In its biggest global push till date, Indian watch major Titan Industries has announced setting up of an assembly plant in Vietnam. The move is intended to provide Tatas managed watch and jewellery company with better access to growth markets in South East Asia, said a company press release.
“According to the benefits that the trade agreement SAFTA gives, we are looking at setting up an assembly unit in Vietnam. Currently we are working out the tax benefits, concessions and other benefits that setting up a unit will get us,” said Sandeep Kulhali, associate vice president, international business division, Titan Industries.
The Rs 20-billion Titan, which is currently present across 30 distributors, now plans to set up exclusive stores in these markets. The retail models in overseas markets are expected to be ‘younger’ versions of the current retail concepts. “We will expand our current collections of Fast Track or Titan Edge to enter these markets. For instance, our sports collection in Middle East market has done really well and we could look at similar collections for other markets,” Kulhali said. Currently Titan sells nearly 800,000 units in international markets but hopes to sell around one million watches by next year.
The markets in South-East Asia present the company with new opportunities as other watch majors like Citizen and Seiko are moving up the value chain. This provides the domestic major an opportunity to go after the mid-priced segment.
—IndiaRetailing Bureau
