



Why India is becoming a key market for mid-luxury Swiss watches
Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer is riding India’s growing middle class to bet that localized retail sales can offset a falling global appetite for high-end Swiss timepieces. The LVMH-owned brand plans to open boutique shops rather than rely on third-party distributors to shore up sales in a volatile luxury market.As parent LVMH struggles with a profit slide, India’s demand for Swiss watches has defied the downturn, surging more than 26% early this year.
Tag Heuer, with its move into Noida this week, hopes that this will make India the leader across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in five years.The push stems from consumers increasingly preferring local boutiques to duty-free shopping trips. This ‘buy-at-home’ trend is helping global brands firm up investments in physical stores in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, even though they remain cautious about scaling.Yet, Indians are still stuck at entry-level watches, where sales are at €3,000, about 25% below Tag’s global average.
The Swiss major is keen on converting these first-time buyers into long-term collectors of high-end watches.“India, for the last three years, has been working very well. Last year we decided to start back the retail journey in order to be well positioned for the next years,” Guillaume Boilot, managing director, EMEA, Tag Heuer, told Mint.Along with this brand, LVMH group’s watch portfolio includes Hublot and Zenith.India’s luxury watch market has been gaining ground even as global demand remains uneven.
Read on livemint.com