Information:
1828 Watson's, a small pharmacy founded in Guangzhou, expanded its business to Hong Kong on 184 1 after 20 years of development. By the beginning of the 20th century, Watsons had established a solid business foundation in Hongkong, China and the Philippines. It has more than 100 retail stores and pharmacies. After more than a hundred years of precipitation, it was acquired by Hutchison Whampoa on 198 1 in the name of Li Ka-shing, the richest Chinese. Watsons has become the world's leading business giant in personal care products, beauty cosmetics and skin care through the exquisite creation of Lee's team. Today, Watsons has more than 5,000 stores around the world, with sales exceeding HK$/kloc-0.00 billion, and its business covers more than 40 countries including Asia and Europe. So with what wand did Li's richest man play Watson's Rubik's Cube in just 20 years?
Magic war 1: launch a powerful capital commercial acquisition plan to maximize the size of stores and enterprises in key development areas.
Last year, Watsons spent a huge sum of nearly HK$ 5.5 billion to acquire the controlling stake in Marionnaud, the largest perfume retailer in France. This is the first large-scale expansion of Watsons in Europe, and its key development strategy in Europe has been effectively implemented. Due to the developed European economy and the gathering of the middle class, the scale of such consumers coincides with Watson's consumption target positioning. Such a large-scale M&A not only increased the number of Watsons' business outlets by 65,438+0,300, but also exceeded the business scale of/kloc-0,000,000,000,000 Hong Kong dollars.
At the same time, Watsons recently acquired Spektr Group, a chain of health care and beauty products headquartered in St. Petersburg. The acquisition expanded Watson Group's global business to Russia, further consolidating its position as the world's largest retailer of personal care products, beauty and skin care.
In recent years, Watsons has launched a number of mergers and acquisitions around the world. In 2000, it acquired the British saver chain store and extended its business reach to Europe. In 2002, it acquired Kruidvat Group of the Netherlands, which greatly expanded its business scope and field in Europe. In 2003, it acquired a well-known pharmaceutical retail enterprise in the Philippines to expand its business in Southeast Asia. In 2004, it successfully acquired DROGAS, a large retail chain owned by the famous Latvian Rota company. Drogas is a leading zero chain enterprise of personal care products, beauty and skin care products in Latvia and Lithuania. Watson's successful acquisition of Drogas marks Watson's first battle in the Baltic market, which will further strengthen its business expansion and competitiveness in the European market and enhance its international strength. In 2005, it also acquired ApexPharmacySdnBhd Pharmacy, a British commercial retail perfume chain in Malaysia.
The above acquisition is only part of Watson's global acquisition. Through the acquisition of capital, Li's team has rapidly expanded the scale of enterprises in key development areas in Asia and Europe. The wand of capital is an important password for Watson enterprises to succeed in the Rubik's Cube.
Wand 2: Maximize the growth of enterprise scale and business scale with special chain operation mode.
Chain operation is a successful enterprise management model. McDonald's and KFC in the fast food industry, Wal-Mart and Carrefour in the retail industry, Shangri-La and Hilton in the hotel industry have all developed and grown with excellent chain management mode! The chain operation mode is an excellent operation mode: firstly, the "seven unification principles" of chain operation are that the operation of enterprises has become a commercial norm, and it is implemented according to the standards with a business manual. This not only reduces the difficulty of operation, but also improves the quality and efficiency of operation. Secondly, it can effectively mobilize social resources to participate in Watson's store construction and product structure production and procurement. For example, the field of beauty products and medicines cooperated by Tong Ren Tang is a typical way for me to use resources. Third, the centralized procurement and distribution of chain operation can not only save operating costs, but also create the price competitive advantage of its own brand. Chain operation combines scattered business individuals into a large-scale network operation structure, and centralized procurement of stores through headquarters can enjoy high price discounts and reduce procurement costs. Fourth, the speed of self-built outlets of chain operation far exceeds that of other business models, which can effectively increase the scale of its own outlets and expand the vast regional scale. Chain operation expands the market position of retail enterprises from the extension, which not only makes it easier for private brands to enter the vast market field, but also greatly prolongs the life cycle of private brands in the market. Finally, the reputation of chain retail enterprises in the original commercial field and the consistent service and image they bring to consumers can also reduce consumers' cognitive cost of their own brands and improve their loyalty. The magic wand of chain operation mode is the second successful password of Watson's enterprise success Rubik's Cube.
