Watch and jewellery retailer Titan Industries today said it plans to open 100 premium and multi-brand watch store, Helios, across the country over the next three years.
"To create one of the finest retailing chains for premium brand of watches in the country, we plan to set up 100 Helios stores over the next three-year period," Titan Industries Chief Operating Officer Harish Bhat said here.
The Tata Group firm launched its first Helios store in the Western region, in Ahmedabad, today. This is the sixth Helios outlet in the country.
"Of the proposed 100 such stores, 40 are expected to come up by the fiscal year-end, primarily in metros and tier-I cities like Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai," he said.
Helios houses watches of nearly 25 international brand such as Movado, Roamer, FCUK, Casio priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 1 lakh, all under one roof.
"By launching these stores, we aim to establish new standards of premium watch retailing prevalent overseas in countries like Singapore and China," he said.
According to industry estimates, the annual market size of watches in India is pegged close to 47 million pieces in volume terms and Rs 3,500 crore in value.
"The premium and luxury market of watches is just 5% of the total size. The market for premium watches is growing at 30% a year, and is likely to triple over the next five-year period," Bhat said.
"Titan's market share is close to 65% in the organised watch market segment which is of around 16 million pieces annually, of the total market size of 47 million," Bhat said.
Titan clocked a turnover of Rs 4,700 crore in FY10, of which contribution of the watch division was close to 25%, he said.
In FY10, close to 11 million watches were sold, he said, adding the sales have perked up by nearly 15% in the last couple of years.
The company has five watch manufacturing facilities in India, with an combined installed production capacity of 15 million pieces annually. The facilities are located in Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
