Race against time as A.S. Watson ramps up retail technology investment
Health and beauty retailer, A.S. Watson, is investing an additional $115 million in technology this year to accelerate digital transformation and delivery of its O+O (online and offline) platform strategy.
Key focus areas include its in-house eLab and TECHLab initiatives, and further building machine learning, artificial intelligence, Big Data and retail technology capabilities.
Malina Ngai, Group COO at A.S. Watson Group and CEO at A.S. Watson (Asia and Europe), says: “Technology is vital for us to deliver the right offline plus online (O+O) customer experience.”
“We are committed to our customers to lead and shape the new standard of retail for them, and have set our consumer facing and backend technology investment priorities accordingly.”
“Just as importantly, we are mindful that digital transformation is not just about how much investment we put in technology or how many more digital devices we put in the stores.”
“It is also about genuine revolution in the organisation culture - the way we think, the way we work, and the way we communicate and serve our customers.”
The company is prioritising the top three consumer facing technology investment areas as follows:
1. O+O technology solutions for health and beauty shopping
2. Personalisation in customer experience powered by the use of AI
3. In-store technologies such as digital payments, smart shelving
Its investment in backend technology, meanwhile, focuses on three areas:
1. Big Data management and visualisation
2. Cyber security
3. Promotion optimisation
Ngai says: “Retail is evolving very quickly. What took a decade to develop in the past would now happen in two years.”
“To stay winning, we are racing against time every day. We therefore need to build agility in the organisation, and to empower our people with data insights in real-time, cloud-based dashboards is key to fast and smart decision making.”
“O+O continues to be A.S. Watson’s core strategy and technology is the critical engine for future growth.”
