The global industry is one of the most competitive consumer markets in the world. From the high end luxury brands headquartered in Switzerland like Rolex, Omega and TAG Heuer to the technologically innovative brands from Japan such as the Casio and Seiko, the industry is at saturation point with companies having built global names for themselves. Titan, an Indian company stands amidst this high competition as the most trusted watch brand in the country carving out its own significant position.
For decades, whatever quality watch was; it belonged to an international brand. Every discussion about how a quality watch should be, was focused around Swiss watches on one hand, and Japanese developments, on the other; the former symbolizing style and people perception and the latter technological innovation, production and reliability. Despite the healthy rivalry, Titan managed to carve a niche for itself in one of the fastest growing consumer markets on earth. Today it is not even competing with local players anymore, let alone with international giants, enjoying a heritage of decades and even, centuries in some cases.
Titan’s battle with its international competitors is not just a tale of watches. It is a lesson in responding to changing customer expectations, developing new products to appeal across a broad spectrum of customers, gaining brands loyalty and developing products to meet the needs of myriad individual customers. The battle also provides a readable tale of how an Indian brand can go up against an international opponent in such a dynamically changing environment.
Understanding the Global Watch Industry
The watch industry is divided into a few broad segments. Watching beginning with high-end brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Omega work on reputation, status and exclusivity. The watches cost thousands, and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars, for these companies the customers are rich consumers, collectors and “those who are only thinking about their status”.
Mid-range: Brands such as Seiko, Citizen, Tissot, Fossil. These brands can be described as relaxed watches, combining quality and design with relatively more affordable prices. They are accessible to those professionals and consumers looking for a decent watch without entering the ultra-luxury zone.
On the mass-market front, brands like Casio have established significant standing by positioning themselves as affordable, practical and innovative. They appeal to students, career people and mainstream consumers.
Titan has its business in various segments and this is among the most important strength of Titan. Unlike other international brands that focus on a particular category, titan caters to different general customer groups through different collections and sub-brands. This has enabled Titan to fight against multiple international brands.
Titan’s Deep Understanding of the Indian Market
Another reason for Titan’s continued success despite increasing international competition is its knowledge of Indian consumers.
Mainstream global brands often come to market with product offerings that are built to appeal across international boundaries. They may be of “high quality” of course, but not necessarily tailored to sound local retail or consumer procurement logic and culture.
Titan’s focus was always on Indian consumers. It had recognized the need of consumers to have own quality, fashion, value for money and reliability and had conceptualized fashion and style capsules for Indian consumer and maintained its price points within reach of a lot of consumers.
This local knowledge becomes a competitive advantage for Titan. Unlike the international brands which tend to target only the urban and high income consumers, Titan managed to cover all income groups and geographies.
Covering both big cities and small villages enabled the business to develop a clientele which was hard for many foreign competitors to establish.
Competing with Swiss Luxury Brands
Whenever we talk about the art of watchmaking, Swiss brands naturally take the front position. Rolex, Omega, Longines, TAG Heuer and other Swiss manufacturers have established a reputation through years of finesse and tradition.
Any company who would want to directly against these brands would find it extremely hard.
However, Titan’s approach proved to be clever. Rather than compete with luxury brands in their strongest category, playing on their territory, Titan concentrated on offering enhanced value for money in its preferred segment.
‘Finance tried to fit every product to the pocketbook’ and ‘Titan understood that Indian customers weren’t looking for a prestige watch to cost thousands of dollars. What they desired was a product that was assured, elegant and inexpensive.’
Titan realized that this was a huge market segment and by not competing with the ‘high end’ luxury brands was not trying to compete directly.
In parallel, the company launched premium lines for customers looking for luxury products. This helped Titan make an incremental move into premium range without losing traditional customer base.
The Battle with Japanese Watchmakers
If certain countries represent brands of luxury, like Switzerland, then others inform of innovation and functionality, like Japan.
Brands of Casio, Seiko and citizen has developed its reputation worldwide through performance and technological developments, in particular has gained prominence in markets that are careful about technology use rather than high end luxury products.
In the affordable and mid-range segments, Titan had a lot of competition from the Japanese companies.
Casio KOS, digital watches and G-Shock line got a lot of fans during this time in schools and young working generations. Seiko was know for accuracy and quality and Citizen had their advantages with new technologies.
The reaction of Titan was to devote enormous funds to R&D and design. Instead of beating the competition in terms of technology, the company started designing products that will appeal to the emotions of consumers.
This focus on style, lifestyle branding and customer connection enabled Titan to retain its leadership position in the market even against stiff competition from Japan.
The Role of Branding in Titan’s Success
Titan is only one of the few that has delivered way ahead on branding by far when compared with numerous (or all?) of its international counterparts.
The company devoted great resources in creating emotional links with the consumers. In its advertisements one can see focus on family celebrations, personal accomplishments, and life milestones.
