Titan Co. is doubling down on its luxury watch segment with project Zeus, a high-end concept store targeted towards wealthy Indians. The company is currently exploring partnerships with international brands for this new venture, scheduled to launch within the next four to five months.
"We are in advanced talks with about eight to 10 Swiss brands eager to enter the thriving domestic market," Suparna Mitra, chief executive officer of the watches and wearables division at Titan, told NDTV Profit in an exclusive conversation.
Titan currently operates three distinct formats. The mainstay Titan World is the country's largest watch retail network with a total of 665 stores. It caters to the youth segment with 218 Fastrack stores. It also retails luxe watches up to Rs 1 lakh under its Helios chain of 240 stores.
Zeus will offer a range of brands with prices starting at Rs 2 lakh and going all the way up to Rs 20 lakh. The first Zeus store will open in Mumbai, followed by two more this financial year.
Mitra pointed out that creating a separate vertical for super luxury watches would be instrumental in taking Titan's premiumisation journey to new heights.
Suparna Mitra (Source: company)
Suparna Mitra (Source: company)
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The premium and luxury segment will drive Titan's ambitious target of achieving Rs 10,000 crore in sales by financial year 2026, according to Mitra.
The Tata Group company has been expanding its portfolio of premium and luxury watches comprising brands like Swarovski, Tissot, Michael Kors, Armani, Movado, Versace, Balmain and Xylys. This week, it introduced Swiss luxury watchmaker Charriol to the Indian market through an exclusive partnership. It will be offering 25 stock-keeping units initially.
Earlier, the company launched a premium analog watch, Meteorite, priced at Rs 1.2 lakh. It manufactured 300 pieces, and the collection is sold out. Titan also unveiled Fastrack automatic in the price range of Rs 10,000 — a first since it never launched a collection above Rs 6,000.
The affordable analogue watch brands like Sonata and Fastrack are seeing major headwinds as consumers hold on to purchasing. The watches and wearables division grew 19% last fiscal, with its premium channel — Helios — experiencing a 34% growth. Within the Helios chain, Swiss brands showed a stellar 69% increase.
Over the last two–three years, we're seeing a lot more desire and demand for international brands, mostly Swiss. So, as a strategy, we're doubling down on the Helios growth story. There're two parts to that growth. One is opening more stores. The other is adding new brands.Suparna Mitra
Titan will be adding five more premium brands, and 40 Helios stores this fiscal, taking the total count to 280. It plans to open 30 stores next fiscal. Currently, the top towns contribute more than 50% to sales. "But we are actually seeing the top eight towns and the next 10 towns doing well."
Titan is particularly laser-focused on the buying habits of premium consumers, Gen Z and women as they are rapidly evolving, according to Mitra.
"They do a lot of research and follow collector groups, so they already have a lot more nuanced understanding of watches. We are working on how to give them a superlative experience," said Mitra, adding that the company has already renovated 70–75% stores. "And these renovated stores are doing very well... we are able to sell much more higher-priced products."
Titan sold 14.3 million watches, generating sales worth Rs 5,028 crore in the last fiscal. It holds a market share of 27% and aims to increase this to 31% by FY26 while ramping up its presence in the premium analog segment in a declining smartwatch market. On margins, Titan has guided for 12–14% as against its previous outlook of 18% due to the need for higher investments.
Smartwatch Sales Slowing
India's smartwatch industry has seen phenomenal growth since the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is now faced with a marked slowdown amid intense price wars and a plateau in innovation. "We are confident on analog watches and the visibility, especially on the premium side, is very clear.... But smartwatch has seen some shifts in the last six months and the market situation is still very fluid," Mitra said.
The International Data Corp. has forecast a single-digit growth for the wearable market, marking the weakest performance since its emergence in 2020, as retailers resort to heavy discounting to clear stocks.
The inventory glut is also restraining brands from flooding the channels with new products, making it difficult for incumbent brands to attract buyers. The industry is projected to see a sharp slowdown from the 34% surge in 2023 to a record 134.2 million units, according to IDC.
Titan had an 8% share in the wearable market in the last fiscal. In the March quarter, this segment grew much lower at 3% versus the growth of analog at 9%.
However, Mitra is hopeful that the market will rebound as the dust from pricing war settles and new launches are rolled out ahead of the festive season. "There is still a large interest in fitness and that's not going to go away, so it would not be right to write-off smartwatches. It will evolve and become more useful for consumers as the use case is deeply embedded."
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