Sonata, Titan, fast Track, Xylys, Raga...Titan Watches straddles almost every price point in the mass and premium segments of the Indian watch market. But the world’s fifth-largest watch manufacturer and marketer is not content with merely playing it safe and wants to be more!
Its future plans include establishing a solid foothold in the premium category and focusing more on its international markets to emerge as the world’s third- largest watch company by 2015, thanks to its plan of pumping in Rs 1,000 crore over five years. Titan Industries, the parent company of Titan Watches, crossed the $1billion turnover mark in 2009-10, with Titan Watches contributing about 25% to it. In an interview with ET, Harish Bhat, COO- Watches, Titan Industries, discusses company’s strategy and how it plans to implement its plans to become the third-largest watchmaker and retailer within the next five years.
Excerpts:
The Titan brand has clicked with Indian masses. But you have expanded its brand portfolio to include in-house and international brands such as Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger. What works better? Acquiring brands or creating new ones?
Our success is due to a combination of factors. Not only do we have strong brands such as Sonata, Fastrack and Xylys, but we also have more than 290 showrooms across the country, and we plan to take this count to 325 by March 2011. We will also increase the number of exclusive fast track stores from 24 to 100 by March 2011. The key is to establish better retail presence.
Personal accessory brands have to target a certain mindset and lifestyle. Every brand stands for an idea. While Raga represents sensuality, Fastrack has the idea of college youth having fun. One idea can only cater to one mindset. Therefore, in the lifestyle and accessories space, it pays rich dividends to have a house of brands. It is a sounder decision than trying to straddle the market with a single brand.
Market segmentation has become immensely important over the years. How has Titan Watches gone about this?
Yes, we have also tried to segment the market as thinly as possible. And this has worked very well for us because our access points—World of Titan showrooms are common, the watch dealers are common, the departmental stores such as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and West Side are common. But when a consumer enters an access point, he should be able to find the exact product that appeals to his lifestyle.
So you want brand Titan to be everything for everyone.
That is not our intention. Brand Titan’s philosophy has always been—be more. Be More reflects itself in different ways through our different brands. Whatever we are in life, we always nurse ambitions to be more than that. So it’s a fantasy that we have. Our aim is to help consumers realise that fantasy in a certain way. For example, an executive may secretly wish to be a pilot. Wearing the Aviator series of Titan watches takes him closer to that innate desire. This is what brand Titan wishes to help achieve for consumers. Our larger aim is to build a house of brands.
Your company has a crowded portfolio in the mass premium space. Don’t you see a cannibalization of sales in this space?
We have ensured that each of our brand in this space appeals to a certain mindset. Nebula watches are made of pure 18 carat gold and appeal to a certain kind of consumer who likes wearing solid gold watches. Tommy Hilfiger is an American fashion brand and appeals to those who want to have a piece of that. Xylys watches work on consumers’ perception of having Swiss precision. Hugo Boss is about European high fashion. Then we have Titan Automatics brand of watches meant for consumers who trust Indian watches. So each of these five watch brands are positioned differently.
Source:3 Jun 2010, 0105 hrs IST, Amit Sharma, ET Bureau.
Tags:Titan Franchise, Titan Franchising, Watch Franchise, Watch Store, Watches Business, Accessory Business, Watch Store, Harish Bhat, Xylys, Raga, Fast Track, Sonata, Nebula, Watch Brands.
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