How Watsons plans to tap Middle East’s fast-growing consumer market

The beauty company opened 17 stores in the region in just two years. 

Watsons has just opened four new stores in Saudi Arabia, bringing the number of its stores in the Middle East to 17. 

This forms part of its bid to capture the consumer market in Saudi Arabia, which is considered the fastest growing for reaching US$4.62b in 2022. 

“As a Hong-Kong based international health and beauty retailer, Watsons has already expanded to 14 markets outside of Hong Kong,” Malina Ngai, CEO of A.S. Watsons (Asia & Europe), said. 

“We see opportunities to bring the Watsons brand to GCC in 2020 and opened our first store in Dubai (UAE) that year despite the COVID challenge. We then entered into KSA in 2021. Customers in the Middle East like beauty and personal care products, especially our expertise in skincare.”

Read more: Watsons China rolls out Health Care Zone in over 1,200 stores

Of the 17 stores across the Gulf Cooperation Council, five stores are in Saudi Arabia, ten stores are in UAE, and two stores are in Qatar.