Titan moves with time

Titan, which is having to cope up with a plethora of high profile brands in the market like Omega, Rado, Bentex, Westar and Tag Heuer, to name a few, is managing to hold on in the domestic market. At the same time, it has managed to make some sort of impression in the overseas market.

According to its annual report 1998-99, Titan has achieved the rank of the sixth largest manufacturer brand in the world, after Casio, Citizen, Seiko, Swatch and Timex. Manufacturer brand is different from brands like Guess, where marketing and manufacturing of the product is done by different parties.

Titan manufactures almost all its watch components, and in 1998-1999, sold 4.76 million watches in the domestic market. It has sold more than 30 million watches since its inception. The company has made efforts to ensure that it is present in all product segments, and has thus shifted its growth strategy from equipment and manpower addition to increased production through fresh ideas and greater operating efficiency by adopting the best practices followed globally.

Titan Industries, which considers the Titan brand as one of its most important assets, has taken steps to go in for a complete brand valuation this financial year. Since its break-up with Timex last year, Titan has been redoing its product range and while it has revamped some brands, it has withdrawn others.

Titan launched Sonata last year as independent of the Titan brand. Sonata was launched not only as a challenge to Timex and HMT, but also to the grey market and the small players who cater to the price-conscious consumer.
Sonata's pricing ranges reasonably, between Rs 350-to-1,150. Sonata watchesare available in smart plastic, all-weather leather, hardy stainless steel and elegant gold plated-straps. All watches are water and shock-resistant and carry a one year guarantee.

FasTrack, a digital range of watches, was also launched last year. With the price range starting at Rs 795, FasTrack is a casual watch aimed at the young adult. Advertising, packaging, merchandising are refreshingly different, and the positioning is: "Cool watches by Titan."

In July this year, Dash was launched exclusively as a children's watch targeting the age groups of six-14. The watch is available in 28 models and is priced in the range of Rs 250 to Rs 395. This also comes with a one year guarantee and is available at all Titan outlets. Dash watches come in smart plastic straps with colourful dials.
At the same time, the Tanishq range of watches has been discontinued and a new range has been launched under the Nebula brand. Tanishq will now be positioned as purely a jewellery range. Nebula is a premium range and starts from Rs 6,500 up to Rs 13,500 and will eventually go up to Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000. With this, Titan aims to popularize light-weight gold watches.

Nebula watches come with an 18 carat gold dial and a leather strap. The range is targeted at the top end of the market with the intention of  persuading people to wear gold watches instead of plated metal.

Some time ago, Titan revamped the Raga range of silver and gold-plated watches for women. Company officials say the brand is doing very well.
The advertising for Titan carries lifestyle overtones and the umbrella approach provides economies of scale. At the same time, the company has to be careful of maintaining a consistent and synergistic brand image.

Titan International has established a significant presence in West Asia and Africa and plans to enter four new markets by the last quarter of this year and launch a new line of watches designed exclusively for the region. For its European operations in the year ended March 31, 1999, Titan invested $37 million. Out of this, $22.4 million was provided by Titan Industries in the form of equity, loan and credit and the balance was raised from the European market. The money went into brand building and stocks. According to company sources, Europe is the most important, though most difficult, market overseas.

Titan at present is the second largest player in the domestic market after HMT in watches, with an estimated 32 per cent market share of the organized sector and an 80 per cent share of the premium watches market. The company's operations are vertically integrated.

The Indian watch market comprises not more than one cent of the global market, and penetration levels are low at 4 per cent compared to the world average of 20 per cent.
Titan Industries entered the market in the mid-80s and developed the quartz segment in a big way. However, the unorganised sector, with its ability to provide cheap watches, has been the main beneficiary of the strong growth in quartz segment. Titan's entry into the low priced segment with Fastrack and Sonata, repositioning of Tanishq Jewellery range and penetration into the European market is expected to drive the future growth of the company. The company scores over new entrants mainly due to its wide distribution network.