The luxury pen company to woo women now with its brand new salon in Mumbai.
Brand extensions are difficult to pull off. More so, when your original target audience was one gender and then you start producing and marketing for the second.
But Montblanc, a brand name that has been associated with its male clientele — the pens first, then small leather goods and finally watches and bigger leather accessories — is wooing women to spend in its boutiques.
Karl-Heinz Handke, president, western hemisphere, and member of the executive board, Montblanc, says, “We were seen as a male brand but our buyers, not consumers, were women. Since the target audience was already coming into our shops, we decided to launch a range for women.”
The latest offering from Montblanc is jewellery. And Handke flew into India to open Montblanc’s first jewellery salon (in the world) in Mumbai earlier this week. Says Handke, “We started with some pen concepts for women. Though men are in the workforce and therefore, statistically buy more pens, the market for pens for women is substantial.”
But Handke said this evolution had not happened overnight and was thought about for a long time (more than 10 years) before products were designed and put out in retail outlets. The company also decided to change its boutique design for its new clients.
The jewellery that the luxury goods company offers is at three levels — silver, fine jewellery and limited edition, one off pieces that come at a pretty price.
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The new salon will, in fact, stock some limited editions pieces that will not be available in other Montblanc boutiques in India. On why Montblanc chose India to launch its first jewellery salon, Handke said, “The brand in India is ready for the next step. In India, people like unique pieces. We sell in 95 countries and sometimes we do a limited edition of just 35 pens. So we can’t send it across to all the countries. When we send even two pens, they get sold out the next morning.”
“Montblanc is still a relative newcomer in the jewellery market. For us, this market is divided into two segments. Of that, one segment wants limited edition pieces,” he said.
The other reason for Handke and the other big bosses at Montblanc to be happy with India is that despite the worldwide recession, the company’s India operations continue to post good numbers. Says Handke, “We are sticking to our growth plans for India this year in terms of opening stores.”
Just six weeks ago, they opened a Montblanc store in Pune. As a parting shot, Handke says, “The Indian consumer is looking for rare pieces.” And also, it would seem, willing to pay big money for those pieces.