Wand three; Accurate target consumer positioning and successful brand management structure are the only way for Watsons to succeed.
Watson's target customers are the middle class (age 18-40) who have spending power (monthly income above 2500) and can accept new things.
First, lock in the target customer base.
It is understood that during the period from 1989 to 1997, Watson's development was not satisfactory. After years of keen observation and analysis of market trends, improvement of internal management and adjustment of development strategy, Watsons, which is ready to go, finally found that it is very important to target customers in the increasingly homogeneous and fierce competition retail industry. Watson's survey found that Asian women spend more time shopping and they are willing to spend a lot of time looking for cheaper or better products. This is obviously different from the consumption habits of western countries. On average, women in Chinese mainland stay in each store for 20 minutes, while in Europe, it only takes about 5 minutes. Because of this difference, Watsons finally targeted women aged 65,438+08-40 in Chinese mainland, especially fashionable women aged 65,438+08-35. Watsons believes that female consumers in this age group are the most challenging. They like to use the best products, seek novel experiences, pursue fashion and are willing to show themselves in front of friends. They are more willing to use money to bring about great changes for themselves and are willing to try all kinds of new things. The reason why we pay more attention to consumers under the age of 40 is that most older women already have their own fixed brands and lifestyles.
According to the reporter's interview notes, Everton, managing director of Watson's personal care store in China, once said: "With the economic growth of China, people's income will greatly increase, and women are the fastest growing group at this stage. Of course, there are many categories of women in this age group, and our target group is women with a monthly income of more than 2,500 yuan. " Tan Lixian, director of Watsons Group and general manager of China, also stressed: "Our target customers are women aged 18 -35." Tan believes that such goals pay more attention to individuality and have strong spending power, but time is tight. They don't like to visit supermarkets or supermarkets and pursue a comfortable shopping environment. "This is very in line with our positioning."
Watson's consumers in Beijing are mostly young and fashionable white-collar workers. What's more strange is that some facial cleanser and personal care products are very cheap, but some white-collar workers don't feel that their position has fallen off when they go to Watsons' store, but they may be like this when they go to other commercial outlets. There are not many peers entering the store. This fully shows that Watson's target customer group positioning is accurate. Even if it's not a holiday, you can see that Watsons stores are full of young women who are fashionable in clothes, well-spoken and like novelty.
Second, the business circle and brand management structure
In order to make this group of 18 -40-year-old "gods" have more fun, Watsons is also very particular about site selection. The most prosperous business district is Watson's first choice, such as streets or shopping malls with large passenger flow, airports, stations or office buildings where white-collar workers are concentrated. For example, Watsons, located in the basement of New Oriental Plaza in Wangfujing, Beijing, is a symbol of successful site selection.
Watsons, whose target customers are women, not only pays more attention to the location and operation in the store, but also reduces the height of the shelves from 1.65m to 1.40m, and the display height of the main commodities on the shelves is generally from 1m 3 to 1m 5, and the shelf design is also humanized enough. Each Watsons personal care store has clearly divided different sales areas, and the goods are neatly arranged for customers to choose. Watsons pays attention to its internal relations and logic in the display of goods, and puts them in the classification order of cosmetics, skin care products, beauty products, hair care products, fashion products, medicines, ornaments and cosmetic tools, and women's daily necessities. And different new products and promotional products will be launched in different classified areas, so that customers can make new discoveries from time to time in the store, thus stimulating customers' interest. Among the products sold by Watsons, medicines account for 65,438+05%, cosmetics and skin care products account for 35%, personal care products account for 30%, and the remaining 20% are food, beauty products and clothing accessories. Accurate target consumer positioning and marketing wand of successful brand management structure are the third successful password of Watson's enterprise success Rubik's Cube.
