Li Ka-shing's Watson defies online rivals with 4 new stores a day

Hong Kong

WHO says brick-and-mortar retail is dead? Billionaire Li Ka-shing's A.S. Watson Group is opening nearly four stores a day because selling baby and skincare products in China is generating profit margins that Amazon.com Inc could only dream of.

The operator of the Watsons health-and-beauty stores and Superdrug chain plans to open 1,400 outlets globally this year, more than a third of which will be in China, chief operating officer Malina Ngai said in an interview.