Seiko plans major expansion in India

"The past one year has seen us emerge among the top three brands in the premium luxury watch segment in India. We have presence in 33 cities with 81 stores and are aiming to cover the remaining major centres in the country," Seiko Watch India Sales and Marketing Head Niladri Mazumder told PTI.    

 

 He said Seiko, which launched its brand in India with a dozen models last year, is looking to have 200 models in the country by end of 2008-09 with presence in around 40 cities.     

Mazumder said the first year has seen the company position itself as a high-end brand. As a follow up, the company is now launching its Arctura collection which will hit the market in August-September.     

"While our existing Sportura and Permier collections are available in the Rs 6,700-55,000 range, the Acrtura would have a starting range of Rs 25,000, besides limited editions of above Rs 1.5 lakh," Mazumder said.     

Springdrive, another international collection, would also hit India this year with a starting range of Rs 1.76 lakh.     

Currently Seiko outlets are multi-brand ones, the company plans to open its first Seiko Corner in Mumbai by August.    

"We have plans to set up eight flagship mono-brand outlets in the four metros, besides Bangalore and Hyderabad in three years," he added.     

This year a few more cities would have Seiko outlets, including Gangtok, Guwahati, Nagpur, Bhopal and Dehradun.     

"The Indian luxury watch market has an estimated market turnover of Rs 350-400 crore a year and within five years we hope to emerge as the top brand with the maximum market share," he said.