Titan takes aim at grey market with Super Fibre watches
The move is to capture the unorganised sector that accounts for nearly two-thirds of the Indian watch market.
BANGALORE: Titan Industries on Tuesday launched low-priced watches under its Sonata economy brand to fight competition from grey market watches of Chinese origin and inexpensive local brands. With the Super Fibre range - priced between Rs 275 and Rs 550 and marking Sonata's foray into the plastic watches segment - Titan is positioning itself as an aggressive player in a market aimed at semi-urban and rural youth.
"The low-end youth market was underserved and we feel that they deserve exceptional styling at reasonable prices. Our global sourcing and distribution strength has generated economies of scale in the purchase of components for the Super Fibre brand.
This has enabled us to pass on the advantage to customers in terms of price and access," Bhaskar Bhat, managing director, Titan Industries, said. The unorganised sector - particularly the Chinese goods and small local brands - accounts for nearly two-thirds of the Indian watch market, which is estimated at 42 million pieces.
Sonata, the largest Indian brand in the organised sector, operates in the sub-Rs 1,400 segment. It launched its Yuva subbrand of metal watches aimed at the youth in the price band of Rs 500-1 , 000 in October , 2007. Titan is targeting sales of at least one million units of the Super Fibre range in the next one year. The new range is being endorsed by Sonata brand ambassador Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Titan Industries, which also makes jewellery , eyewear and precision engineered products, expects its watch business to grow by 26% by the end of 2008. For the year ended March 2008, the company posted a net profit of Rs 160.27 crore on sales of Rs 3,041 crore.
"The low-end youth market was underserved and we feel that they deserve exceptional styling at reasonable prices. Our global sourcing and distribution strength has generated economies of scale in the purchase of components for the Super Fibre brand.
This has enabled us to pass on the advantage to customers in terms of price and access," Bhaskar Bhat, managing director, Titan Industries, said. The unorganised sector - particularly the Chinese goods and small local brands - accounts for nearly two-thirds of the Indian watch market, which is estimated at 42 million pieces.
Sonata, the largest Indian brand in the organised sector, operates in the sub-Rs 1,400 segment. It launched its Yuva subbrand of metal watches aimed at the youth in the price band of Rs 500-1 , 000 in October , 2007. Titan is targeting sales of at least one million units of the Super Fibre range in the next one year. The new range is being endorsed by Sonata brand ambassador Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Titan Industries, which also makes jewellery , eyewear and precision engineered products, expects its watch business to grow by 26% by the end of 2008. For the year ended March 2008, the company posted a net profit of Rs 160.27 crore on sales of Rs 3,041 crore.
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Watches with the Sonata label accounted for half of the 10 million pieces sold in 2007-08 . Some three million watches were sold under the Titan tag while Fastrack managed about a million pieces and small, licenced brands the rest. Start a SIP with as low as ₹500 with ET Money App!
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