Throughout the years. Titan became observed on most precious occasions like graduation. Wedding. Promotions etc.
This put us in a unique emotional position that separated the brand from other competitors who placed emphasis on product specifications.
Whereas international brands used to emphasize the technical aspects and craftsmanship or history, Titan used to focus on experiences and feelings.
This tactic resulted in intense customer loyalty, allowing the company to stay interesting to succeeding generations.
To a large extent, buying a Titan watch became more of an emotional choice for most Indian consumers.
Retail Reach as a Competitive Advantage
Another key benefit that Titan has in its favor is its retail network:
Scored the largest retail in world for wrist watches by setting up India ‘s largest pan India watch retail infrastructure and distribution network; including exclusive retail stores, multi-brand retail stores and online channels.
Most international brands tend to have restricted distribution channels especially in emerging economies. Therefore, if you want to get an access to these brands outside the biggest urban center, it is not necessarily guaranteed.
Titan was quick to realize that selling is the most important part of the business. It aggressively expanded across cities and other smaller towns, allowing customers a chance to touch, feel and own a product.
This wide retail presence has been advantageous toward increased brand awareness and customer trust.
Consumers tend to want to shop for their watch from a brand that is willing and able to support them when it needs to be serviced, repaired and so forth. Titan’s substantial retail network gave confidence that many foreign competitors could not match.
Adapting to the Smartwatch Revolution
The emergence of smartwatches led to the creation of some new challenge for the watch industry.
Names such as Apple, Samsung and other Wearables companies marketed items that provided functionalities much more than a traditional digital clock.
Numerous analysts believed then that conventional watches manufacturers would have a hard time surviving in a changing world.
Titan instead of resisting change responded to change by adopting it.
Simultaneously, Titan launched its new line of smart watches and wearable technology, taking advantage of the growing popularity of technology in general while maintaining the lines of the more classic watches ( 7.1).
While the company was still willing to change there was another key strength; flexibility.
The ones that stick around are the ones that adapt and change but remain consistent to themselves.
Why Consumers Continue Choosing Titan
However, Titan still remains one of the most trusted watch brands in India even with such stiff competition.
There are many reasons why this product still does well.
Firstly, the company provides excellent value for money. Customers can purchase a good item that gives a great appearence for a reasonable price.
Secondly, Titan already has the trusted reputation built up from delivering for many years and providing good customer service.
Third, since the product ranges are wide there is something suitable (whether it’s to the age, income position or simply the style of the individual).
Last but certainly not least, Titan has a better understanding of its local market environment than many of its international competitors.
All this along with trust, availability, lowprice and customer insight makes it grow.
The Future of the Competition
The rivalry between Titan and the foreign brands is expected to become more fierce in the forthcoming years.
The recovering economy, rapidly expanding middle class and rising disposable income levels, are making India and the Asian economies more attractive to watch manufacturers worldwide.
While opportunities remain among wealthy customers, the mid-range and more affordable brands are gaining ground.
Meanwhile, under this direction, Titan is far more powerful: it innovates, invests in digitization, and expands its product range.
No longer merely parked in its existing position, the company is now actively looking for opportunities to grow and expand.
Its capacity to change with the ever-evolving customer demands while remaining true to its core values will be a crucial factor in its future achievements.
Conclusion
An interesting example of how a local expertise can face the world administration is the competition between Titan and the international watch brands.
Although brands from Switzerland (luxury segment) and Japan (technology segment) have a significant representation in the world market Titan was able to build its own standing by means of the the profound consumer insight, branding power, large reach of retail outlets, and strong quality focus.
By the company’s performance, it is shown that winning a business is not necessarily about owning the most venerable legacy or owning the most extensive global coverage. It could be all about possessing superior knowledge about customers.
Titan also teach us the importance of learning by doing. As the watches industry would be growing after such a market, that are what ever and to be focus on.
Its capability to face with several global leading watch brands shows that more and more Chinese companies can become competitive from international perspective.
FAQs
So, how does Titan fair with the global names?
Titan established its presence in the market by using effective differentiation tools like branding, local market understanding, low prices, wide retail network and product diversity.
What international brands rival Titan?
Titan faces challenges from other established brands such as Casio, Seiko, Citizen, Fossil, Tissot, Rolex, Omegaand also from various smartwatch brands.
What makes Titan so sought after in India?
Titan has succeeded because of array of reasons such as quality, prices, employee dedication, emotional branding, Indian customer awareness, etc.
Is Titan a rival of Rolex?
Not directly. As related to these, Rolex and Titan have different target markets with Title targeting different consumer segments such as low-cost, mid-range and premium.
Is the smartwatch market impacting Titan?
Yes, however Titan became a little more savvy and entered the wearable technology segment on one hand, and on the other hand continued to strengthen its traditional watch categories.
What is it that makes one Titan more appealing than the other?
Its biggest strength is the depth of understanding of Indian consumers it has built with strong brand trust and extensive retail network.
