Watsons clinches three major wins in the 17th Retail Asia Awards

It was recognised with the Health & Beauty Retailer of the Year, Sustainability Initiative of the Year, and the Omnichannel Strategy of the Year.

Watsons Personal Care Stores Inc. had long been a strong competitor in the Philippines amongst health and beauty retail stores. More than building a presence in many major malls and commercial spaces in the country, it has grown to become a household name since it first opened its stores locally.

The past year became a pivotal time for the company. For its many achievements, it received three major awards in the recently concluded 17th Retail Asia Awards. It is a prestigious annual event that gathers the region's best retailers and recognises the most outstanding retail initiatives.

In giving these awards, the judging panel took into consideration the overall performance of the company.

The company had to move swiftly to accommodate shifts in consumer and business behaviours during the pandemic. Watsons navigated through these changes by being present in both online and offline spaces to establish its presence where customers are.

In 2021, Watsons achieved an all-time high in its Brand Equity score of 7.1 and it continued to be the top retailer of choice in the beauty category, with growing engagement in health and wellness.

The Watsons App, with only 3 years in operation, ranked third on awareness and usage. The company said that the Watsons’ e-comm awareness improved with 3.3 BEI, a significant 2.3 increase from the previous year.

It also launched its Express Delivery service, a game-changer in the e-commerce space where it promised to deliver health, beauty and wellness needs to customers within 4 hours or less.

The Watsons Card became the most-loved loyalty program, the company created Store Safety seals on doors and staff pins, and it launched the Subscribe & Save program which allowed customers to stock up on vitamins good for 3 to 6 months –amongst many other projects that the company undertook the past year.

As a result of all these efforts, Watsons strengthened its position as the top Health & Beauty retailer in the country, and its strong recovery efforts in 2021 led to a growth of 9.4% vs the previous year. 

For these important achievements, it received the Health & Beauty Retailer of the Year – Philippines award for setting the new standard on health and beauty retailing, and alongside this also the Omnichannel Strategy of the Year – Philippines for expanding its retail reach to its customers.

As for the third award, it received the Sustainability Initiative of the Year – Philippines for its Sustainable Choices campaign.

Watsons realised that it had the responsibility to raise consciousness and influence its customers to live more sustainably.

The cornerstone of Watsons’ sustainability strategy, Sustainable Choices is a campaign that promoted health, wellness and beauty SKUs under 4 key pillars -  Clean Beauty, Better Packaging, Better Ingredients and Refills.

Watsons also partnered with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise that collects and recycles plastic bottles whilst providing livelihood to registered collectors. In effect, whenever customers purchase a Sustainable Product, they are supporting the plastic bottle collection and recycling program of Plastic Bank.

Through this collaboration, 833,000 plastic containers were recycled from August to December 2021 and helped improve the lives of 163 individuals in vulnerable communities.

Notable also that in less than a year, Watsons was able enrol over 1,200 products which passed the qualifications to be promoted as a Sustainable Choices product. The category yielded a growth of 29.3%, faster than the overall company growth.

Overall, the campaign is a collaboration amongst various stakeholders and demonstrates Watsons’ commitment to help its customers LOOK GOOD, DO GOOD & FEEL GREAT.