Fastrack plays the price game

Earlier this month, Fastrack from the Titan stable won the “Most Popular Youth Brand – Eyewear” award, competing with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

Titan attributes such recognitions to “constant reinvention”, something that has prompted Fastrack to shed its image of just a watches and sunglasses player and extend its brand to other accessories such as shoes and motorcycle helmets in future.

“If you are a youth brand, you have to constantly reinvent to stay relevant as you are catering to a segment with high change orientation,” Ronnie Talati, vice-president and business head of Fastrack and New Brands, says. Fastrack plans to clock sale of close to two million watches and one million sunglasses by the month-end.

This watches-to-accessories brand is playing the whole price game. And, it has been relatively easy since there aren’t too many organised players in this space at Fastrack's price point.

“Players like Reebok and Nike have product offerings in these segments. However, they are premium players against Fastrack’s range of Rs 499-3,000,” Talati says. The price line, he says, has helped the brand to go in for a “logical expansion plan” in tier II and III cities.

Fastrack has already extended its presence to accessories like bags, wallets and belts, which target 15 to 25-year-old students. “In 2005, we repositioned our brand for 15-25 year olds from the 21-30 age group earlier, and created Fastrack as a separate entity within the Titan family. We expect to end this financial year with Rs 400-crore turnover. We have been clocking a CAGR of 50 per cent for the past five years,” he adds.

Titan aims to make Fastrack a Rs 1000-crore brand in two years.

Fastrack derives strong brand equity also from social media like Facebook. “The brand has one million followers on Facebook, which is arguably the largest for any

Indian brand and the second highest as far as overall followers are concerned,” Talati says.

He adds that most of the brand managers and designers of Fastrack products are drawn from its targeted age group to innovate to the taste of today’s generation. So it’s not a surprise that Bollywood actor Genelia D’Souza and cricketer Virat Kohli are its brand ambassadors.

“We have already opened around 45 dedicated stores in various locations and will open another 30 soon. Our target is to have 150 outlets by March 2012,” Talati says. Though most of the outlets are on a franchise model, the company is also opening fully-owned outlets in key commercial locations.