Comments
Titan Industries unveiled a range of light-powered watches targeted at tech-savvy urban males on Wednesday. Watches under the HTSE brand (High Tech Self Energised) charge themselves through any light source over 200 lux.
The range comprising 10 models will be priced between Rs 6,500 and Rs 11,000.
To start with, they will be available in 12 Indian cities, through World of Titan and multibrand outlets besides departmental stores retailing Titan.
They will also be sold in some of Titan's top export markets including Singapore, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Vietnam.
The intent is to take HTSE national by March 2012, said Mr Ajoy Chawla, Vice-President, Titan Watches, in conversation with Business Line. The Titan brand of watches is available from Rs 1,000 to Rs 18,000 (the Automatic range), while the gold watches under the Titan Nebula label cost up to Rs 1.70 lakh. Other brands from Titan such as Sonata and Zoop (for kids) retail upwards of Rs 295.
Hitting the sweet spot
Mr Chawla added, “Across the categories we are present in, we find that the Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 price band is fast becoming a sweet spot. There are upwards of 40 brands available in the Indian market in this segment, and HTSE has been specifically designed to appeal to 20 to 30-year-old urban global Indians who want the best of technology and style.”
He noted that though the segment (Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000) represented a ‘smaller base,' it was growing rapidly at 30 to 40 per cent.
“Young Indians are investing heavily in technology today. Rs 6,500 is hardly anything if you compare it with the cost of smart phones used by this segment. And technology has become the currency of style. We expect this mid-premium offering to appeal to a large segment of Indians,” explained Mr Chawla, without divulging the targeted sales number for the new range.
It has taken Titan three years to develop the range from concept to market, revealed Mr B. V. Nagaraj, Head - Innovation and Design (I&D), Titan. The technology - including the smart chip that drives the watch - has been developed in-house by the I&D team.
Advertising campaign
The launch is being backed by an advertising campaign featuring Titan brand ambassador Aamir Khan and ace shuttle badminton star Saina Nehwal.
Saina has been roped in especially for the HTSE range.
A national multimedia campaign spanning TV, print, outdoors, point of sale and online media will be used to promote it.
Titan Industries reported sales of Rs 6,570 crore in the year ended March 2011, of which, watches accounted for Rs 1,266 crore.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.