 "We are talking to companies for wearable tech: Bhaskar Bhat")
Titan launched its Made in India smart watch on Wednesday, becoming the first Indian firm to do so. Bhaskar Bhat, Titan's Managing Director, spells out his firm's priorities including its plan to foray into allied wearable products in an interaction with Viveat Susan Pinto. Edited excerpts:
How do you propose to capitalise on the first mover advantage you've got in smart watches? Can we expect more wearable products?
This is the first of our smart moves. Titan is in the best position to keep adding relevant technology to the watch. We have the distribution network as well as the brands. While technology is what HP is bringing, Indian consumers' understanding is what Titan brings. About 150 million people in India wear a Titan watch. This large mid-segment of people is what we are targeting. To answer your question, yes, we are exploring possibilities of getting into other wearable products. There are a number of technology companies talking to us and we will take a call on this appropriately.
We are not married to HP. They have helped us with the smart watch and are launching it in markets such as the US, UK and Canada, where we do not have a presence. We are focusing mainly on Asia, West Asia and the Far East, as far as the smart watch goes. But, there are conversations happening with other technology companies for newer areas we would like to explore in the wearable space.
Titan as a company has positioned itself as a fashion and lifestyle brand. This has obviously given the firm the leeway to look at categories beyond watches and jewellery. Is that where textiles come in. Are you looking to step into ethnic wear under Tanishq?
I read those reports that came out recently. People can keep speculating as much as they want, but a textile is not something we are actively considering at the moment.
Does that mean Titan may look at textiles in the future?
We have a process in the company for exploration. Many projects have come at the exploratory stage, since we have the design, distribution and branding capabilities. But they haven't got the green signal at the final evaluation stage. Textile, as I said, is not something we are looking at right now. I cannot comment about the future.
Online sales are a small percentage of Titan's overall sales as of now. Do you see this figure growing, given that you are looking at integrating online and offline retail?
Yes, that is the objective going forward. For us, online sales are under three per cent right now. In the next five to seven years, it should be bigger than it is now, given the rapid adoption of e-commerce by consumers. For the smart watch, for instance, we are using the online platform as a means to pique interest.
Consumers can pre-book the watch from our website or from Myntra, our exclusive partner. So, yes, there will be initiatives like this. At the same time, the target for us is to ensure the consumer gets a seamless experience both online and offline. That is where omni-channel retail comes. I don't think online will grow at the cost of offline. We have to keep our attention on both.
How do you propose to capitalise on the first mover advantage you've got in smart watches? Can we expect more wearable products?
This is the first of our smart moves. Titan is in the best position to keep adding relevant technology to the watch. We have the distribution network as well as the brands. While technology is what HP is bringing, Indian consumers' understanding is what Titan brings. About 150 million people in India wear a Titan watch. This large mid-segment of people is what we are targeting. To answer your question, yes, we are exploring possibilities of getting into other wearable products. There are a number of technology companies talking to us and we will take a call on this appropriately.
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So, HP will not be your partner in the event you do decide to launch allied wearable products?
We are not married to HP. They have helped us with the smart watch and are launching it in markets such as the US, UK and Canada, where we do not have a presence. We are focusing mainly on Asia, West Asia and the Far East, as far as the smart watch goes. But, there are conversations happening with other technology companies for newer areas we would like to explore in the wearable space.
Titan as a company has positioned itself as a fashion and lifestyle brand. This has obviously given the firm the leeway to look at categories beyond watches and jewellery. Is that where textiles come in. Are you looking to step into ethnic wear under Tanishq?
I read those reports that came out recently. People can keep speculating as much as they want, but a textile is not something we are actively considering at the moment.
Does that mean Titan may look at textiles in the future?
We have a process in the company for exploration. Many projects have come at the exploratory stage, since we have the design, distribution and branding capabilities. But they haven't got the green signal at the final evaluation stage. Textile, as I said, is not something we are looking at right now. I cannot comment about the future.
Online sales are a small percentage of Titan's overall sales as of now. Do you see this figure growing, given that you are looking at integrating online and offline retail?
Yes, that is the objective going forward. For us, online sales are under three per cent right now. In the next five to seven years, it should be bigger than it is now, given the rapid adoption of e-commerce by consumers. For the smart watch, for instance, we are using the online platform as a means to pique interest.
Consumers can pre-book the watch from our website or from Myntra, our exclusive partner. So, yes, there will be initiatives like this. At the same time, the target for us is to ensure the consumer gets a seamless experience both online and offline. That is where omni-channel retail comes. I don't think online will grow at the cost of offline. We have to keep our attention on both.