The Indian watch market for
a long time was ruled by the
public sector giant HMT Watches. The Indian consumer
had very few choices in the form of imported watches and other
local brands, like Timestar and Camy watches. Hence, there was a
strong need for a wide large range of watches for the consumer to explore.
The Indian consumer looked at a watch more from a functional aspect
and did not consider it as a lifestyle product. Under these
circumstances and mindset, Titan unveiled its good looking watches 22 years
ago, when it launched its collection of world-class watches in all the
major cities. This was the beginning of the Titan story and the success of
the brand continues even today. The brand has become a
household name in watches. The equity of the brand is so strong that the
company has extended to jewelry and eye care space in the retail market.
Titan entered the wristwatch market when it was just opening
up and when there was a need for an alternative brand with
more advanced world-class technology. While HMT was primarily
known for its automatic and hand-wound watches, Titan brought the
quartz technology to India. HMT also did introduce quartz, but Titan
offered the consumers a larger collection of watches. To begin with, it
offered over 150 models of watches for men and women. Titan also
leveraged the name of Tata in the early years, so that the trust factor could
be established among the consumer. This was done because some of
its brands like Hegde and Golay were not well-received in the market.
In case of Titan, establishing the trust factor was of
paramount importance. The major factor that contributed to the success of
Titan was that it took the positioning of an international watch
and delivered that promise by offering great designs and good
looking watches. This was, of course, supported by a strong
product, distribution, marketing and advertising strategy which led
to positioning the brand as the undisputed king in this category. |
