Watsons Celebrates 100th Store Opening in Mainland China

Hong Kong (16 Jan 2005)

Watsons Your Personal Store opened its 100th store in Mainland China. Located in Guangzhou's Grandview Mall, Asia's largest shopping sensation, the new outlet further testifies to Watsons' leading position in China's retail market.

As Asia's largest group of health and beauty retail chain, Watsons has played a major part in China's spectacular retail market growth during its 15 years' history in the mainland. Commenting on Watsons' success story, Mr Ivor Morton, Managing Director of Watsons China, said "We have been able to capitalise on the trends of the global and local retail markets, by building on our solid financial strength, market-leading brand position, global network, local sourcing strategy, a management model of excellence and, most importantly, a philosophy of customer care. In the future, the key to building stronger competitiveness will lie in enhancing network coverage, brand equity and logistics operations. Amid the keen competition in the Chinese retail market, only the strong player can emerge victorious."

Following more than 100 percent growth in the China operation last year, Watsons will invest over 50 million RMB in 2005 in marketing and sales initiatives to further develop the market. It plans to double the number of stores in the next 12 to 18 months. Watsons also intends to expand its own label inventory from 550 to 700 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). In addition, Watsons will build new logistics centres and upgrade existing ones, laying a solid foundation to meet future competition.

Featuring a design theme based on the "health, beauty and fun" concept, the Grandview Mall store greets its customers, especially female consumers, with colour codes/zones instead of more conventional signboards. The shelf height is lowered from 1.65m to 1.4m and aisles are widened from 1.1m to 1.25m. Accent lighting is also added to provide a more comfortable shopping environment for consumers.

In the China 100th store, Watons for the first time works with the renowned and well-established Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) brand Tong Ren Tang to offer a variety of TCM products. In the areas of cosmetics and skincare products, the shop brings in exclusive brands and prominent names, such as Ingrid Millet and Hugo Boss. All these reflect Watsons' commitment to providing more product choices and varieties for consumers.

Mr Andrew Miles, Chief Executive Officer of Health and Beauty Asia of A.S. Watson Group said "In the next decade, Watsons remains committed to bringing more innovative services and product choices to consumers. To further tap the Chinese market's fathomless potential, we will leverage our mix of international and local retail experience to consolidate our leading market position in China. In 2005, we plan to open one new store every day in Asia."

Riding on its impressive growth in Asia, Watsons revealed in November its plan to form a joint venture company with LG Mart Co, a well-known retail operator in Korea, and plan to open its first Korean store in the first quarter of 2005.

In addition to the 100th store in China, this week will see the opening of Watsons' 300th store in Taiwan.

Located at Grandview Plaza in Guangzhou, Watsons China's 100th store offers Tong Ren Tang's traditional Chinese medicine products Download (271kb)	(From right) Mr Andrew Miles, CEO of Health & Beauty Asia of A.S. Watson; Mr Shen Baonian, Executive Vice Mayor of the Standing Committee of CPC of Guangzhou Municipal Government; Ms Tao Siliang, Secretary General of China Mayor Assosiation; Mr Ivor Morton, Managing Director of Watsons China and other guests of honour officiate the ceremony of Watsons China's 100th store opening Download (240kb)

Mr Andrew Miles, CEO of Health & Beauty Asia of A.S. Watson, dotting the lion's eyes at the opening ceremony. Download (1.17MB)	Mr Ivor Morton, Managing Director of Watsons China, speaks at the grand opening ceremony of Watsons' 100th store opening on the Mainland. Download (520kb)

About Watsons' Your Personal Store
Watsons Your Personal Store is the largest health and beauty retail chain in Asia operating over 900 stores and 680 pharmacies in 9 markets - Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Korea.

Building on its long-standing reputation for quality and innovation, plus a high degree of consumer confidence, Watsons caters to a variety of lifestyles with an unrivalled diversity of products. Watsons' mission is to help people around the world to "Look Good, Feel Great, Have Fun". It is Watsons' pledge to offer a unique experience to customers through professional advice and expertise, interesting shopping environments and the promise of great value every day.

In Hong Kong, Watsons has won a number of customer service awards and operates 170 stores with 2,000 employees. Watsons is Hong Kong's largest pharmacy chain with 50 licensed pharmaceutical counters, served by 100 pharmacists, while other stores have a total of over 130 professionally trained health and fitness advisors. Watsons is also the largest beauty chain with over 1,000 cosmetics counters and boutiques featuring over 90 international brands.

Watsons is the flagship health and beauty operation of the A.S. Watson Group (ASW), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. ASW is the largest health and beauty retailer in Asia and Europe, with operations in 20 markets. The Group operates over 4,700 retail stores in 930 cities, owns more than 14 retail brands, and employs over 64,000 staff worldwide. More than 17.5 million customers are served by ASW brands per week worldwide.

Website: www.aswatson.com

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