We will re-enter growth phase in Q1 of FY22: Suparna Mitra of Titan Company

In a Q&A, the CEO of Titan's Watches and Wearables Division says the firm is betting big on smartwatches, eyeing 10-15% revenue from the segment the next few years

After taking a hard beating during the lockdown months, Titan Company Ltd’s watches and wearables division has bounced back on the path of recovery posting 88 per cent recovery in Q3. The CEO of the division, Suparna Mitra, in an interview with Samreen Ahmad, says the segment is likely to see 100 per cent recovery in the March quarter. The company is also betting big on the smartwatches business eyeing a 10-15 per cent revenue from the segment in the next few years. Edited excerpts: 

The jewellery segment is already back on the growth path at Titan. By when is the watches segment likely to see growth? What lessons has Covid taught the company?

We are aiming for 100 per cent recovery in the March quarter and then re-entering the growth phase in Q1 of FY22. Covid gave us the time to relook at the different processes that were going on the same way for the past 30 years at the company be it manufacturing, supply chain, marketing or retail. We have realised our existing strengths and this time has helped us build new muscle such as omnichannel. Earlier people knew how to use the omnichannel technology but now they want to use it so our on ground retail channels and the online brand commerce site is working in tandem seamlessly. Because of the pandemic, a lot of people were searching products online and this traffic was directed to the stores for which we now have a dedicated team for these kinds of lead generations. We also have an Endless Aisle of products in retail stores for products that are not available physically in a store but can be ordered and bought online. Currently about 5 per cent of our sales are happening through this omnichannel route. This hybrid model is going to be the future at Titan watches division.

Are you looking at exiting any loss making sales channels?

During Q2 and Q3, since most of the malls were shut, we were not getting much traction in large format stores but its recovering since January. We closed around 20 stores in the watches segment last year which were not viable. We are planning to add around 50-60 franchisee stores this year.

With smart being the future, how important is the smart wearables division for Titan? Where do you want to scale it on the revenue front?

The world of smart is about the consumer use case. The technology is there, how we are going to use these technologies to fulfill consumer needs is what makes the difference. Covid has been a year when smartwatches have done well and some innovative products that were in the works for over 2 years were fast tracked and rolled out last year. We rolled out contactless payments watch Titan Pay and smart fitness gear TraQ which took fitness to the level of sports. With limited appeal for gyms after Covid outbreak,  this use case exploded as people have discovered fitness through outdoor sports including running and cycling. We are working on several use cases for new launches and would be introducing upto eight smart wearables in FY22. Also we are also designing in-house apps for these smartwatches. 

Currently about 5 per cent revenue of the watches business is derived from smartwear which we expect to go up to 10-15 per cent in the next few years. We are looking at a 100 per cent growth year-on-year for this segment in the next 2-3 years.

Are you looking at any acquisitions in the startup space for technological support in the smart wearables space?

We acqui-hired Hyderabad-based HUG Innovations last year and their entire team who are working on the tech side for us. We will continue to collaborate with various startups for innovative technologies in the space.

Is Titan Company looking at entering any new categories?

We are concentrating on building up the smaller businesses such as fragrance, apparel and accessories to a substantial scale. For now, there are no new categories being evaluated.