Swiss luxury watch brand Raymond Weil says its business growth in the India is slower compared with that in China due to policy and infrastructure bottlenecks. Raymond Weil watches are priced between ₹50,000 and ₹5lakh. In an interview with Business Line , Olivier Bernheim, President & CEO, Raymond Weil, outlines the growth prospects of the brand. Started by Bernheim’s father-in-law Raymond Weil, the brand is keeping up with design and changing times for its consumers, he says. Edited excerpts:

Is watch as a category becoming redundant with smart-watches and other digital time-keeping devices invading consumer’s wish list?

Luxury watch has evolved from being a time keeping device. It is another lifestyle product. There is a steady demand for luxury goods and same is the case for watches. It takes 18 months to bring out a watch, from conception to design.

Raymond Weil set up a subsidiary four years back. How has this helped in scaling up the brand?

We set up the subsidiary anticipating huge growth. However, issues like high duty structure and necessary retail infrastructure are coming in way of huge growth. Compare this with growth in China, which has been huge due to the retail atmosphere and favourable government policies. Also, the market in India is controlled by dealers unlike big retail chains in the west.

What is your retail presence in India?

We have six mono-brand stores and are present at 70 multi brand outlets pan-India. Our next phase of expansion will see us adding four more stores by 2016. We will also be going to tier 2 and 3 markets.

What about ecommerce as a platform? Are you looking to explore it considering it is the fastest growing channel?

Ecommerce offers immense opportunity and we may look at in the future. However, the discounting practise in India makes it unattractive. Hence, currently, we are not promoting it in a big way.

Several luxury watch brands have undertaken a price rationalisation for the Indian market. Have you also undertaken a similar exercise?

If you are asking about price cut, we have never undertaken one. But if someone were to ask me globally which place offers the cheapest Swiss watches, then I would say it India.

What about revenues from the Indian operations?

India contributes less than one per cent to our total sales turnover.

We are highly bullish that this number will go up as the new Government and policies stabilise. We are a privately-held company, therefore, we cannot disclose the exact numbers.

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