Page 29 - Sphere No.6 (Jun 2002)

S PHERE
27
Filipinos love to look good and they cheerfully spend as much as 20% of their income on fashion, beauty and grooming products.
portingWatsons from Hong Kong to the
Philippines. For one, the operation has
three arms. Health and beauty stores will
most closely resemble Hong Kong oper-
ations, with a familiar mix of toiletry,
grooming and health products.
Watsons is also revamping 60% of
SM’s Family Drug pharmacies with a
modern facelift, focused entirely on
dispensing prescriptions and entering
into open competition with traditional
drug-stores. Uniquely, explains Ingham,
doctors rarely dispense medicine in the
Philippines; they only prescribe, so 80%
of prescriptions are dispensed by
pharmacies.
“In the Philippines, pharmacies are
primary health care providers,” he says.
“People go to them not only for pre-
scriptions, but also for advice.”
Finally, Watsons is taking over
the running of beauty and cosmet-
ics counters in 16 ShoeMart
department stores.
Each new
expansion pre-
sents its own
challenges – as
Watsons has
learned from
extending into
six countries
over the last
15 years.
“We are
giving Watsons a Philippines touch,”
says Casey, who has overseen
the launch. “Here it’s mostly the
merchandising, especially the sizing
of products. Since disposable income is
lower, customers prefer smaller sizes of
products.
“In Hong Kong, shaving cream
comes in 75 grams; here it’s 25 grams.
The same goes for lotions, which come
in 50-ml containers, rather than
250-ml. On the pharmacy side, while a
Hong Kong customer is likely to buy an
entire prescription at once, in the
Philippines customers like to buy a day’s
supply at a time. They buy five tablets,
for example, rather than 25. It’s about
...The Philippines
represents
Watsons’
biggest-ever
expansion
programme...
affordability. People buy what they
can at the time.”
A DDED VALUE
Although the new Retail Liberalisation
Act stipulates that 30% of pro-
ducts must be sourced from the
Philippines, this restriction is not an
issue, since Watsons buys products
from multinationals like Procter &
Gamble, Colgate and Gillette who
have well-established production
facilities in the country.
More pertinently, the expansion
represents a significant employment
boom. Since each store will have a
staff of around 20, Casey says the
potential new workforce should
number at least 5,000.
Philippines Trade and Industry
Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II also
expects the entry of Hutchison
Whampoa to inject fresh blood and
modern ideas. “The entry of
Hutchison into the Philippines retail
trade sector will undoubtedly give
Filipino consumers greater value for
their money and provide impetus for
greater efficiencies in retail services
and supply chain operations,” he says.
“This is a testament to the strength
of our domestic economy and will be
a boon to our local manufacturers.We
are particularly happy that the outlets
for pharmaceutical products will offer