Titan eyes Rs 600 crore topline from MontBlanc JV by 2020

Titan and European luxury firm Maison Montblanc, which has a joint venture to open latter's retail outlets here, is looking at a turnover of up to Rs 600 crore over the next four years.
The joint venture has seven boutique stores across Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune Hyderabad, Bengaluru and will add seven more stores this year.
"We have a plan for about 25 stores under the joint venture. This year we will add seven stores, which will take the total to 14 stores. I believe India is one of the best among store openings for MontBlanc. Twenty-five stores is a five year journey plan but we believe we can do it faster," Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhat told PTI here.

"Per boutique we should be able to do a business of Rs 20-30 crore. So for 25 stores we should be able to do Rs 400-600 crore," he added.
Bhat said the JV is adequately funded to open 25 stores and is also looking at online presence this year.
"MontBlanc globally is looking at online as an omni-play but online in India will start very soon. It could start by this year. It will be most likely in partnership (with other e-commerce players)," he said.

The boutiques sell writing instruments, watches, men's accessories and leather goods.
The JV will focus on the metros for retail outlets while online will help it to cater to the non-metro customers.

"Large cities are our primary thrust for stores. We will explore some online because the non-metro customer certainly has an allure of MontBlanc. We are not considering physical stores in non-metros right now.
"Till we have established presence in metros we won't go to the next tier because luxury is still very much a metro phenomenon. People in non-metros want it but providing access would be expensive because per store investment is very high," he said.