Beauty-brand Boots enters Singapore with Guardian

“There is a great appetite for Boots brands in Singapore,” said Mark Luscombe, director of Boots, Southeast Asia. “Our partnership with Dairy Farm is enabling us to enter the Singapore market with a fantastic selection of our top-selling products.”

Some of these brands include No7 Skincare and cosmetics, Botanics, Champneys, Mark Hill, Boots Dermocare and Boots Extracts. 

According to market research company Euromonitor, beauty specialist retailers saw positive growth of 11 per cent in 2012. Guardian maintained its leading position in 2012 with a 13 per cent market share in the health and beauty specialists retail sector, and is located within most major shopping centres as well as town centres. It also has a popular pharmacy service for over-the-counter medication. This, coupled with its convenient locations and numerous outlets, make it the largest retailer in the sector.

Boots products will be stocked across nine Guardian stores in Singapore by the end of December: Takashimaya Shopping Centre, Great World City, Parkway Parade, Suntec City, Paragon, Vivo City, Serangoon Nex, JEM Shopping Centre and Tanglin Mall.

Dairy Farm and Boots have together opened 23 outlets within Mannings stores in Hong Kong. Within Southeast Asia, Thailand is a big market for Boots, with 225 stores.

According to Luscombe, Boots is planning a soft launch initially with promotions available in-store and a small amount of PR to engage the press. The company does not have plans to hire an agency in Singapore, Luscombe added.

In December, media agency Initiative bagged the outdoor, PR and social-media-management duties for Boots in Hong Kong.