Watson – Personal Care Store And Health Care Store In Asia

Competitor Analysis

Watson is a personal care store and is one of the largest health care stores in Asia. It has diversified its store in health care and beauty care chain. It operates in various stores in HK, Macau, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries. It is a wholesale distributor with its headquarters in Cambridge. It sells the products includes grocery, dairy, institutional food, concession, frozen food and equipment. It has expanded to around 13,000 stores globally by operating international retail brands (Watson, Dunn & Fraser-Kirk, 2018). It is one of the largest retail expertise and it brings out healthy solutions for consumers. In this report, competitor’s analysis along with its internal analysis is carried out. It helps in knowing that there are other competitors in Myanmar lie SIA cosmetic and super red who have captured the audience. The marketing budget was also analysed that helps in understanding the overall expenditure a company does to make to market place.

The competitors in cosmetic and beauty industry are increasing rapidly. The other competitors are offering same services but at lower price. Thus, competitors of Watson are focusing on capture audience (Khan, Colon-Acevedo, Mettu, DeLorenzi & Woodward, 2017). In Myanmar, there are various other local brands who are offering similar products that Watson is offering. Thus, the presence of local and other stores in Myanmar makes it difficult of Watson to enter in the market and maintains its brand image. The two main competitors that are discussed here in this report are SAI cosmetics and super red.  It was found that Watson makeup products contain mixture of chemicals that have alleged many customers. Thus, it is recommended to serve highly certificate and tested products so that loyalty of customers is maintained. Thus, Watson charges premium amount for its products and services.

It stands foe sexy and intelligent liquid lip cream that has been used by every lady in Myanmar. It has beaten Watson as it can be used by any lady and can be used with a type of lip shade. It is one of the competitors of Watson as its products are widely used by women. It has wide range of products that be used in any kind of occasion from meeting to night parties to causal meals (Khan, Colon-Acevedo, Mettu, DeLorenzi & Woodward, 2017). It is a competitors or Watson as it products promises to last longer and have higher intensity as compared to other brands  (Eldridge, 2017). It always comes up with new innovative ideas that help in maintaining loyalty and interest among customers. But comparing SIA cosmetics with Watson it was found that they have expanded their service only in the cosmetic. Whereas, Watson has diversified services like it brings up health and wellness services along with personal care and fragrance  (Eldridge, 2017). But on the other hand, Watson offers various promotions and offers so that they can capture larger audience as compared to other brands.

Super Red is other competitor of Watson that has reflected all the dedication and enthusiasm in the market of Myanmar. It has captured millions of fans by offering ultimate products that reflect the passion and overall personality of Ni. It has somewhere beaten the market of Watson as they try to capture audience by inspiring them to use their line of makeup (Shin & Lee, 2016). They have made a market place in Myanmar by gaining significant trust and loyally among customers. This was possible by the quality of products they deliver to their customers. It is difficult for Watson to capture the brand position in Myanmar as super Red is a brand that is working in cosmetic space of Myanmar since decades. The products of super red are certified by GMP, ISO 9001. But the benefit Watson offer to customers is much more, as it not only deal with cosmetic but has widespread in many different sectors. The company face the competition from brands like SIA cosmetics or super red in Myanmar. These companies have captured audience by offering promotion and special discounts on their products. Thus, it would be very difficult for Watson to replace them (Valikhani & Goodarzi, 2017).

Difficulties and Challenges

It is a tough competitor of Watson as even guardian have diversified their services in different sector like it offers services in medical and  cosmetic department. It has specialised its products in pharmaceutical products by controlling the entire manufacturing department. If guardian store opens up in Myanmar it will act as a competitor for Watson as they serve their products similar to Watson but at lower price  (Kern, Gaede, Meadowcroft & Watson, 2016). They have gained the market interest by offering innovative products and services. They make sure that brand quality is met by helping customers to build loyalty (Geniole, Bird, Ruddick & Carré, 2017). The business could enhance due to the trust and loyalty offered by customers. It was a competitor for Watson due to its quality and the time in which products were delivered to the customers. The services offered to customers were way better than Watson as well as prices were better as compared to Watson  (Kern, Gaede, Meadowcroft & Watson, 2016). Thus, Watson can replace guardian from the market if services are offered at nominal price as compared to other competitors.

