A.S. Watson Group (ASW), the largest international health & beauty retailer in Asia and Europe, has announced the establishment of eLab, a dedicated digital team offering a global support to its eCommerce business. In May, ASW announced the acceleration of its digital and customer relationship management strategy with a US$60m investment over three years to meet the needs of today’s shoppers. With global revenue of $19bn, the ambition is for 5% of this revenue to come from eCommerce within the next 18 months.
The eLab will be an in-house digital team working alongside each business unit to help build their eCommerce offers and to engage customers online, advising on strategies and consulting, web and mobile development, and design and platform development. The Hong Kong-based team is a central hub of providing the technical solutions to digital services planning strategy and digital development. This move brings ASW’s digital team all together, creating synergy and efficiency and will benefit its global suppliers like L’Oréal, P&G and Unilever by promoting their brands.
The eLab will service brands such as Superdrug and The Perfume Shop in the UK and Kruidvat, Marionnaud and ICI Paris XL in Europe as well as Watsons in Asia. In Hong Kong, ASW is recruiting talents with focus on both commercial and digital technology in eLab to provide a total in-house solution, including product strategists to lead business direction on both commercial and UX, business intelligence analysts to analyse different market needs, technical developers and engineers to develop a full function eCommerce platform.
Malina Ngai, Chief Operating Officer of ASW, says, "To serve a new generation of connected customers requires investment in new business models. Bringing our resources together to create synergy and efficiency ensures a cost effective and consistent approach to contents for all our business units. The new digital team will provide customised digital solutions to local needs and provide a road map for inspirational eCommerce solutions."
