03.14.24
Kulvinder Birring and Gabriele Betti – previously co-managing directors of Watsons China – have been promoted to CEO and Deputy CEO of Marionnaud Group, a subsidiary of CK Hutchion Holdings, respectively.
Fred Chan and Vivian Nie will take their place at co-managing directors of Watsons China.
All appointments are effective in April 2024.
Kulvinder Birring and Gabriele Betti
Birring was appointed CEO of Watsons China in 2018. Before that, he had led Watsons operations as managing director of Malaysia and Indonesia. In his new appointment as CEO of Marionnaud Group, he will manage the Marionnaud’s portfolio of over 730 offline plus online (O+O) stores in eight markets, which is one of the leading luxury perfumeries and cosmetics retailers in Europe.
The leadership team of Marionnaud, including Betti and Emilio Leon, will work with Kulvinder Birring in his new role.
Under his leadership, Birring has successfully repositioned the Watsons brand as a top retailer in its category nationwide with a portfolio of over 3,800 O+O stores. He has led the organization through a cultural transformation, fostering a scientific, collaborative and growth-oriented mindset, according to officials.
“Despite operating in a highly competitive retail market in Mainland China, his team has demonstrated resilience and a relentless drive for innovation, continuously enhancing the customer experience. I look forward to him bringing his experience to lead the growth strategy in our luxury perfumeries and cosmetics retail brand Marionnaud in Europe,” said Dominic Lai, group managing director of AS Watson Group and executive director of CK Hutchison.
Betti, currently serving as managing director, Marionnaud France, Italy and Central Europe, will be promoted to deputy CEO of Marionnaud Group.
Gabriele has been serving Marionnaud for 16 years, with experience in leading supply chain, technology and commercial, before taking up management roles in Italy and subsequently in France, as well as a wider portfolio including Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Fred Chan and Vivian Nie
Fred Chan and Vivian Nie will succeed Betti and Birring as co-managing directors of Watsons China.
“I am delighted to have Fred Chan and Vivian Nie taking over the leadership of Watsons China as co-managing directors,” said Lai. “Both Fred and Vivian have been with the business for many years and instrumental in the successful transformation of the O+O retail model in the business.”
Chan joined Watsons China in 2011 as operations director of South China. At the time, Watsons China had just over 1,000 stores; today the business has grown to 3,800 O+Ostores. Over the years, Chan's role has expanded geographically, and was promoted to his current role as general manager of sales operations in 2023. He has been instrumental in building operational excellence in sales operations, company officials said.
Nie joined Watsons China in 2018 as marketing director, and was subsequently promoted to general manager, customer growth in 2021. In 2023, she took on additional responsibility for the trading function. Nie has been instrumental in the development of award-winning MyStore O+O business model on the Wechat Enterprise Platform interacting with 43 million customers, and the recent launch of OptimO, Watsons’ retail media business.