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Small towns aid Tag Heur growth
The brand may be upscale, but small town is where the action is for premium watch brand Tag Heur in its Indian adventure, reports Mahua Venkatesh.
The brand may be upscale, but small town is where the action is for premium watch brand Tag Heur in its Indian adventure.
Tier II markets have pushed growth even as the metros witnessed a sales dip drastically in line with the economic slowdown. In smaller towns like Coimbatore, Bhopal, Indore, Bhuneshwar, there has been no slip-up in demand, company officials say.
“We have not seen any decline in sales in the Tier II towns, where wedding and gift markets have remain untouched despite economic slowdown,” Manishi Sanwal, general manager, LVMH Watch and Jewellery India Pvt Ltd said.
The watch brand with price points upward of Rs 40,000 has registered a growth of 15 per cent this year, while it was twice that much in 2008. Sanwal, however, said that since the unfolding of the economic slowdown in India, there has been practically no sale in the major metros, which comprise 60 per cent of its total revenue. He declined to give revenue figures.
The brand is present in 27 cities. Sanwal said that demand and sale in the Tier II markets which contribute 40 per cent of sales have helped in tiding over the crisis.
LVMH, which markets the Tag Heuer brand, has also launched premium cellphones under the same brand in India. The cell phones are priced between Rs 50,000 and Rs 4 lakh. “We are hoping that the festive season this year would also push sales, now with the slowdown has eased,” Sanwal said.
