 "Timex")
Conventional wisdom says every brand - specially the mass players - would like to ride the e-commerce wave to bring in the volumes. But Timex is taking a detour and instead betting big on the offline sales network to shore up sales of its wearable devices.
"Selling online limits the experience," says Anupam Mathur, head, marketing and sales, Timex Group India. "Consumers can't touch and feel the product. Being a young category, first-hand experience is key." And to that end, Timex wants to leverage its extensive retail footprint to showcase its wearables portfolio.
At present, Timex is available across 4,000 points of sale (PoS). It has 65 exclusive stores and the brand is also available at Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop outlets. Timex has another 130 PoSes covering defence canteens in the country. Timex is also looking to attract potential buyers with the promise of great after-sales service - something competitors such as Fitbit lack.
But many say Timex may be making a virtue out of necessity by pushing its wearables portfolio through an expensive offline retail model. It anyway had a piecemeal online strategy, partly the reason why having entered the Indian wearables market with its global product portfolio in 2015, it is currently a marginal player in the wearables segment with single-digit market share.
According to industry reports, online remains the most preferred channel for consumers buying wearables. According to IDC, the contribution of the online channel to the wearables shipment stood at 79.2 per cent last year and this distribution is likely to continue for some time to come.
Even as Timex is firming up its marketing strategy, converting its single-digit market share into double digits by end of the year is going to be tough as the brand is up against serious competition.
With the wearables market presenting a promising future, the segment has attracted a rash of players in the last couple of years - including traditional watchmakers such as Titan and Timex, besides phone makers such as Xiaomi, Samsung and Motorola and pure play technology companies such as GOQii and Fitbit. IDC estimates put Xiaomi in the lead with a market share of 27.1 per cent, followed by GOQii with a share of 18.1 per cent, Fitbit (6.2 per cent), Samsung (2.5 per cent) and Motorola (1.4 per cent).
To counter the competition, Timex is also being careful about its pricing. Even as the wearables market grows, experts say an average price of over $190 for a wearable device makes it a premium purchase. The market is dominated by sub-$50 devices that represent over 80 per cent of the total sales. Fitness bands from Intex, GOQii and MI are popular offerings in that price segment.
Timex is aware that pricing would be a key issue in encouraging adoption. Its product portfolio spans price points from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 covering fitness bands and smartwatches. Its analog activity tracker, Metropolitan+, for instance, is priced at Rs 9,995 and the fitness band, IRONMAN Movex20, is priced at Rs 8,995. At a lower price point it offers products such as Ironman sleek 150 (Rs 4,995).
The company is also optimistic that in the long run its differentiated product portfolio will help it move up the numbers chart.
Talking about the unique selling point of a Timex wearable device, Mathur says its offerings are device-agnostic and therefore not locked in with a particular device (smartphone) which is mostly the case with products offered by smartphone vendors. Further, drawing inspiration from its watch business where aesthetics and design are make or break, Timex has worked hard on product design to ensure it attracts the new generation of fashion-conscious users.
"We have regular analog watches but these come with all the bells and whistles of a smartwatch," says Mathur.
Most importantly, Timex is upbeat about category growth and opportunities that it will bring to brands like itself which boast a strong product portfolio and wide-spread distribution network.
IDC reports that the wearables market in the country witnessed a robust growth of 41.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2016 over the first, with the total shipment in that quarter standing at 567,000 units. Over the next five years, the Indian wearables market is expected to post a massive 40 per cent year-on-year growth.
As the wearables market gathers pace, the real challenge for brands would be, in the words of Mathur, "to think of latent user needs that a brand can meet through its products".
Levelling the playing field: Raj Nimesh
Expert Take
The key challenge for the brand would be slow consumer acceptance as smartwatches/ bands are largely associated with technology players such as Apple, Samsung and Motorola. That said, while traditional watchmakers such as Timex have an advantage over competitors when it comes to retail presence, in a world where much of the traction continues to remain online, offering a 'real' experience to the users through physical stores should help Timex gain a strong foothold in the business. However, most wearables brands in the market today have some technical experience (such as in mobile phones, which is very different from the analog watch market). When it comes to technical expertise, therefore, traditional watchmakers might be on the back foot to begin with. Only time and experience will make the playing field more level.
Raj Nimesh
Senior market analyst, client devices, IDC India
Senior market analyst, client devices, IDC India
