Watsons Philippines aims to achieve its goal of opening 80 more stores in the country this year as the brand celebrated the opening of its 8,000th store worldwide.
During a media discussion on Monday, Nov. 4, Watsons announced that its 8,000th store (worldwide) has opened in SM Mall of Asia in Pasay.
Sharon Decapia, Watsons controller, marketing communications, PR and sustainability head announced that the 8,000th store globally was established in a strategic location through the company’s partnership with SM Prime Holdings Inc.
“We have very strong markets in other Asian countries, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, of course, you're very familiar, Singapore, Taiwan also. So, the total count, we're very fortunate that we, the management, AS Watson, actually selected Watsons at the Mall of Asia to be the center of the celebration for the 8,000 stores,” she said.
So far, the company has opened around 50 stores nationwide this year, with 30 more in the pipeline, according to Decapia.
“We are very grateful because we have been growing double-digit in maybe the past five years… In fact, the expansion has been very aggressive. Next year, the target is to open about 90 stores,” she added.
Jared De Guzman, Watsons’ Vice President and Customer Director also added that accessibility has been one of their priorities in expansion.
De Guzman said that scaling up their flagship areas attracts more consumers due to the innovations they integrate into these large-scale areas.
This includes decongesting efforts to lessen queues in cashiers, widening the beauty, skincare, and proactive health section, as well as moving into the offline + online (O+O) transaction which ensures seamless purchasing.
Given that their stores continue to grow, Watsons has estimated almost a million pesos in sales per day depending on the retail’s customer traffic and the flagship outlets.
“It varies at P200,000 a day, it can be around a million a day for a big flagship store. Usually, our biggest store is in Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, and Megamall that’s undergoing redevelopment right now,” Decapia explained.
Furthermore, the Philippines holds a substantial 14 percent share of Watsons outlets compared to other Asian countries, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Turkey, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Watsons first opened its store in the Philippines in 2002 through a joint venture between A.S. Watson Group and SM Prime Holdings. Currently, there are about 1,100 stores across the nation providing health, wellness, beauty, among others.