Retail giant A.S.Watson promises to stick with stores, and spend US$160m on tech and logistics to keep pace with changing mobile world
Chief operating officer says group will open 1,400 new stores globally this year, 500 in China, and a substantial portion of the rest in merging markets in Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine
A.S. Watson, the retail unit of Li Ka-shing’s flagship conglomerate CK Hutchison, plans to plough US$160 million over the next three years on technology, logistics and staff training to stay competitive in a fast-changing retail landscape, as mobile and online sales continue to gain popularity.
The business has already spent US$78 million upgrading its operation digitalisation and customer relations management tools over the past six years, according Malina Ngai Man-lin, the chief operating officer of what claims to be the largest health and beauty retailer in Asia and Europe.
“The three-year budget covers the application of new technology, big data analytics, e-commerce tools, warehouse and logistics as well staff training,” she said as the 175 year-old Hong Kong-based retailer launched the “MoneyBack” mobile app on Tuesday, that will complement its membership card-based customer loyalty programme that has been operating in the past decade.
“We need to keep ourselves up-to-date and stay relevant by being among the first to offer the various mobile payment services,” she added.
The retailer has 230 information technology staff located in Hong Kong, London and Milan running some 190 projects.
Those include working on artificial intelligence-based systems, such as machine learning of consumer preferences, so its customers are better informed than ever of promotional offers.