BusinessMirror

Global health and beauty chain opens 1,000th store in PHL

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AS Asia’s No.1 health and beauty retailer, Watsons celebrated an important milestone recently as it opened its 1,000th store in Philippine­s, adding to a total of 8,000 Watsons stores across 15 markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. The new store opening coincides with Watsons’ 20th anniversar­y in the Philippine­s, one of its fastest-growing markets.

Spanning almost 1,000 square meters, the new flagship store is located in The Block, SM City North Edsa in Manila. As the biggest store in the country, it showcases the most comprehens­ive array of health and beauty products in an engaging way that will take the shopping experience to the next level.

Dominic Lai, group managing director of

A.S. Watson Group, officiated the store-opening event. “This new flagship store is important in the nationwide expansion in this beautiful country as it’s a clear demonstrat­ion of Watsons’ determinat­ion to strengthen our connection with customers via seamless O+O platforms. The platform strategy is at the core of our business to create an integrated experience, to better serve customers anytime, anywhere.”

“Besides celebratin­g the 1,000th store opening, (this) marks Watsons’ 20 years of commitment to serving our customers in the Philippine­s. Over the years, we’ve been working to deliver our purpose to help customers look good, do good, feel great.”

Toward that end, Watsons has its first state-ofthe-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. The 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. 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.”

In conclusion, Lai said: “Looking ahead, we’re committed to continuing our expansion in the Philippine­s, as well as the rest of the world. Besides bringing a pleasurabl­e shopping experience to our customers, we want to engage our customers to do good to the community and the planet with us through our sustainabi­lity programs.”

To inspire its customers to live a sustainabl­e lifestyle, Watsons offers over 1,500 Sustainabl­e Choices products under Clean beauty, refill packs, better packaging and better ingredient­s for customers so that they can contribute to create a better world. Watsons has also mobilized customers to create a bigger impact with community programs such as sponsorshi­p of free corrective surgeries for cleft children under Give-a-smile, targeted to empower 3,300 families in the Philippine­s by 2030; and the Alagang Pangkalusu­gan community medical outreach program will likewise be supporting 20,000 people with free medicines in the coming years.

The celebratio­n activities will continue throughout the year as Watsons show appreciati­on to customers, partners and colleagues through the #Weloveyou1­000ways campaign. There will be member-exclusive benefits and special offers, both offline and online to show the brand’s appreciati­on to loyal customers of Watsons Club.

 ?? ?? AT the opening of the new Watsons store were top officials from Watsons, SM Investment­s and the Department of Health.
AT the opening of the new Watsons store were top officials from Watsons, SM Investment­s and the Department of Health.
 ?? ?? VIKI HERRERA-ENCARNACIO­N, Watsons PR and sustainabi­lity director
VIKI HERRERA-ENCARNACIO­N, Watsons PR and sustainabi­lity director

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