watsons Group is the world’s largest retailer in terms of the number of outlets. It operates more than 14,000 shops worldwide, including supermarkets and drug stores. Over 3,000 shops are in mainland China, and most of the rest are in Europe.

    Cheung Kong has put on hold a plan to spin off or sell the retail group after failing to fetch a good price in 2013. Back then, global offline retailers were struggling.

    The scale of Watsons is more than 10 times that of Whole Foods or Sun Art. And Cheung Kong would definitely try its best to get the best price. Therefore, it’s more likely that the conglomerate might cooperate with internet giants to leverage its massive network of offline stores.

    In September, CK Hutchison Holdings, Li’s flagship conglomerate, formed a joint venture with Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group, to integrate online and offline Hong Kong dollar payments under the AlipayHK brand.

  • JD.com surprises with first profitable quarter

    JD.com surprises with first profitable quarter

    JD.com profit soared 50 per cent after a 39 per cent increase in sales during the Chinese online retailer’s latest quarter.

    Its unaudited results for the three months to the end of September show revenue of RMB83.7 billion (US$12.6 billion), with a record 50.3 per cent surge in gross profit to RMB13 billion. Non-GAAP gross profit was RMB12.8 billion, up 51.9 per cent.

    Active customer accounts increased by 34 per cent to 266.3 million in the 12 months to September 30.

    Chairman/CEO Richard Lio says the company is building robust product content and enhancing user engagement with innovative tools that enable brands to launch highly targeted online marketing programs.

    “The scale economies of our model are becoming clearer with every quarter,” says CFO Sidney Huang. “Looking ahead, we will continue to prioritise investments in technology and leading R&D talent as we execute on our vision to revolutionise China’s retail industry.”

    While releasing its third-quarter figures, JD.com also listed its latest business developments…

    In October, JD and Tencent expanded their partnership with the launch of a marketing initiative that integrates insights on consumer behaviour from Tencent’s social-media platforms with online and offline shopping data from JD and its brand partners. As well as enabling more precise target marketing, the move benefits consumers by offering them wider access to sales promotions and preferred discounts.

    Strategic partnerships

    During the past three months, JD.com also formed strategic partnerships with Baidu, iQIYI, NetEase, Sogou and Qihoo 360 with their big-data resources, massive user bases and AI algorithm technologies.

    JD also continued to strengthen its position among top-tier international brands, expanding its partnership with high-fashion brand Armani with the opening of official online stores for Armani Exchange and Emporio Armani.

    JD Worldwide also launched flagship stores for such companies as Reckitt Benckiser, Spectrum Brands and Tiger, while its new Toplife platform attracted marquee brands like Dyson, La Perla, Rimowa (LVMH) and Trussardi.

    During the quarter, JD Logistics test-launched an unmanned sorting centre, the first of its kind in the logistics industry. JD also signed agreements to lay the groundwork for the rollout of China’s largest drone network.

    In September, JD Logistics expanded its environmentally friendly logistics and packaging campaign, working with brands including  Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Lego, L’Oreal, P&G, Nestle, Unilever, Watsons and Wrigley. The aim is to minimise environmental impact by cutting back on packaging materials.

    Customer demand

    JD also enhanced its fresh product offerings during the quarter to meet customer demand. In July, it launched the Canadian Fresh Food Pavilion, the first country pavilion for fresh products on the JD.com platform. Live lobsters from Canada can now be delivered to customers’ doorsteps in China in as little as 48 hours. During JD’s Super Canadian Day, 140,000 lobsters were sold within 24 hours.

    In September, JD.com, JD Finance, Central Group and Provident Capital announced agreements to establish two JVs in Thailand covering e-commerce and fintech services, with an aggregate investment of $500 million. JD.com is providing its expertise in technology, e-commerce and logistics while Central Group is drawing on its retail store network, brand and merchant relationships, and retail behaviour insights from its loyalty program.

    In October, JD and Sam’s Club launched a promotion offering customers discounted bundled memberships for Sam’s Club and the JD Plus paid-for membership service.

    By the end of October, JD.com JV New Dada had partnered with 146 Walmart stores and 301 Yonghui stores, as well as many other supermarkets and grocery stores, to provide online fresh grocery shopping with one-hour home delivery.

    At the end of September, JD.com had 405 warehouses and provided scheduled delivery services in 250 Chinese cities. It had about 160,000 merchants on its online marketplace, and 137,975 full-time employees.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Watsons Kicks Start its Brand Refresh Campaign With New Uniforms Designed

    Watsons Kicks Start its Brand Refresh Campaign With New Uniforms Designed

    At Watsons, we always make customers “LOOK GOOD, FEEL GREAT”. The brand has launched a Brand Refresh Campaign throughout 12 operating markets across Asia and Eastern Europe. The best way to live the “Look Good, Feel Great” brand value is to start with our employees, therefore Watsons evolves by introducing brand-new store team uniforms which help project a young, energetic and stylish brand image.