• Strengths- For any industry to grow in Myanmar there are various strengths like it offers strong commitment, availability of low cost labour has also allowed Watson to make lager profits. Watson’s personal care has remarkable strength.  The major strength is that it offers wide range of products to the customers because Myanmar has higher tourism potential. It also offers online service that adds up flexibility for the costumers as it is very convenience for them. Apart from that, it offers rewards to the customers so that they could enhance their sale. The presence of Watson in wide geographical area offers it abundant resources to complete the activity (Watson, Dunn & Fraser-Kirk, 2018). Due to increasing revenue margins it has many chain stores in different countries.
• Weaknesses- One of the major weakness faced by Watson is that it focuses on every small detail that may sometime loss the sight of objective. In Myanmar Watson faces barriers due to weak macroeconomic management and lack of market mechanisms. In the age of e-commerce the website of Watson is weak and has less optimized photos and navigation buttons. Thus, due to has poor presence on social media websites as compared to its competitors make it weak(Watson, Dunn & Fraser-Kirk, 2018). In Myanmar they have inadequate infrastructure, particularly in trans-port, electricity access, and telecommunication.
• Opportunities- Watson experience opportunities in Myanmar due to its strategic location, renewable energy and huge sectors for investment. There are various opportunities of Watson that have helped business to capitalize their returns. Some of the opportunities are shift in consumer behaviour as people have now expected the use of makeups trends(Watson & Mansour, 2017) . The use of cosmetic and personal care products have increased. This is the reason demand of products is increasing which it turn increases the per capital income of the company (Bradley, Griffiths, Sherratt, Bell & Watson, 2015) .
• Threats- Myanmar has high risk because of economic changes and there are various internal conflicts that affect the overall productivity. Threat is one of the factors that affect the environmental condition of the company. The major threat that is faced by the company in Myanmar is due to its competitors who are offering the same products and services(Bradley, Griffiths, Sherratt, Bell & Watson, 2015) . The economic recession is the other threat, in this change in fashion trends adversely affects the business and can cause loss to the organisation. Thus, it is required to have a detail understanding about the service on which company is spending. Watson has also experienced negative publicity due to any bad experience (Tusiimire, et. al, 2015). Thus, these negative criticism leads to loss of customers.

Watson activities	Month
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Primary Research	12000	8000
Secondary Research	10000	4000
	3000	2000	2000	3000	1600	1200	1200	1200	1200	1200	1200	1200
	3000	3000	3000	3000	3000	3000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000	2000
	500	500	500	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200	200

The major expense company faces is in internet marketing that is, approx $3000 is spent in first six months of the year which was future reduced to $2000 each until the end of the year. Apart from that, to gain audience a lot of money was spent in brand activation. It was started with $3000 in first month that was reduced to $2000 and future 1600-1200 until December. Brand activations help the company to be recognized by the customers and also increased the overall interest in Watson. The other budget was used in content partnership so that marketing could be made strong. Before starting with marketing communication, company has spent huge amount of money in primary and secondary research(Tusiimire, et. al, 2015) .

References

Bradley, E. J., Griffiths, C. E., Sherratt, M. J., Bell, M., & Watson, R. E. (2015). Over-the-counter anti-ageing topical agents and their ability to protect and repair photoaged skin. Maturitas, 80(3), 265-272.

Eldridge, J. M. (2017). The analysis of surfactants in cosmetics. In Surfactants in Cosmetics, Second Edition, (pp. 103-124). Routledge.

Geniole, S. N., Bird, B. M., Ruddick, E. L., & Carré, J. M. (2017). Effects of competition outcome on testosterone concentrations in humans: an updated meta-analysis. Hormones and behavior, 92, 37-50.

Kern, F., Gaede, J., Meadowcroft, J., & Watson, J. (2016). The political economy of carbon capture and storage: An analysis of two demonstration projects. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 102, 250-260.

Khan, T. T., Colon-Acevedo, B., Mettu, P., DeLorenzi, C., & Woodward, J. A. (2017). An anatomical analysis of the supratrochlear artery: considerations in facial filler injections and preventing vision loss. Aesthetic surgery journal, 37(2), 203-208.

Shin, K. O., & Lee, Y. M. (2016). Simultaneous analysis of mono-, di-, and tri-ethanolamine in cosmetic products using liquid chromatography coupled tandem mass spectrometry. Archives of pharmacal research, 39(1), 66-72.

Tusiimire, J., Wallace, J., Dufton, M., Parkinson, J., Clements, C. J., Young, L., … & Watson, D. G. (2015). An LCMS method for the assay of melittin in cosmetic formulations containing bee venom. Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 407(13), 3627-3635.

Tusiimire, J., Wallace, J., Dufton, M., Parkinson, J., Clements, C. J., Young, L., … & Watson, D. G. (2015). An LCMS method for the assay of melittin in cosmetic formulations containing bee venom. Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 407(13), 3627-3635.

Valikhani, A., & Goodarzi, M. A. (2017). Contingencies of self-worth and psychological distress in Iranian patients seeking cosmetic surgery: Integrative self-knowledge as mediator. Aesthetic plastic surgery, 41(4), 955-963.

Watson, J. J., & Mansour, M. A. (2017). Cosmetic sclerotherapy. Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders, 5(3), 437-445.

Watson, L., Dunn, D., & Fraser-Kirk, G. (2018). Indolent Rib Osteomyelitis Following Breast Implant Reconstruction: An Unusual Case and Review of the Literature. Aesthetic plastic surgery, 42(2), 447-450.