Titan looks to expand digital footprint with Amazon

Titan is the fifth largest watchmaker globally

Caught between a rapidly metamorphosing category and an evolving online marketplace, Titan, one of the oldest watch brands in the country is looking to build a larger digital imprint. Earlier this month, it announced an alliance with Amazon under its Global Selling Programme and; the company says, it is putting in place an omnichannel sales strategy.
 
S Ravikant, CEO, Watches and Accessories, Titan Company says that somewhere in the world a Titan watch is being purchased every three seconds and the tie-up with Amazon will help the brand that turns 30 this year build on this. “It is propelling us to expand our boundaries. Titan has over 200 million customers and 7,000 retail stores. With global demand heading north, Titan is westward bound; our entry via Amazon allows us access directly to the American market,” he said.
 
At present e-commerce accounts for a minuscule 1.5 per cent of total sales revenue for the company across all verticals. There is a concerted effort to change this. Just as Titan watches are going up on Amazon, the jewellery brand Tanishq has bolstered its online presence too. The company is also putting its weight behind digital advertising campaigns for all brands.
 
The transformation of Titan according to managing director Bhaskar Bhat reflects the overall desire of the brand to be a major player in the market place at all times under all circumstances. To stay relevant it has to keep in step with the changing needs of the market. “I won’t say it (transformation) was the purpose of our actions. We ended up transforming because of our differentiated approach to the category which was watches,” said Bhaskar Bhat, managing director of Titan Company.
 
Differentiated brands
 
The company is eager to create a set of distinct labels in terms of price, design and character. For instance for the millennials, Titan believes newly launched Juxt smart watches are a good fit. It is also set to launch a smart watch with safety features for women and a wearable with a fitness app under Fastrack, expected to appeal to the same consumer group. “We realised that both in product design terms, price terms, as well as in terms of brand appeal, this (Fastrack) brand will have to be very different from the parent brand, Titan,” said Bhat.
 

The strategy has always been to create a brand for a category and then have sub brands to cater to different customer aspirations. While Titan overarches the spectrum, other brands emerge from the desire to unearth segment opportunities. “Titan is the largest brand in terms of turnover but that is not necessarily the brand that serves all the segments in the market,” said Bhat. Titan, the company claims, has 65 per cent market share in the organised watch market.
 
Speaking to analysts soon after the 2017-18 Q1 results, S Ravi Kant said that they were targeting the premium segment through the Helios store, but luxury was not part of its immediate future. However the company has acquired the Swiss luxury brand Favre Leuba, which has been launched in many countries including India. “The point is to keep your ear to the ground and focus your eyes on the customer,” he said.
 
Virtual footprint
 
There are two parts to the brand’s digital strategy; one is increasing accessibility and chances of discovery by making the different brands available on different channels and secondly, increasing the points of engagement with customers. At present e-commerce brings around Rs 150-200 crore of the total Rs 13,000-odd-crore revenue from four verticals of Titan (watches, jewellery, eyewear and fragrances). But Bhat says revenue from e-commerce is growing at 100 per cent.
 
The idea is to have an omnichannel play which means that the company is indifferent as to where the customer sees and buys the product. Wherever he sees it, he buys it, says Bhat.
 
Crafting an identity that appeals to the consumer in the digital age is a more complex task. It calls for an understanding of the brand values that appeal to such consumers. Fastrack has been among the early brands from the Titan stable to have focused its promotion and advertising energies into building an online fan base. Now as the company goes omnichannel for all its brands, it will need to develop a unique identity and strategy for the rest of the brands too. The company, overall including watches, has an advertising and marketing budget of Rs 450 crore.
 

The offline storefront
 
The brand’s physical interfaces with the customer are under scrutiny. Unprofitable stores will be closed and new locations identified said Bhat. The rate of growth in Bihar at one time was very high and in near future, states like Odisha and those in the Northeast are going to grow faster, he added.
 
The company is also not planning to open World of Titan format stores unless the market picks up. It made business sense earlier explained Bhat because growth was very high. “We have to be calibrated in our approach because in the watch business a lot is also sold also through the trade. The calibrated expansion helps upgrade the trade, the retailer in that town and get sales going rather than putting up your own showroom because our distribution network is wide and deep,” said Bhat. The company expects to add roughly 100 stores a year.