Bangkok--22 Sep--Hill & Knowlton
Watsons, the No.1 health and beauty retailer in Thailand, is today introducing a new complimentary service to its customers, providing health and beauty advice at Watsons stores nationwide. “Health and Beauty Specialist” is a part of the ‘Watsons Your Personal Store’ campaign that aims to provide customers with enhanced products and a personalized service. When visiting Watsons’ stores, customers are able to seek advice from the specialists on topics related to health and wellness products, new cosmetic trends, skincare and toiletries.
“Watsons is devoted to providing customers with the best products and enhanced services that make customers feel good about themselves,” said Toby Anderson, Managing Director, Central Watson Co., Ltd. “Health and Beauty Specialist service enhances the two-way communication between Watsons and our customers. The specialists provide consultation to our customers on the latest health and beauty trends, and help to personalize the choice of products that suit their needs. These specialists also listen attentively to what customers need, and Watsons will deliver accordingly.”
The specialists are independent advisors who can assist in recommending all brands available in Watsons’ stores. The 45 well-trained specialists are stationed at Watsons outlets including Watsons CP Tower, The Mall Bangkapi, Central Pinklao, Future Park Rangsit and Central Khon Khan. Watsons also plans to increase the number of Health and Beauty Specialists to 80 by the first quarter of 2011.
“The Health and Beauty Specialist initiative reflects our desire to improve the quality of service offered at Watsons,” said Nuanphan Jayanama, Marketing Director, Central Watson Co., Ltd. “To ensure excellence in the consultation service, the specialists need to be enrolled in a specially designed training programme called Retail Academy 3 which serves as the core programme for building quality Health and Beauty Specialists. In the first step, the specialists have to pass a written exam and interview as well as participate in workshops. Then, they are trained for a period of six months before they can be certified as Health and Beauty Specialists. Every year hereafter, they will be required to take follow up tests to maintain their certification and ensure a high, consistent level of service quality. Moreover, the specialists will go through a number of additional trainings to keep them up to date with all the beauty trends to enable them to offer the best possible advice to customers. The launch of Health and Beauty Specialist today, therefore, reinforces Watsons’ commitment to creating the new service standard for the industry,” Nuanphan Jayanama added.
Toby Anderson added that “this program also emphasizes our commitment to focus on the development of our staff. The creation of this new staff position demonstrates the importance that Watsons places on training and development of employees’ skills so that they can serve customers’ needs flawlessly. We have already invested around ten million baht in the Health and Beauty Specialists programme.”
“In addition to offering new products and service, being present where customers need us has been one of our key focuses. With the current business environment, Watsons continues to grow. This year we expect to open as many as 15 stores by the end of 2010, six of which will be unveiled in October.”
“Watsons is the No.1 health and beauty retailer in Thailand, and we continue to provide customers with best quality products and services. We want all customers to think about Watsons when they think of health and beauty,” Mr. Anderson concluded.
Photo shows — Top executives of Watsons led by Toby Anderson (centre), Managing Director; Nuanphan Jayanama (3rd from right), Marketing Director; and Kantima Lerlertyuttitham (3rd from left), Human Resources Director, Central Watson Co., Ltd together with the Health and Beauty Specialists, a new personalized service for Thai customers.
For more information, please contact:
Sornsopin Puttachartsaewee / Tawn Chatchavalvong
Hill & Knowlton Thailand
Tel. 0-2627-3501 ext. 101 or 118
Fax. 0-2627-3510
Email:
[email protected]