
Wellcome

Wellcome (; Cantonese: "Wai Hong" in Hong Kong; in Taiwan) is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its Dairy Farm International Holdings subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being PARKnSHOP. Wellcome also operates supermarkets in the Philippines under the Wellcome name, operations in Taiwan were sold in 2020. The parent company, Dairy Farm, also has other supermarket interests in the Asia Pacific under different brand names.
History.
Founded in 1945, Wellcome is Hong Kong's longest-established supermarket chain. Since 1964, the company has been wholly owned by Dairy Farm International Holdings following the merger with rival supermarket Dairy Lane. Wellcome has an overall staff of 5,000 in more than 240 stores and serves more than 14 million customers every month.
Wellcome was established in 1945 by Mr. Wu Chung-Wai, Mr. Lau Lim and Mr. Ko Yin-Yu. Wellcome established its first store on Ice House Street in Central. The shop specialised in imported products including wines, biscuits, canned food and beverages. Wellcome was the first supermarket to establish a Home Delivery Service division, and an average of 600 customers enjoyed this one-of-a-kind service through orders in person daily. Wellcome was acquired by Dairy Farm in 1964. The company was the first to introduce a "self-service" retailing concept. Customers no longer require the assistance of service staff to get products; they have to select products from the shelf. Wellcome was the first to offer pre-packaged rice products in 1973. In the 1980s, Wellcome launched its first corporate brand "No Frills", offering customers over 300 products at the lowest prices as compared to other products in the same category. Later, Wellcome became the first supermarket to employ Electronic data interchange (EDI) technology to improve the efficiency of operation. Wellcome expanded to Taiwan and acquired Ding Hao supermarket. Wellcome opened its first 24-hour store in Great George Street, Causeway Bay on 23 October 1998. Wellcome established its second corporate brand, First Choice, with a product range of over 1,000 items. With prices at 20–30% less than competitive international brands, it is a well-known brand in Hong Kong. A HK$400 million investment, "Wellcome Fresh Food Centre" was opened in 1998, occupying an area of 161,000 sq. ft. In the 1990s, Wellcome Hong Kong to become the first to use the UPC system in Hong Kong supermarkets, offers a more efficient and more convenient payment services. According to the report of 2004–2008, Wellcome supermarkets and thus increase the number of branches. Wellcome introduced the "Vote For Your Favourite Brand" campaign in 2000 and soon opened a superstore at Tuen Mun Town Plaza. The Wellcome superstore introduced a new "one-stop" shopping service, embracing the concepts of both wet market and grocery shop under one roof. Wellcome also began its double refund offer with lowest price guarantee by doubling the difference back to customers. Wellcome unveiled its Stanley store in January 2003. It is the first supermarket located inside a 100-year-old historical building – the old Stanley Police Station. In 2014, Wellcome Taiwan was found to have used contaminated ingredients in its mushroom and minced pork seasonings, drawing it into the 2014 Taiwan food scandal. Wellcome Taiwan was acquired by Carrefour in 2020.
Generic products.
Wellcome supermarkets sell several products under the generic brands "No Frills" (特惠牌) and "First Choice" (首選牌).
Superstore.
Wellcome's first superstore was opened in 2000 and currently it has 31 superstores, spread across Hong Kong. They stock a greater variety of products, tailored to local demand.
Market Place by Jasons.
Wellcome began introducing "Market Place by Jasons", a high end supermarket brand first introduced by its Singapore sister company Cold Storage, to Hong Kong in 2007. It imports medium to high-end products.
As of June 2010, fourteen stores had been opened. The stores are located at Perkins Road (Jardine's Lookout), Telford Plaza, Langham Place (Mong Kok), the Peak, Happy Valley, Austin Road (Tsim Sha Tsui), Razor Hill (Clear Water Bay), Cloud View Road (North Point), Nexxus Building (Central), Manhattan Hill (Lai Chi Kok), Repulse Bay, Hong Kong Gold Coast (Tuen Mun), K11 (Tsim Sha Tsui) and iSQUARE (Tsim Sha Tsui). The Palazzo (Fo Tan), MOSTown (Ma On Shan).
There is also a Market Place by Jasons in Taiwan located in the Taipei 101 shopping mall, basement level. It opened in 2004.
Controversy.
Wellcome supermarkets have been cited by the Taiwanese government for 33 labor violations in Taiwan. These include instances of maintaining unsafe work spaces that potentially endangered employees, having staff members work unpaid overtime beyond legal limitations, and refusing pay and rest time to employees.