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Repositioning Strategies of Titan Final Project
Repositioning Strategies of Titan Final Project
PROJECT REPORT
ON
(Title Of The Project Report in CAPITAL)
SUBMITTED TO
INDIRA INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT,
NAVI MUMBAI
BY
(Name of the student in CAPITAL)
Roll No.
Batch No
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
MASTER OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES (MMS),
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
MONTH, 2015
1
DECLARATION
I, Mr./Ms. __________________
hereby declare that this project report is the record of authentic
work carried out by me during the period from --------to----------and
has not been submitted to any other University or Institute for the
award of any degree / diploma etc.
Signature
Name of the student
Date
2
CERTIFICATE FROM THE
COMPANY/ORGANISATION
3
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. / Ms.
----------- to ------------- .
Signature
Name
Project Guide (Internal)
Date :`
Counter signed by
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Director
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Many brands and companies are constantly reinvigorating their businesses and
positioning them for growth. There is a constant need to innovate, reinvigorate,
update, recalibrate, or just simply fend off the competition in an effort to
better explain "why buy me."
Brand positioning creates a specific place in the market for the brand and
product offerings. It reaches a certain type of consumers and delivers benefits that
meet the needs of several key target groups and users.
In recent times, consumerism has undergone a sea change. Consumers today are
well informed about the products, as compared to earlier times. Hence, the
marketplace has become customer centric. Recognizing the importance of the
customers in the business structure, companies have started effecting brand
repositioning exercises on a regular basis.
In the recent times, a major brand repositioning exercise has been planned by Titan
Industries Ltd. in order to provide more to its customers. The company has first gone
for change in logo and tagline. Then the communication strategy has been
revamped to convey its new position. The present study consists of reviewing
the positioning strategies of Titan watches. An analysis of repositioning
strategies of Titan also forms part of the study.
The main objective of the study is to broadly understand the overall wrist
watch industry in India. Secondarily to study the brand positioning and re-positioning
strategy of Titan wrist watches and to find out whether the loyal consumers of titan
watches are aware of the new positioning strategies of the company and how they
perceive them.
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TABLE OF C O N T E N T S
Chapter No. Title Page No.
1 Introduction Approx No. of Pages. 05-07
1.1 Relevance of the Project
1.2 Introduction of the Topic
1.3 Objectives of the Study
1.4 Statement of Hypothesis
1.5 Scope of the Study
1.6 Rational of the Study
1.7 Limitations of the Study
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“STUDY OF INDIAN WRIST
WATCH INDUSTRY AND
REPOSITIONING STRATEGY
OF TITAN WATCHES”
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PREFACE
The Indian watch industry began in the year 1961 with the commissioning of the
watch division of HMT. The first watch model manufactured by HMT was the
Janata model in the year 1962. HMT was the leader in the watch market till
the Tata’s formed Titan Watches in association with Tamil Nadu Industrial
Development Corporation in the year 1987. Titan was the first company to
launch quartz watches in India.
The Indian watch market is today of 40 million units, out of which 60% is in the
unorganized sector in which the maximum number of watches are sold are
below Rs.300. Quartz watches form two third of the organized sector and the rest is
split between mechanical and digital watches. Even in the organized sector, three
fourth of the sales by volume comes from watches that are priced below Rs.1000.
Watch is one of the consumer durables whose replacement rate is very high. The
replacement rate of watch is 33.8 %( Source: India market demographics report,
1998). This is also due to the fact that the estimated scrap rate of wrist watches is
7.8%, which is applicable after 6 years (Source: India market demographics report,
1998).
So, due to high scrap rate, outdated models, and the shift from the mechanical
watches to the quartz watches it is causing a very high replacement demand
for watches. This along with the low penetration level represents the untapped
market potential for watches in India.After liberalization of Indian economy in
1992 many international players have entered the Indian Watch market posing
as competitive threat to the Indian companies.
Lately Titan has tried to reposition its Brand to capture more segments of the watch
market retaining the already served market segment. The strategy has been studied in
deep during the project.
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Chapter 1- Introduction
1.1 Object of the Project
Final Project is an integral part of the MMS program. These projects helps us to
understand and gain a real insight into the Indian wrist watch industry and the
repositioning strategies of Titan Company Ltd.. This experience is very important as
students gain valuable knowledge and helps in improving skills .
The main objective of the project is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Titan
Company Ltd as compared to its competitors.
