The appetite for premium segment watches is very strong among upper medium and upper class Indian consumers, says Suparna Mitra, CEO, Watches & Wearable Titan Company Limited. She said the premium watches segment of Titan, that include brands like Titan Edge, Raga, Stellar and Nebula, is doing very well.
On the occasion of the relaunch of Fastrack’s retail store in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, she said, “Premium category products, affordable accessories and smartwatches are the three noticeable trends in the watches and wearables division. Because of the impact of social media influencers and other celebrities, the fashion quotient of watches has gone up significantly. The younger generation has accepted watches as an accessory and it has become as important as clothes and shoes.”
She further said Titan is working to capitalise the increasing demand in all three trends. “We are targeting the premium segment with our premium retail chain Helios with more than 195 stores across the country. We are continuously adding newer brands to the stores. Recently, in the quarter 2 of FY24, we have added Milus and Ernest Borel (both Swiss brands) and are going to add Charriol and U-Boat to our stores very soon. Additionally, Fastrack is going very well in affordable watches also. The price range for Fastrack watches dwells between Rs 1,800 to Rs 6,000 while the price band for Titan watches is Rs 6,000 to Rs 13,000. Very soon Titan will launch smart watches with a price range above Rs 15,000. On the other hand in the Smart Watches segment we are the fourth largest player in terms of market share. Last year we had a turnover of Rs 510 crore for the smart watches. But in this financial year the turnover for the first half was Rs 435 crore.”
It may be mentioned that Fastrack has 195 stores across India. 11 of these stores are in Gujarat state while 4 stores are in Ahmedabad. Titan has three retail chains named, Titan World, Fastrack and Helios. Titan world has around 630 stores in the country. “We are planning to cater to the customers in the Tier II and Tier III cities with our Titan stores”, said Mitra.
Commenting on the smartwatch market, she said, “The smart watches segment is growing at a triple digit rate. This can be understood by the fact that two years back, India was the third largest market for smartwatches and now it is the largest market. India has surpassed China and the US in terms of consumption volume. The estimated sale of smartwatches this year in Indian markets is around 50 million units.”