Titan soon coming up with affordable smartwatches

Buoyed by the response to its smartwatches, Titan is planning to introduce affordable models of the device under its other brands like Sonata and Fastrack in the next few months.

The company launched its first smartwatch Juxt in January this year.

"After the launch of Juxt, we ran out of stock, and we had to re-introduce it. Then we launched Juxt Pro and that is also doing very well. We are planning to launch quite a few smartwatches. Both (Juxt & Juxt Pro) are under the Titan brand but we will be seeing products coming out across our brands like Fastrack and Sonata," Titan Watches and Accessories CEO S Ravi Kant told PTI here.

He maintained smartwatch is an area of focus for Titan and said the new models will be in the below Rs 10,000 range.

"Fastrack smartwatch will command a little premium over a basic Fastrack watch. Similarly, a Sonata smartwatch will be a little more expensive than a Sonata watch, because of the technology involved. Both will have to be sub-Rs 10,000, while these (Juxt and Juxt Pro) cost around Rs 19,000- 20,000 and Rs 22,000," he said.

Worldwide smartwatch market size is expected to touch 500 million by 2020, according to analyst firm IDC.

Titan commands over 50 per cent market share in the wrist watch industry, estimated at Rs 6,000 crore. The watch unit contributes under 20 per cent to the company's turnover.

The leading watchmaker has over 600 outlets across its retail formats of World of Titan, Fastrack and Helios, and will be adding another 40-50 stores next year.

Kant said despite subdued sales for watches over the last few years, the category of expensive models in price range of above Rs 4,000-5,000 is growing faster than the other segments at 12-14 per cent.

On the impact of demonetisation on the business, Kant said, "We had an impact certainly, after the first week, immediately after November 8, in retail and across all channels. Now retail has more or less bounced back.

"We are seeing some impact on the trade cycle because dealers, for them a lot of business is on cash as their customers pay in cash and they in turn pay in cash to their distributors. So, the whole channel is getting a little choked. The trade part hasn't recovered but on retail side a much higher percentage of customers are paying via credit cards." Meanwhile, Titan today announced it has partnered US- based fashion brand Kenneth Cole to exclusively distribute the latter's watches in India.

"We partnered with Kenneth Cole in June but the formal launch is happening now. It is part of our strategy to bring international brands to India," Kant said.

Kenneth Cole is one of the eight brands in Titan's licence brand portfolio.