Wand 4: Successful Business Strategy
1. Watsons has a strong team of health consultants, including full-time pharmacists and "health and vitality ambassadors": the professional team has received professional training, providing customers with free advice and suggestions to maintain a healthy life. Watsons displays various personal care information manuals such as "Skin Care Easy" in the store, and provides various skin care consultations free of charge; The "health confidant" information display shelf at the drug counter provides various health care and nutrition distribution and disease prevention methods; Actively carry out computerized plan and adopt advanced retail management system, which improves the efficiency of ordering and delivery. All kinds of business strategies can show customers that Watsons cares about not only the sales of goods, but also the considerate care for customers, which fully shows the special services of its "personal care" supplies store. Watsons knows "public relations marketing". Through a series of loving activities, Watson's sense of social responsibility has been fully reflected, which has aroused great social repercussions. At the same time, the turnover of the store has also increased greatly, and more importantly, it has established a good social image for the enterprise. /kloc-at the beginning of the 0/9th century, free clinic and medicine delivery won Watson a good social image. What is even more surprising is that Watson once offered a scholarship to Sun Yat-sen when he was studying in Hong Kong. There is no reason why such a marketing strategy is not successful.
Secondly, Watsons learns from Wal-Mart to play low-priced cards: Watsons enhances brand value through differentiation and personalization, and at the same time, in order to enhance its competitiveness, Watsons adjusts its price strategy according to different consumers in different markets, making "guaranteeing low prices" a long-term profit strategy tailored for Chinese mainland consumers. At the same time, the average income of residents in different cities in China is quite different. Therefore, Watson will highlight different levels in pricing. The prices of products of different brands and products of different grades of the same brand will be different. The results of consumer survey on the strategy of "keeping the price low" show that consumers have a very high awareness of it, and low price, high quality and the depth and breadth of products are the main factors for consumers to choose Watson's shopping. Competitive price Compared with other retail enterprises, the products of Watsons Personal Care Store always pursue "the price is consistent with the market demand" rather than "competitive price", so the pricing of products is generally higher. However, in 2004, China Watsons Personal Care Store launched a low-price profit-making activity of 1200 in South China and East China for the first time, and claimed that if consumers found that the same goods were sold at lower prices in other stores, they could enjoy double refund of the difference. This low-price activity not only reinterprets Watson's fashion consumption concept, but also brings unprecedented new shopping experience to consumers who pursue quality of life. Watsons has selected more than 1200 kinds of health care and beauty products that consumers buy most frequently and have the greatest impact on their purchase expenditure, and the average price is about 5% lower than the market price. Among them, private brand products account for 15% of the goods on sale, and the prices of these private brand products are even 20% ~ 30% lower than those of similar products in other supermarkets.
Third, convey an optimistic attitude towards life: the biggest feature of Watson's products is to convey three business ideas everywhere. Medicines and health products retain the characteristics since they opened the store and advocate "health"; Beauty salons and nursing products account for the largest proportion and the most types, expressing the concept of "beauty"; Unique funny dolls and candy products convey an "optimistic" attitude towards life. Based on these three business ideas, there will be some lovely signs on the company's shelves, checkout counters and shopping bags, such as "heart", "lips" and "smiling face", which give people a warm, pleasant and interesting feeling and symbolize "health", "beauty" and "optimism" respectively. Taking the successful business strategy as the magic wand is the fourth successful password of Watson's enterprise success Rubik's Cube.
Wand five: the charm of its own brand
Watson's own brand is actively promoting the growth of business scale in various regions of the world. The remarkable growth of its own brand in Watsons has become a sharp weapon for Watsons to dance. In recent two years, Watsons has occupied a market share of 265,438+0% in the personal care products sales market. The number of private brand products has rapidly increased from more than 200 product categories at the beginning to more than 1000 at present. Private brand products have won the recognition and trust of more consumers with their reliable quality and good cost performance. A research report by AC Nielsen shows that private brands are actively promoting the business growth of retailers in all regions of the world. In 2003, among the 36 markets in the world, two-thirds of them grew faster than manufacturers, and more than half of them achieved double-digit growth.
