Sphere No.49 (Aug 2019)

SPHERE #47 2019 05 POINTS, MEET CASH MoneyBack Points collected by ASW loyalty programme customers can now be converted intoHSBCRewardCash (acquired through credit card usage) and vice versa. The conversion can be carried out on an app with no transaction fee involved, giving consumers more choice about how to use their loyalty rewards. “REACHING NEWHEIGHTS!” For 30 years, Watsons Athletic Club has nurtured the talent and ambition of Hong Kong’s outstanding young athletes – over 10,000 of them! It is reaching out to the next generation with a series of events titled “Reaching NewHeights!”! GETTING CLEAR ABOUT GOING GREEN WatsonsWater Hong Kong is once again pioneering positive green action by reducing plastic consumption through the introduction of innovative vending machines. The “Green Point Smart Water Bottle Reverse VendingMachine” and “Green Point SmartWater Refilling Machine” will empower recycling and water bottle refilling, respectively. A total of 500 vending machines will be placed across Hong Kong. BRAVO TRIO Tencent and Yonghui are new partners to PARKnSHOP, working together to open a new retail concept in Guangzhou, China. The newPARKnSHOP–Yonghui Bravo opened in June with over 10,000 unique products. MANY COUNTRIES, MANY BRANDS, ONE PASS ASW is revolutionising the loyalty programme space by providing a single unified plan for 90million loyaltymembers of Watsons. TheWatsons One Pass will allowmembers fromHong Kong, Mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to use just one card or app account to claimpoints atWatsons across all thesemarkets – perfect for travellingmembers! RETAIL 15,000 AND 500 for the win! AS Watson Group (ASW) opened its 15,000th store globally in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. The Central i-City mall location was also the 500th Watsons store in Malaysia! Much of the retail group’s latest technology (see story in this issue) was on display in the store, which is a G8, or 8th Generation, ASW store – right at the bleeding edge of retail technology.