AS Watson, Amorepacific deal to drive double-digit sales growth: CEO

In June, AS Watson, the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, and South Korean beauty company Amorepacific, signed an agreement to further solidify their partnership and collaborate in the K-beauty space.

According to Malina Ngai, CEO of AS Watson for Asia and Europe, the strengthened partnership between AS Watson and Amorepacific  is based on the success of their work together over the past four years. 

“This partnership has brought Amorepacific’s popular haircare brands Ryo and Mise-En-Scene, as well as beauty brands Etude and Innisfree, to customers in Asia, which has resulted in very positive and encouraging feedback from our customers,” she told Inside Retail.

She went on to say that Mise-En-Scene has particularly experienced a compound sales growth of nearly 30 per cent since 2019, demonstrating its popularity among customers. 

“The overwhelming response from customers encouraged us to take our partnership to the next level and work together to offer more of Amorepacific’s brands and  products to our customers,” she added.

Embracing diversity

Ngai stated that the partnership will leverage on the strengths of each business, citing AS Watson’s extensive retail portfolio of over 16,100 physical and online stores across 28 markets, coupled with Amorepacific’s expertise in K-Beauty innovation. 

“Our joint efforts are not only  about increasing the choice of brands but also offering a 24/7 O+O [online and offline] shopping experience including in-store testing at many convenient locations and online, providing customers easy access to the latest K-Beauty products anytime, anywhere,” she said.

The company’s customer research revealed that the younger generation of K-beauty-aligned customers like to test products in-store, while browsing information and looking for reviews online. 

“By leveraging our loyalty member database and big data capabilities, brands can tailor their marketing strategies to effectively engage and connect with their targeted customers anytime, anywhere, ultimately expanding their  penetration and reach,” she noted.

Ngai also mentioned that Korean beauty products are well promoted on television and the internet and are used by many famous Korean celebrities. The company has seen increasing online search and millions of posts on social media with the #kbeauty hashtag. 

“The popularity of K-beauty is not only growing in Asia, we also see increasing demand in Europe and the Middle East where we also have a wide retail network. Besides the social influence factor, K-beauty products are known for their trendiness and innovation,” she elaborated.

The appeal of innovation

According to Ngai, customers are drawn to the unique, innovative formulations and natural ingredients found in many K-beauty products. 

“Additionally, the K- Beauty products focus on clean beauty and sustainability, and try to reduce their environmental impact by using sustainable ingredients and packaging, which resonates with customers who share common values,” she explained.

With more and more customers concerned about the issue of sustainability and supporting brands that do the right thing, she expects the trend of K-beauty to grow.

It’s been a long time coming

AS Watson has been advocating for K-beauty products for over a decade in Asia, and Ngai stated that the partnership with Amorepacific has helped deliver more skincare and haircare solutions for customers, even during the height of the pandemic.

“This recently strengthened partnership will bring more K-beauty skincare options to our customers in more markets, and meet the increasing global demand for K-beauty products. We expect the enhanced partnership will result in strong double-digit sales growth,” she stressed.

Ngai also noted that the AS Watson has been ramping up its efforts towards sustainability by offering ‘Sustainable Choices’ products both in stores and online since 2021, creating higher awareness amongst customers to care for the planet while looking after their personal beauty needs.

To date, the company has already extended sustainable choices to over 8,000 products including refills, better packaging, better ingredients, and clean beauty.

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