Chain is also going greener

WATSONS is catching up to New Year’s Resolution season by helping consumers reach their own goals — and addressing their own. These include encouraging customers to move to its app, and forging ahead with its green initiatives.

On Jan. 17, at their Mall of Asia store, the wellness chain unveiled their new Goal Getters 2025 Campaign. The campaign urges users to get on the Watsons App and become Watsons Club members and win rewards in return.

These rewards include discounts and voucher bonuses. For a minimum spend of P1,000 on participating products, a Watsons Club member earns one e-raffle entry, and two for Elite members, with entries doubling when one shops through the app. Jared de Guzman, Customer Director for Watsons Philippines, explains further that Club members can get Gcash vouchers on their phone (ranging in price from P50 to P100,000) after a P1,000 purchase.

“’Pag hindi ka maging member at bumibili ka sa Watsons (if you do not become a member and you buy at Watsons), you are missing out on all the things you’re supposed to be getting,” he said in a group interview. He also said that Watsons has a One Pass program, where members can earn points and discounts across their various stores in Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

While they already have an online presence via their website and their own stores on online platforms, Mr. De Guzman explained the push for their customers and loyalty club members to migrate to the app. “It’s more sustainable,” he said, discussing the plastic cards usually used for rewards programs. He pointed to specific situations such as being upgraded and having to go to the store to get new cards or checking out points. “Also, it’s inefficient.”

He also says that shopping on the app is a different experience: “It’s not like our app is the copycat of the website,” he said. “The app really has a lot more features that members and customers can avail [of].”

WATSONS’ GOALS
Sharon Decapia, Senior Assistant Vice-President for Marketing, PR and Sustainability at Watsons Philippines said that they have their own goals for this year. “Watsons is very much committed to more sustainable practices,” she said in a group interview. These include more rewards for recycling, more solar-powered stores, more green stores that use renewable energy and recyclable materials (one is in Laguna, and they plan to open more in the city), as well as expanding their line of sustainable choices when it comes to ingredients and packaging.

According to Mr. De Guzman, Watsons is also planning to expand their network of 24/7 stores (there are only seven currently), and to facilitate round-the-clock delivery from these 24/7 stores.

They’re also addressing recent problems in the length of time spent queuing: “We’re trying to create ways to have queue-busting, to reduce the time that you spend queuing in our stores,” saying that in some stores they have reduced the time by half. — Joseph L. Garcia

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