Recently, Watsons was fined 150,000 yuan and confiscated items because of the store's "free bottle test, free for members" activity. Obviously to win over customers, why was Watsons fined?
According to the administrative penalty letter, starting from January 28, 2021, Watsons held a "Free Bottle Trial" activity in Shanghai, where members can try cosmetics in stores and take them away. It is worth mentioning that the sub-packaging taken away by the members is either divided by the customer himself or the staff in advance, but no matter what kind of sub-packaging method, it violates the "Several Provisions on the Innovation and Development of the Cosmetics Industry in Pudong New Area, Shanghai", and at the same time, according to the "Measures for the Administration of Cosmetics Labeling", the smallest sales unit of cosmetics should have a label, and the cosmetics provided to consumers in the form of free trial, gift, exchange, etc., should also have a label. However, the sub-bottles provided by Watsons do not have proper labels except for the words "wash", "protect" and "bath". Therefore,The Shanghai Pudong New Area Administration for Market Regulation fined Watsons 153706 on the grounds that the cosmetics operator had allocated cosmetics without authorization$60 and confiscation of items.
That is, Watsons did violate the rules. However, some netizens said that they were fined because of the free gifts, and they felt that Watsons was a little wronged. But after learning the details of the incident, more netizens said that behaviors that do not comply with the regulations should indeed be punished.
In fact, this is not the first time Watsons has been fined for violating the relevant regulations. In April 2023, Watsons was fined 30,000 yuan for inaccurate representations of the performance and function of the product, as well as the content and form of the service, and was also fined 50,000 yuan for violating the advertising law by not clearly indicating the number of complimentary goods. In January 2022, Watsons was fined 6,540 yuan for false publicity. In the same year, due to the inability to redeem the preferential activities, consumers expressed their dissatisfaction in the Watsons live broadcast room, but they were abused and blocked by the anchor, which caused countless netizens to be dissatisfied.
As a giant in the domestic beauty collection store industry, Watsons was the first choice for many young people to buy cosmeticsBut now many stores are crowded, searching for "Watsons" on social platforms, and some netizens said that they don't like to go. Why is Watsons no longer beautiful?
According to the financial report released by Cheung Kong Hutchison IndustriesIn 2022, Watson's China revenue will only be 175HK$7.9 billion, down 23% year-on-year, recorded EBITDA of 10HK$900 million, down 59% year-on-year, with EBIT of 26.2 billion yuan, down 85% year-on-year. At the same time, the number of Watsons stores in China has also decreased from 4,179 in 2021 to 3,780 in June 2023.
Why was Watsons "abandoned" by young people?The answer may be drawn from the comment section. Many netizens said that the reason why they were reluctant to go to Watsons again was mainly related to the service attitude. Perhaps in order to better serve customers, most of Watson's stores adopt a "follow-up" service, that is, customers go to **, and the service staff follows the introduction. However, this service method has put some consumers under pressure, and at the same time, the over-promotion of the service staff has also made consumers tired.
In addition,When e-commerce was rapidly emerging in China, Watsons, who was obsessed with offline expansion, did not seize this opportunity. With the rapid occupation of the market by e-commerce platforms such as ** and JD.com, consumers are becoming more and more accustomed to online shopping, and Watsons' performance has been greatly affected. After Watsons began to develop online, many young people have thrown themselves into the arms of platforms such as ** and JD.com. At the same time,Watsons, which missed the best opportunity for the development of e-commerce, has not been able to keep up with the pace of domestic cosmetics brand upgrading。Most of Watson's stores are old brands such as Pechoin, but brands that young people like are relatively rare.
Watsons is going downhill, can't the beauty collection store be gone?According to the China Beauty Collection Store Industry Report, more than 70% of consumers prefer new beauty stores because they can buy products that are not available in traditional beauty stores. Visible,It's not that beauty collection stores are out of order, but they need to "change".
In this situation, cutting-edge beauty collection stores such as The Colorist, Hee Burn, and WOW Colour have sprung up. Although it cannot be compared with Watsons at present, the speed of development of these brands cannot be ignored. In 2023, The Colorist will be profitable for the first time and plans to continue to expand its stores. As of December 2022, the number of Xiran stores has reached 22, and in 2023, Xiran is expected to expand another 50 stores through the direct franchise parallel model. Harmay also plans to open an upgraded version in Nanjing, Hangzhou, Xi'an and other cities
However, while these cutting-edge beauty collections are expandingHowever, they also face challenges such as homogeneous competition and limited profit margins. Therefore, in order to achieve long-term development, these cutting-edge beauty collection stores must also explore their own way out.
In the face of today's predicament, Watsons is also actively helping itself. On the one hand, it attracts young consumers through young brand spokespersons and the launch of virtual spokespersons. On the other hand, it has also tried to transform the Internet by embracing e-commerce and opening live broadcasts.
At present, Watsons is still in the first echelon of domestic beauty collection stores, and strives to save itself to maintain its position. It's just that transformation is a relatively long process, and it is still unknown whether Watsons can capture the hearts of young people again.
References: 1. "Latest Disclosure!".Urgently taken off the shelves, Watsons apologizes", New Evening News.
2. "The "Vanished" Watsons", Retail Circle.
3, "Trapping the Tide of Closing Stores!".The hundred-year-old brand is in trouble, and Li Ka-shing, the financier behind it, has already cashed out 44 billion", a financial gossip girl.
Watsons was fined 150,000 yuan for packing toiletries without authorization