Swiss luxury watchmaker Raymond Weil expects India to be among its top five global markets in next 4-5 years, as the company is witnessing good growth here led by aspirational class consumers, said a top company official.
According to a PTI report: The company is upbeat as it has doubled its India business in last 12 months and expects to continue such growth in the coming years also.
Raymond Weil sees huge ‘potential’ in the Indian market, which ranks around 12 to 13 in its overall global sales, said Raymond Weil Director Olivier Bernheim.
“India is one of the two markets for us which has the biggest potentials,” Bernheim was quoted by PTI as saying.
On being asked whether India could be among Raymond Weil’s top five global markets in next 4-5 years, he told PTI: “Of Course. It should be”.
However, he also warned that current currency fluctuation, as the Indian rupee is falling against UD Dollar, may have some impact. Raymond Weil did not share its global or India revenue figures. Its watches start at around Rs 50,000 and goes up to around Rs 3 lakh.
“Keeping in mind the luxury market in India, it has witnessed immense winds of change over the past few years. The company has made a niche for itself in the watch market within the Indian sub-continent,” Bernheim was further quoted by PTI as saying.
As per its strategy, the company is targeting the aspirational class and young professional for its growth in sales here.
“We are exactly targeting the crowd (Young) which is interesting. This is the crowd, which follows social media, Instagram and look after everything we have developed,” he further told PTI.
The company is presently operating 42 stores, in which two are at duty-free zone at Delhi and Bengaluru airports and most of them are operated by its retail partner Ethos.
Over-expansion of the retail network, Weil said the company is looking on the rapidly evolving online channels and shopping patterns in India.
“We are at a turning point on the process, the way people would be buying watches and India is very much ahead of this because online sales, social media and other means of communication, which are very efficient and quick in India,” he told PTI.
On being asked about 18 percent tax slab on watches under GST regime, Weil told PTI: “It’s absolutely correct… We are used to between 18 to 21 percent in Europe”.