    Emily Wong, Regional Marketing Director of Health & Beauty Asia said, “To move the brand with times and build more interactions with our young customers, we have launched a Brand Refresh Campaign to convey a sense of youth and vitality and offer refreshing online and offline shopping experience. A set of brand-new uniforms has been introduced to kick start the campaign.”

    Nurture Local Talents

    In recent years, Watsons has endeavored to attract more and more young customers to shop with us. To make them look good and feel great, our store team plays an important role as they are representing Watsons to interact and communicate with our customers.

    To drive more new ideas on uniform design, we teamed up with the Institute of Textiles and Clothing of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to organise a uniform design competition and help design a set of youthful and refreshing uniform for our store team. The competition opened to all students from Institute of Textile and Clothing, which enables young student designers to put their knowledge into practice, gain valuable experience as well as international exposure.

    Listen to Our Employees

    As an international brand with global business presence, the choice of uniform fabrics and designs has to fit the needs of our teams in different regions. For instance, due to the hot and humid weather in Hong Kong and other countries in Southeast Asia, the uniform fabrics should be thin and breathable. To help students understand the needs of store in 12 Watsons markets and learn to apply their knowledge into real-world situations, they were offered a chance to get in touch with store team in person and listen to their preferences and opinions. Their task was to design stylish yet comfortable uniforms which enhances our image and makes our store team looks smart and help provide quality and professional services to our customers. Watsons strongly believes that listening to our employees is one of the key element for them to build stronger bonding with the company and commit to provide better service to our customers.

    Uniform Turns Stylish!

    After a rigorous selection process, Sharon Yeung stood out among all creative designs and became the winner. She explained, “Each and every detail adds up to a good retail brand experience. When designing the uniform, I paid meticulous attention to every detail of it. The uniform design is suitable for daily operation works (such as stocking shelves) plus a touch of fashion, for example, the new store manager uniform carries with delicate and subtle details on the collar. The slim-fit design makes them look younger and more confident.”

    New Watsons uniforms help build a young and professional image for our store team while addressing their daily practical needs. Our beauty advisors uniform comes with a makeup bag which lets them put all beauty accessories and provide make up and beauty advices to our customers at convenience. For our Health and Fitness Advisor uniform, it has a touch of lime green on the usual medical white colour.

    In Watsons Brand Refresh Campaign, we started by bringing new look to our store team and giving fresh and energising experiences to our customers. There are more to come to excite our customers.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • South Korea’s GS Retail to fully own Watsons Korea

    South Korea’s GS Retail to fully own Watsons Korea

    GS Retail Co., a retail unit of South Korean conglomerate GS Group, will take over additional 50 percent stake in the Korean unit of drug store franchise label Watsons from Hong Kong-based A.S. Watson Group to make it its fully-owned entity, the company said Thursday.

    The Korean retailer in December 2004 launched Watsons Korea on a 50:50 partnership investment with A.S Watsons. It will fully own it by taking over the remaining 50 percent stake at 11.9 billion won ($10.4 million) from Watsons Holdings, Korean unit of the Hong Kong retail company.

    The company decided to make Watsons Korea as a wholly owned subsidiary to create a synergy effect with other retail businesses, said an unnamed GS Retail official.

    GS Retail has been operating the drug store chain in Korea under the brand name GS Watsons since it opened the first branch in Seoul in March 2005. It opened 54 GS Watsons stores across the country by 2011 and the number of stores jumped to 128 by end of last year.

    Shares of GS Retail closed Friday at 52,000 won, up 4.21 percent from the previous session in Seoul trading.

    Lees ook:

  • SM Prime Holdings opens 60th mall

    SM Prime Holdings opens 60th mall

    An 80,000 sqm mall has been opened in eastern Metro Manila by Southeast Asian integrated property company SM Prime Holdings.

    As its 60th mall in the Philippines, SM City East Ortigas reinforces its commitment to continue expanding there given the economy’s strong performance, says SM Prime president Jeffrey C Lim.

    SM Prime’s malls in eastern Metro Manila include SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, SM Marikina and SM Center Pasig. It also has SM Angono, SM Masinag, SM San Mateo and SM Taytay in Rizal Province.

    sm-store

    SM City East Ortigas has opened with almost 80 per cent of its space leased out. The two-level mall houses SM’s flagship retail brands The SM Store and SM Supermarket, plus its specialty stores such as Ace Hardware, SM Appliance Center, Uniqlo and Watsons. It will also have a Cyberzone, wellness tenants, four digital cinemas and four Director’s Club cinemas, as well as dining destinations. There are 650 parking slots.

    SM Prime opened SM Cherry Congressional a year ago in Quezon City, as well as SM City San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan in April and SM City Trece Martires in Cavite in May.

    Of its 60 malls in the Philippines, 22 are in Metro Manila, 29 in Luzon, five in the Visayas and four in Mindanao. SM Prime also has six malls in China. SM Prime is also involved in residential development, leisure properties and hotels.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: