It’s been a month of discovery and new perspectives. From Singaporeans learning that Maggi Mee is Swiss, and that beloved BATA is actually based in Switzerland, one would not be surprised that “Is Logitech Singaporean?” is one of the most commonly asked questions about the brand on Google. This phenomenon is made more understandable by the fact that every Singaporean male xennial and millennial would have grown up playing Westwood Studio’s groundbreaking RTS (Real Time Strategy) game Dune 2 and controlled their House Atreides units with a Logitech mouse.
In fact, I recall an afternoon after school, making the trek all the way to Peace Centre in Middle Road to purchase a new mouse because despite my cleaning of the roller ball and the rollers within the mouse, it was no longer functioning with playable precision. Thankfully, secondary school kids today will no longer face that issue because beginning end of March 2023, a select range of Logitech consumer accessories will now be available in Watson; the general goods store can be found island-wide and is almost as ubiquitous as NTUC.
Logitech Singapore is first global tech brand to partner Watsons to retail lifestyle and wellness products and only products from Logitech’s personal workspace solutions category – including the K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard, Pebble Wireless Mouse M350, Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse, POP Wireless Mouse, BRIO 500, and Zone Vibe 100 Wireless Over the Ear Headphones – will be on display and available for purchase at 28 Watsons locations in Singapore and online.
Augustman spoke to Jane Goh, Head of Marketing Communications (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines) to find out more about the beloved Swiss-based brand and every Singaporean’s first gaming peripheral company.
What was the strategic thinking behind offering consumer electronics at a beauty and health store? Why are you beginning with workplace solutions?
Our collaboration with Watsons seeks to showcase Logitech’s ability and evolution to be present where our consumers are, and to support their everyday lifestyle and workspace needs. We wanted to move away from the stereotypical expectation of only being available in tech stores, and Watsons was the obvious choice for us, as Singapore’s leading beauty and health retailer.
We have specially curated a portfolio of lifestyle and wellness solutions to be retailed at Watsons, which we believe will best equip modern-day working professionals on the go. Our intention was to bring comfort, beauty and joy to this new customer segment. If we feel better, we work better! Today, people are looking for various ways to live healthier and to enjoy a more balanced and active lifestyle. With the spotlight on employee well-being in this new hybrid working reality, we see more employers prioritising health and wellness for their employees, which we believe is a step in the right direction.
Workspace well-being is an important aspect of employee well-being; whether you’re working from home, the office, or on the go, a personalised workplace set-up adapted to your environment, body size, and needs can make a huge difference to your well-being and performance. By outfitting remote workspaces with technology that fulfils the values that organisations and their current workforce cares about, such as environmental responsibility, fair production practices, or inclusive and ergonomic design principles, off-site employees can feel socially and emotionally engaged with their work community.
What were the market factors that encouraged such a move?
‘Tech’ is not something that needs to be singled out on its own, but rather viewed as an important and integrated part of our daily lives. This is why Logitech is channelling and expanding into primarily health and lifestyle channels – because it’s clear our lives have become exponentially inseparable from technology. For example, video conferencing corporations recently reported 300 million ‘daily users’ in 2023, up from 10 million at the end of 2019. And according to our recent region-wide Logitech-Milieu insight study on consumer purchasing behaviour, we found 1 in 2 respondents from Singapore reported an overall interest in purchasing audio and video technology.
This is just one of the many examples that highlight how our social and work lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with tech. In line with the insights from our study, we wanted to expand our customer touchpoints and channels innovatively in the retail space.
What is the expectation with this new distribution channel? What would be considered a success?
The post-pandemic return to office has signalled that hybrid working is here to stay, and with this, people are upgrading their workspace setups at home, while concurrently companies are going to continue investing in office setups as more employees return to the office.
By leveraging Watsons’ competencies with lifestyle retailing and tapping on their integrated online and offline (O+O) platforms, our objective is to expand our reach, touchpoints and accessibility to new customer segments – namely Gen Z – and customers looking to liven up or upgrade their workspaces. We also aim to embrace that workplace aesthetic that brings joy to the customer, both at work and at play. Our goal is to expand the retail of Logitech’s lifestyle and tech products across all of Watsons’ stores islandwide, as well as establishing a long-term partnership which will allow us to merchandise a wider offering of our products.
Will this expand to Logitech’s other product categories? Does this mean that we might soon find Logitech products in petrol kiosks?
We are constantly exploring new partnership opportunities to expand our range of products to new customer segments. In the future, we also hope to also expand our collaboration with Watsons to other neighbouring markets. Singapore is the first market in our channel expansion strategy, and scaling it across other markets is our next foray.
How has Logitech evolved in Singapore over the past few decades?
Pre-pandemic, we placed a heavier emphasis on expanding our brick-and-mortar retail channels. However, the pandemic has catalysed the shift in consumer behaviour, which led to the growth of e-commerce globally. Logitech quickly adjusted our overall channel strategy to meet the demands and needs in the online space, investing manpower and resources into growing our online platforms. The retail and online landscape is ever-changing, and Logitech’s move into Watsons exemplifies the need to expand and target new customer segments.
