Malina participated in JUMPSTARTER 2025, where she presented to the technology community how AI is applied in O+O retail and challenges encountered when adopting new technology.
As the leader of the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, Malina shared AS Watson’s journey of digital transformation. Her presentation drew compelling parallels between Formula One racing and modern retail evolution, highlighting how both industries have transformed through technology, science, precision and teamwork.
“Just as Formula One teams evolved from 67-second pit stops to 2-second precision operations, retail has undergone a similar transformation to meet changing customer behaviours,” Malina explained. She described how AS Watson’s O+O model integrates physical and digital experiences to serve today’s “zero consumers” who have zero patience and zero boundaries.
With billions of shoppers visiting its network of 16,900 stores worldwide every year, AS Watson has embraced AI to its end-to-end retail process to drive efficiency, precision and personalisation of offers.
“Retail is not dead, it just needs to be better. At AS Watson, we have set O+O as the new standard of retail to serve customers, enabled by technology and AI. I define O+O retail as a tech-powered business with a human soul,” Malina shared with the audience of entrepreneurs and investors at the event. “After 184 years in business, we’ve learned that technology must serve human connection, not replace it. The most successful innovations will be those that remember the human element while pushing technological boundaries forward.”
JUMPSTARTER is organised by Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund in Hong Kong to bring startups, entrepreneurs, corporates, investors and the public together to build and empower Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem and entrepreneurship. It also serves as a platform for entrepreneurs and young individuals to kickstart their dreams, aiming to transform Hong Kong into a leading hub for global innovation and technology.
