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Mumbai-based AP Group has acquired the distribution rights for global fashion brand Esprit’s watches segment.
The company is set to launch Esprit smartwatches in India by mid-2022.
The group aims to generate over ₹85 crore as revenue from the brand in the first year and and ₹140 crore in the second year, said a top official. Speaking to BusinessLine , Adi Shroff, COO, AP Group, said the company has a two-fold plan to have a grand relaunch of the watches in India.
Focus on metros
“The focus will be on metro cities with penetration in tier-2 and -3 cities. Our distribution will be divided online and offline with a focus on online distribution,” he added. Shroff explained that the watches will be available in approximately 150 large format stores such as ShopperStop and Lifestyle, 125 Helios stores, and 400 traditional watch dealers. Esprit watches will also be be available on e-commerce platforms such as Myntra, Flipkart, Ajio, and Tata Cliq. “The products will be targeted at the masses, with a little edge of premiumness,” he said.
Currently, the watches distribution segment dominates AP Group’s business, accounting for at least 80 per cent of its portfolio. It has brands like Rado, Tissot, Watches of Switzerland, among others.
Also read: Titan watches, wearables retail sales bounce back to pre-Covid levels
Referring to the fast-paced trend of smartwatches in India, Shroff said Esprit is also jumping on the bandwagon. “We are doing our R&D on the smart watches. They will be launched in India by mid-2022. The watches will focus on technology, fashion, and quality,” he explained. When asked about the rationale behind acquiring the distribution rights for the brand, Shroff said Esprit watches were a very strong brand in the early 2000s in India, and “this rein continued for about half a decade till the time the Fossil Group and Guess Group came to India. Somehow the Esprit brand lost its charm.”
While a new company took it up and they concentrated on revamping the brand, it didn’t work very well, he said. Shroff noted that the AP Group has now decided to revive the brand because “even though it lost its way, Esprit was a quality brand. It was priced at ₹7,000-8,000, despite inflation and the cost of manufacturing going up. The product hasn’t lost its quality nor has it inflated its prices beyond affordability.”
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