Watson’s Personal Care Stores (Taiwan) Co Ltd (台灣屈臣氏), the nation’s largest cosmetics and drugstore operator, yesterday said it aims to expand the number of its local outlets to 620 over the next three years to sustain its growth momentum.
“We hope to open nearly 20 new stores in Taiwan by the end of this year, boosting the number of local outlets from 530 to 550,” general manager Kay Yi (弋順蘭) told a news conference in Taipei.
The outlet expansion project is to include a 300-ping (992m2) flagship store in central or southern Taiwan, making it A.S. Watson Group’s biggest cosmetics store in Asia, she said.
The company also aims to revamp its existing outlets to grab customers’ attention, she said.
Watson’s said it spent nearly NT$500 million (US$16.5 million) on the renovation of 100 outlets in taiwan for the whole of last year and hopes to refurbish another 100 stores this year.
So far this year, the company said it has renovated 60 of its outlets in Taiwan.
Watson’s has also set a three-year target of increasing its member base from 5 million to 6 million people to increase “customer stickiness,” the company said.
“We found that our members contribute more than 80 percent of the company’s total sales,” Yi said.
Asked about plans for its online business, the company said it hoped to raise the revenue contribution of its online platform further by reaching more foreign customers.
Citing good the reputation of cosmetic products made in Taiwan, Yi said that Watson’s is to launch online shopping services for customers in Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore in the fourth quarter of the year.
The company declined to provide detailed financial results or a sales breakdown by region, but said that revenue from its Taiwanese operation grew nearly 5 percent annually in the first half of the year and was likely to increase by between 5 percent and 10 percent for the whole of this year from last year.
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