Strengthening corporate brand image with own brand.
Brands can be divided into enterprise brands and product brands. Watson's corporate brand is located at the top of the brand operated by the store and is the foundation of the whole brand system. From the consumer's point of view, a corporate brand is far from the name of a store. They are the most essential content to convince potential customers, and they are also a very important factor affecting consumers' choice of stores and purchase behavior. Corporate brand is influenced by many factors: physical environment, current atmosphere, convenience, types of shoppers in stores, existing goods, service level, etc. Free brand is the most effective means to convey Watson's business characteristics, which not only enriches the product variety composition of each store, but also strengthens the retailer's corporate brand image in the eyes of consumers through the introduction of its own brand, forming differentiated brand identity, thus cultivating and enhancing consumers' loyalty to Watson. Watsons put forward design requirements in terms of function, price and shape, and finally registered its own trademark and sold the brand in our store. In Watson's brand system, corporate brand plays a leading role. Self-owned brands must start from the positioning of corporate brands, reflect the connotation and concept of corporate brands, introduce the value proposition of their own products, help corporate brands create value, form brand synergy, and then strengthen corporate brand image and gain competitive advantage.
Distinguish by own brand
Having a series of popular private brand products is undoubtedly one of the best ways to reflect differentiation.
"Health"-"MJ" Mr. Juice Brand
On the basis of adhering to the unified positioning of corporate brands, Watsons adheres to the brand concept of "health", and through geographical subdivision and functional subdivision, aiming at the unique concept of clearing away heat and keeping in good health and Guangdong's humanistic environment, it launches MJ Qingrun series beverages in the form of its own brand, further strengthening the "healthy" corporate image advocated by Watsons and achieving a breakthrough in differentiation.
Because of its unique humid and sultry climate, consumers in Guangdong pay great attention to clearing away heat and heating, so they have the habit of drinking "herbal tea". With the accelerated pace of life, can the refreshing drinks cooked at home or bought in street herbal tea shops be drunk at any time through finished packaging? It is under the background of this market demand that Watsons has devoted itself to research and development from the concept of "providing healthy products for customers". In 2003, it began to launch its own new brand MJ (short for "MJ(“Juicy") sugarcane juice, and in 2004, it re-launched a new product MJ sour plum juice to create a clean and humid beverage market with Lingnan characteristics.
Mr. MJ's juice brand is a targeted private brand (product) developed by Watsons from the perspective of regional consumers on the basis of adhering to the health concept, which avoids the homogenization competition of products and realizes the breakthrough of brand differentiation, not only perfecting and expanding its own product line, but more importantly, enriching the connotation of corporate brands while successfully shaping its own brand value.
Beauty-fashion distilled water, skin care products and cosmetics
The "Mattel" business philosophy of Watsons Personal Care Store is mainly embodied in targeting 18 ~ 35-year-old women. This kind of consumer group pursues individuality, pays attention to personal charm and pursues a comfortable shopping environment.
In view of this target group that pursues fashionable and energetic life, Watson's distilled water is eye-catching and full of freshness: streamlined bottle body, simple and fashionable green packaging and unique double bottle cap design turn simple "water" into a product with unique fashion taste and personal style. After listing in Hong Kong last year, it was loved by consumers. Its fashionable appearance has attracted a large number of consumers who pursue personal image, and won the 14th Hong Kong Printing Award for Excellent Packaging and Printing. The logo of Watson's distilled water brand follows the green theme of Watson's corporate brand itself and is changed to lively bright green to reflect the theme of "beauty". On the one hand, it preserves Watson's professional and pure image, on the other hand, it brings the vitality and vitality of Watson's distilled water to consumers.
