SHAH ALAM: Hong Kong-headquartered healthcare and beauty retailer AS Watson Group today opened its worldwide 15,000th store at newly-launched Central i-City in Shah Alam, marking a landmark step for Watsons in Malaysia with its 500th store in the country.
“Since 1994, we opened our first Watsons Malaysia store in Johor. Within 25 years, we have grown to 500 stores and with more than five million members in Malaysia,” Watsons Malaysia managing director Caryn Loh said at the store launching ceremony today.
She said the new store incorporates an innovative and sustainable design based on the latest premium concept that blends environmentally-friendly materials and innovative technologies to promote digital customer engagements.
The 4,200 sq ft G8 design store is equipped with StyleMe, Augmented Reality technology to showcase the latest product in a fun and engaging way for customers.
G8 represents the eight generation of the Watsons store design, incorporating extensive customer and store team feedback, as well as market research of latest trends on shopping experience.
Watson’s Hi-Mirror skin analysis device is also available for customers to assess their skin conditions at the store.
“Customers today are demanding shopping experiences that are both convenient and hassle-free. We aim to reinforce our position as Malaysia’s leading health and beauty retailer by not only offering a diverse array of products, but to also help our customers with a seamless, unmatched shopping experience at our stores,” Loh added.
Going forward, AS Watson group managing director Dominic Lai said the group will continue with its expansion plans within Malaysia and the rest of the world, noting the group is looking to open another 30 to 40 Watsons stores in Malaysia this year.
Watsons currently operates over 7,200 stores and more than 1,500 pharmacies in 13 Asian and European markets, including Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Taiwan as well as Russia.
Established in Hong Kong in 1841, AS Watson is the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer operating 15,000 stores under 12 retail brands in 25 markets, with over 140,000 employees worldwide.
Watsons is one of the group’s flagship retail brands. For the fiscal year 2018, the group recorded revenue of US$21.5 billion (RM87.4 billion).
