Watsons has celebrated an important milestone as it opened its 1,000th store in Philippines; at the same time, the health, beauty and wellness brand has marked its 20th year in the Philippines.
The new flagship store, which spans almost 1,000 square meters, is located in The Block, SM City North, showcasing the most comprehensive array of health and beauty products in an engaging way that will take the shopping experience to the next level.
Twenty years ago, Watsons decided to enter the Philippine market and opened its first store in SM Megamall in 2002. Dominic Lai, A.S. Watson Group managing director, said, “To me, it was just like yesterday. Since then, our business has been growing and expanding rapidly.”
According to Lai, the new flagship store is important in the nationwide expansion in this beautiful country as it’s a clear demonstration of Watsons’ determination to strengthen its connection with customers via seamless O+O (online and offline) platforms.
“O+O platform strategy is at the core of our business to create an integrated experience, to better serve customers anytime, anywhere,” Lai pointed out. “It goes beyond the tools we have built,” Lai added. “It is about the close connection we have established with customers, offline or online.”
“Besides celebrating the 1,000th plus store opening, Watsons marked its 20 years of commitment to serving our customers in the Philippines,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve been working to deliver our purpose to help customers Look Good, Do Good, Feel Great.”
Watsons’ new flagship store is not only designed to offer a modern and stylish shopping environment, but also create an immersive and interactive O+O experience for its customers.
Leveraging on an extensive store network in the Philippines, Online Express delivery service is available so that customers can have their products delivered to doorsteps in three hours or choose to pick up orders at the store within 30 mins via Click and Collect Express.
The new Watsons store is a model for the future of beauty shopping with special discovery areas.
There’s a Skinfie Lab, a skin analysis tool that creates personalized skincare recommendations based on selfies. The tool, which is also housed in the Watsons app, is able to detect a range of facial attributes from a customer’s selfie.
Meanwhile, makeup lovers can use #ColourMe Virtual Makeup try-on to experience hundreds of lipsticks, mascara, eyeshadow, brow products, and foundation.
Danilo Chiong, Watsons Philippines managing director, said that Watson’s tremendous growth was the result of the hard work of its colleagues who helped its customers Look Good, Do Good, and Feel Great.
“In the past three years, it has become exceedingly clear that online shopping and e-commerce have evolved to become an everyday essential,” Chiong also said. “We realized that we needed to become fit for the future to serve our customers better,” he added.
Watsons rapidly strengthened its e-commerce capabilities, making digital shopping a much more convenient experience for online Filipino shoppers, he noted.
Watsons has its first state-of-the-art clinic powered by The Medical City that features virtual consultation and remote physical examination. Vaccination services for flu, HPV, and pneumonia will be available at the clinic soon.
Watsons Supplement Finder is also available to support the pharmacy service and help
customers get personalized recommendations on the best vitamins and supplements for them.
Teresita Sy-Coson, co-chairman of SM Investments, congratulated Watsons on the double celebrations.
“Our long-term partnership with Watsons has realized our promise of bringing the best-in-class health and beauty products to all Filipinos,” Sy-Coson said.
“It’s our pleasure to celebrate this remarkable milestone with Watsons and we will continue to work closely to raise the standard in health and beauty in the Philippines through Watsons’ seamless O+O platforms,” Sy-Coson also said.