In addition, for the needs of female consumers, Watsons has designed a large number of skin care products, washing products and various female cosmetics, which are affordable, exquisite and fashionable, and elegant in taste, and are favored by female customers. According to a recent survey on the personal life concept of nearly 600 female customers, more than 85% of the respondents believe that the richness and exquisiteness of Watsons products, especially women's skin care products and cosmetics, are the primary factors that attract them to shop in Watsons, and their trust in the quality of goods sold in Watsons stores makes them loyal customers of Watsons.
Happy-toys, Sunkist orange juice
Entering any Watsons store, customers are greeted by cheerful music, as well as unique and lovely dolls and candy placed in the store. Some lovely signs such as "heart", "lips" and "smiling face" will appear on the shelves, checkout counters and shopping bags of the company, which will give consumers a happy, warm and interesting feeling and convey an optimistic attitude towards life.
In order to better interpret the brand connotation of Watson's Joy, in June 2004, Watson developed its own brand Sunkist Juice many years ago, and cooperated with Disney Company of the United States to stage the "Disney100th Anniversary Fantasy Ice Tour" project in Shenzhen, which made people feel relaxed and interesting from the perspective of entertainment, and made Watson's "Joy" theme fully reflected, shortening the time with consumers.
Sunkist and Disney have similar consumer groups-optimistic people who value entertainment and are young-minded; Sunkist is a representative of nutritious and delicious oranges, with bright colors and strong sense of joy. Disney has created happy childhood memories for four generations and enjoys a high reputation in the world. The integration of the brand connotation of Sunkist and Disney has enhanced the brand tension of Sunkist and enriched the corporate brand connotation of Watsons.
Watson's own brand appears as a cheap substitute for the manufacturer's brand, so it has a strong price competitive advantage. The R&D, production or sales orders of Watson's own brand products are directly contacted with manufacturers, which saves many intermediate links and saves transaction costs and circulation costs. Due to the leading cost advantage, the price of Watson's own brand has been 20% ~ 40% cheaper than similar competitive brands. Cheap products, coupled with fashionable packaging design, have been deeply loved by consumers! The wand of its own brand is the fifth successful password of Watson's enterprise success Rubik's Cube.
Wand 6: product advantages-better understanding of customer needs
Watsons Personal Care Store deals in various products, including 25,000 kinds of cosmetics, medicines, personal care products, fashion accessories, candy, heart-shaped cards and gifts from more than 20 countries. Watsons products mainly include cosmetics and personal care products, cosmetics and beauty products, as well as juice, distilled water and toys that embody Watsons three concepts of health, beauty and happiness.
Grasping the market demand advantage provides favorable conditions for Watsons to implement the strategy of product introduction and opening up. Watsons has direct contact with consumers all the time, and can timely and accurately understand the various demand information of consumers for goods, and can timely analyze and grasp the marketability of all kinds of goods. In the process of implementing the strategy of product opening and introduction, Watson put forward the requirements of new product development and design. Compared with manufacturers, it has the characteristics of short product development cycle and difficult separation of production and sales, which reduces the risk and cost of product development.
Watson's products are oriented to the needs of consumers every time they are launched. Personal care products and cosmetics are the most typical imported brands. For example, P&G's Pan Ting, Head & Shoulders and Olay are very close to the needs of consumers. In the production of independent brands, such as drinking water products, Watsons has followed the needs of customers and demonstrated outstanding innovation ability in all aspects: in the 1950s, it took the lead in providing glass bottled water for commercial users; 1994, the first Watsons water dispenser "leak-proof sealing system"; 196, the first 12 liters of drinking water; 198, the first built-in handle. Taking customer demand as the fundamental starting point, we constantly bring fresh ideas to consumers and bring success to the launch of Watsons products and the implementation of the opening strategy. The wand of product advantage is the sixth password of Watson's successful Rubik's Cube.
Li Ka-shing's Watsons can have such achievements. He and his team successfully combined these six passwords into a successful Rubik's Cube. Li Ka-shing is to Watsons what Harry Potter is to the magic school castle. Harry Potter saved the magic school castle with his wisdom and wand at the critical moment. Similarly, Li Ka-shing and his Watsons team, with his six wands, successfully created the achievements of Watsons Group today.