Watsons China's performance fell by 30%, only adding 4 stores in 2020

On August 6, CK Hutchison, the parent company of Watsons, announced the first half of 2020 results. Data show that during the financial reporting period, Watsons global sales were HK$73.627 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 11%. Among them, sales in China were 8.805 billion Hong Kong dollars, down 30% year-on-year.

The performance decline of up to 30 points, this is the largest performance decline announced in Watson's ever financial report. And half a year ago, Watsons announced its 2019 financial report. Watsons China's sales were 24.591 billion Hong Kong dollars, a 3% increase over the same period last year.
 
In response, Changjiang Hutchison stated in its financial report that in the Chinese market, the number of Watsons temporarily closed stores in February reached approximately 2500 at the peak, and sales were down 78% year-on-year. However, as the epidemic improved, almost all stores in the Mainland had reopened before the end of April, and the single-month sales decline in June narrowed to 16% year-on-year.
 
As of the first half of 2019, Watsons has a total of 12 retail brands, operating 15,794 stores in 25 markets around the world, and 3951 stores in the Chinese market. In the retail department of CK Hutchison, the health and beauty products segment accounted for 80% of revenue in the first half of this year.

Although we continue to try offline every year, it seems that the results have been minimal. As of the first half of this year, the number of Watsons stores in China has reached 3951, while the number of Watsons stores in China last year has reached 3947. That is to say, in the first half of this year, Watsons newly added stores only 4, which is not the same as in China in 2019. Compared with 339 new stores, it is a far cry.