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UK healthcare and cosmetics giant Boots to enter Taiwan market

By Marc Webber
Special to the Taipei Times
Monday, Jan 31, 2000, Page 18

Nottingham, England, has two famous sons. One is the outlaw legend Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor. The other is Jessie Boot.

Most people in Taiwan may have heard of Robin Hood. The managers of the company that carries Jessie Boot's name hope that he will become equally well-known in the country by the end of this year.

Boots, which has been running health and beauty shops in the UK for more than a century, announced last week it plans to expand its Asian operations by setting up five pilot stores in the heart of Taipei with an initial investment of ?14 million. The company hopes to increase its number of outlets to 13 by the end of next year.

`Best market ever'

Boots claims that Taiwan will be its best market ever. The company's research claims that, with no other direct competitor in the country -- it seems to have overlooked the presence of Watsons -- they could go on to open a hundred new stores nationwide.

"For a country of 22 million, there is an amazing thirst for our core products like cosmetics and healthcare," Boots Chairman Lord Blyth of Rowington told the Taipei Times. "I think the shoppers of Taipei will welcome our fresh, clean approach to this sector."

He is right about the fresh, clean look. Walking into any one of the hundreds of Boots stores in the UK is like walking into a sterile area. Everything is two colors -- either white or blue. The aim is to try make the customer think that the store is clean, so therefore everything in the store must also be clean and good for you.

And it seems to work.

Boots own brand of cosmetics, called Number 17, is one of the biggest selling brands in Western Europe. And for the British, Boots is a name they trust. When people need pills or potions for an illness, they turn to Boots.

But there is one concern: When it comes to the battle for the perfume market, department stories are a formidable competitor.

Perfume price-war

UK sales for perfumes jumped by nearly 6 percent over the Christmas period last year, and this product line is the firm's biggest seller.

But the competition from retailers in the perfume sector is fairly minimal in the UK, and there are feelings that as soon as Boots enters the Taiwan market, a perfume price-war might break out.

Whether the presence of Boots will have the traditional herbal medicine practitioners or current pharmacists in Taiwan worrying about future trade remains to be seen.

But in the typical British stiff-upper-lip fashion, the executives of Boots are confident that the facts and figures are right, and that their Taiwanese outlets will become the powerhouse of their business in Asia.

"We have already opened stores in Thailand and Japan, so we know there is a market for what we do in" in Asia, Lord Blyth said.

"There's ?1 billion worth of cosmetic and pharmaceutical trade in this country, and we're going out to get all of it!"
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