Page 25 - Sphere No.28 (Mar 2011)

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Sphere
2010 – A Good Vintage for Watson’s Wine
Last year was an eventful one for Watson’s Wine with a substantially increased
retail presence in the Hong Kong home market, the opening of the first store on the
Chinese Mainland, the construction of a new state-of-the-art Hong Kong warehouse,
and a comprehensive makeover for the brand.
“For the last few years, we’ve had strong double-digit growth. That sped up when
tax went down to zero. It gave the market a shot in the arm and therefore us as
well,” said James Hepple. This year alone we’ve opened five new shops, bringing the
number to 20, so proportionately for us, that’s huge. We’ve opened in Cityplaza in
Taikoo Shing, in Times Square, in K11, in East Point City in Tseung Kwan O . . . and in
Shanghai.”
The Shanghai and the K11 stores introduce a new look Watson’s Wine – “Cellar”
has now been dropped from the name – and reflect the company’s confidence in a
bright future for the Hong Kong fine wine market. “We’re a quality premium wine
retailer, and we wanted a look which captured that more – something with real sub-
stance,” Mr Hepple explained.
“We chose a well known Hong Kong designer, Alex Choi Design, who has gone
for a fusion of modern elements with a heritage feel. The lighting feature on the
fascia is made with cut wine bottles. He’s gone for a modern look with the window
displays, but with earthy tones inside, and a ceiling that reflects the look of a tradi-
tional French wine cellar with its brick arches. We think it’s hit just the right spot for
positioning in the market.”
Another feature of the store is a wall-mounted iPad, running a new “app” for Wat-
son’s customers designed to allow them to browse the store, keep track of Watson’s
Wine events, and make purchase decisions on line, as well as maintaining their own
wine diary.
A new 40,000-square-f00t purpose built warehouse in Kwai Chung has also al-
lowed Watson’s Wine to bring wines previously stored in France or England to Hong
Kong, and to expand its wine storage service to Hong Kong customers. Investors in
wine who may wish to resell their purchases at auction at a future date now have an
impeccable guarantee of their provenance.
“We’ve got a base of about 30,000 members, and in Hong Kong people are quite
often short of space. We introduced the service so people can buy wine and not be
held back by what they can store in their apartments. We have just been certified by
the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency,” stated Mr Hepple.