Watsons, a traditional beauty retailer endorsed by top-notch Cai Xukun, is in trouble. On January 14, the entry “Watsons can’t afford to buy a face mask for 1 cent” rushed to the hot search on Weibo. Many consumers reported that offline delivery was blocked, and they were also abused by Watsons anchor as a “mad dog”. With the development of the situation, Watsons also urgently apologized late at night on January 14, and will continue to fulfill the remaining orders by means of replenishment. However, for Watsons’ apology, consumers do not seem to “pay the bill”, and many people said that “will not spend a penny in Watsons again.” A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that, as a large-scale cosmetics franchise, Watsons also cooperates with many A-share listed companies, such as Qingsong Co., Ltd., Shanghai Jahwa, and Ogilvy Medical. Whether this incident will cause a crisis of confidence in Watsons and whether it will affect the good cooperation between it and its customers has also attracted market attention.
Watsons late night apology
In the middle of the night on January 14, Watsons apologized and rushed to the top of the hot search on Weibo.
The incident originated from the facial mask promotion campaign launched by Watsons on the Meituan platform. According to the rules, from 5:00 am to 8:00 am on January 11, consumers can use coupons to buy any one of the two facial mask products at a price of 0.01 yuan. (Limited to 5 boxes per person), only offline store pickup is supported. However, many consumers reported that the offline delivery was blocked due to out of stock, and they hoped that consumers would refund the goods. However, the mask that was told to be out of stock was sold on Watsons online channels, which caused dissatisfaction among consumers.
In addition, when consumers asked for an explanation from Watsons, the live broadcaster of Watsons insulted consumers as “mad dogs” and said, “For a penny, I want to get it, and bite people like a ‘mad dog'” and other insulting remarks, which thoroughly angered consumers.
On January 14th, the entry “Watsons 1 cent to buy a face mask activity is not fun” appeared on Weibo hot search. Watsons issued an apology statement on its official Weibo late that night, saying that the recent Watsons Meituan Review New Year’s Day event was due to system reasons. As a result, a large number of abnormal orders that far exceeded the inventory were generated in a short period of time. The company has paid some of the orders, and then suspended the payment due to insufficient inventory, which brought a bad consumer experience to customers. The company is deeply sorry and decided to take replenishment. continue to fulfill the remaining orders. In addition, the company apologized for the inappropriate remarks made by the anchor of Watsons Douyin live broadcast room that day. The anchor is a staff member of a third-party organization that Watsons cooperates with. The company’s audit and supervision work is not in place and bears inescapable responsibility.
However, Watsons’ apology was not forgiven by consumers. Some consumers said that “the matter has been fermented for 4 days, and it has been on the hot search, and Watsons apologized for the first time. If it wasn’t for the strong awareness of consumers’ rights protection, this matter would not have happened. It’s over.” Some consumers said, “I won’t spend a penny in Watsons again in the future” and “I won’t visit Watsons again in the future.”
Cooperated with a number of A-share companies
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that Watsons has cooperated with many A-share listed companies such as daily chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Specifically, Ogilvy Medical’s masks, Shanghai Jahwa’s Yuze products, and Bethany’s “Winona” brand are all sold at Watsons counters. The above companies are all A-share companies. Among them, Bethany once said that the company adheres to the sales model based on offline channels and dominated by online channels. Offline, it mainly cooperates with chain pharmacies such as Yixintang, Jianzhijia, and Common People to expand chain pharmacy channels to Increase the market coverage of offline products; at the same time, strengthen new retail marketing, cooperate with professional cosmetics stores such as Watsons and HEAT, and gradually strengthen the depth of offline marketing channels.
With the “Winona” brand as its core, Bethany focuses on providing gentle and professional skin care products using pure natural plant active ingredients.
In addition, Ogilvy Medical also stated in 2021 that since the fourth quarter of 2021, the company’s mask market share has increased significantly, and it has now covered many large domestic chain pharmacies, hospitals, etc., and has also achieved coverage in Watsons, Wal-Mart and other channels.
Shanghai Jahwa also said that the company uses external forces to empower new product research and development with digitalization, and has carried out in-depth cooperation with Watsons to empower digital operations and expand new retail businesses.
Lingzhi Digital, a subsidiary of Texhong, also cooperates with Watsons. Lingzhi Digital said that it will cooperate according to the follow-up needs of AEON and Watsons business.
In addition, Pegasus also said that Watsons is one of the company’s ODM customers. In response to related issues, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily called Pegasus for an interview, but no one answered the phone.
Water Sheep, a GEM-listed company, also cooperates with Watsons. In terms of sales channels, Water Sheep said in November last year that the company cooperates with mainstream companies such as Tmall, Taobao, JD.com, Vipshop, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Pinduoduo. The e-commerce platform has established a deep cooperative relationship; at the same time, it is sold in Watsons, Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Mannings, cosmetics franchise stores in major cities and company-owned stores, which is an omni-channel operation system.
It is understood that the self-owned brands of Water Sheep include Yunifang, Xiaomufu, Dashuidi, HPH, Yumen, VAA, etc., covering different levels of consumer groups and having different product effects; Feidan, Mestic and other brands have reached cooperation, and the operation covers a multi-brand and multi-category matrix from personal care to beauty.
Independent economist Wang Chikun told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the Watsons incident had a great impact and also gave the company a bad consumer impression. Good reputation is the key to business operations, which may further lead to a crisis of confidence.
Cui Lili, executive director of Shanghai Caida E-Commerce Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that in recent years, with the rapid growth of my country’s e-commerce scale, brands’ demand for professional e-commerce comprehensive services has also increased significantly. “As the number of industry practitioners continues to increase, e-commerce service providers are currently facing the pressure of intensified competition in the industry. How to improve their competitive advantages and maintain a good reputation is the key to the company’s success in the future market.” Cui Lili said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Ma HuanhuanReturn to Sohu, see more
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