1. It provides an opportunity to work on live projects.
Theory & Concept"A business has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing
and innovation." -Peter
Drucker
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Brand repositioning has received little attention in the marketing literature and has
mostly been treated as a variation of brand positioning. Biel, for example, has defined
brand positioning as "building (or rebuilding) an image for a brand". The goal of
positioning and repositioning strategies relates to the management of consumers'
perceptions. However, positioning focuses on the creation of brand associations
- consumers' perceptions of the attributes that differentiate the brand from competitive
offers – while repositioning also implies managing existing brand associations. The
unique challenge of a repositioning strategy, thus, lies in rejuvenating the brand
image to make it relevant in an evolving environment, while honoring the
brand equity heritage.
Repositioning can be required as the market changes and new opportunities occur.
Through repositioning the company can reach customers they never intended to reach
in the first place. If a brand has been established at the market for some time and wish
to change their image they can consider repositioning, although one of the hardest
actions in marketing is to reposition a familiar brand.
During repositioning, the risk of losing the credibility and reliability is high and the
need for a thorough strategy is therefore necessary to avoid this occurrence.
Some analyst argue that to successfully reposition a establish brand name is almost
impossible because repositioning of a brand can make the most loyal customer
to switch brand. But, in some circumstances a repositioning is necessary to
gain credibility if the brand is eroded. Whenever a reposition is in question it has to be
of relevance from a customer perspective, is this achievable? Some brands will on no
account be thought on as a luxury brand and therefore an attempt to reposition will
only damage the brand image or the actual company.
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The strategic importance of brand repositioning in preserving and enhancing brand
equity, coupled with the mixed results of repositioning attempts, underscores the need
to develop a better understanding of the dynamics of brand repositioning.
Specifically, questions of whether, when and how brands should be
repositioned need to be addressed.
This study would help titan industry to understand the gaps in its
communication strategy regarding brand repositioning exercises and the further
measures to be taken for effective marketing communications.
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not up to the mark . The company intends to find out the causes and remedies for the
low customer satisfaction.
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Supplier Power:
HMT has its own fully integrated operation for production of its watches. Titan has
its own production facilities for which it has invested roughly 120 crore rupees over
the years, the manufacturing capacity of which is 6 million units. Also there has been
a rise of low cost producers in China & Taiwan which has provided an opportunity for
watch makers to outsource watches at low cost, just as Titan has done to outsource the
components for Dash. Due to the large supply of watch movements available, there is
little supplier power in the watch market.
Buyer Power:
The Indian watch buyers are very price sensitive, especially in the lower end of the
market. There is still a huge untapped market in India with market penetration of only
20 units per thousand people while the world average is more than 100. At the same
time there are a segment of people who are willing to pay a premium for watches with
good performance and with a recognized brand name. So understanding the buyers’
preferences is very crucial in this industry in order to gain a substantial market share.
Entry Barriers:
The Indian watch market in the recent years has shown a dramatic increase in the
number of brands available in the market due to removal of quantitative restrictions.
So the new entrant has to have an offering, which can be positioned and differentiated
from the other players in the market. This could be either price or functional or
emotional appeal. So the prime barrier for entry, in the current context, for a new
entrant is to build a brand image and price competitively.
Threat of Substitutes:
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There are no such substitutes to watch as a product. However, in terms of the
companies offering various variations for watches such as pendant watches and
jewellery watches, some sort of substitution has developed. Rich consumers prefer to
purchase watches more as a fashion accessory rather than simply for its typical use.
Degree of Rivalry:
There are many companies in the Indian watch market, however, the product ranges
offered by them are manifold. This makes the competition very stiff. Also at the
lower end of the market it is basically the Value for Money, which differentiates the
players. The strategic stakes for the producers are very high. Titan Ltd., the largest
company in terms of market share in the organized sector has faced losses in the
quarter ended June 2001 despite increase in the market share due to macroeconomic
situation. HMT faced a similar situation when Titan was introduced in the 1980s
leading to a sharp fall in its market share.
The Indian watch market is today of 40 million units, out which 60% is in the
unorganized sector in which the maximum number of watches are sold are below
Rs.500. Quartz watches form two thirds of the organized sector and the rest is split
between mechanical and digital watches. Even in the organized sector, three fourth of
the sales by volume comes from watches that are priced below Rs.2500.
Plastic as such is not acceptable to average Indian consumers, especially those from
the small towns and rural areas who regard it as cheap and flimsy. They want
toughness- which translates into a good quality metal model at a reasonable price.
Watch is one of the consumer durables whose replacement rate is very high. The
replacement rate of watch is 33.8% . This is also due to the fact that the estimated
scrap rate of wrist watches is 7.8%, which is applicable after 6 years So due to high
scrap rate, outdated models, and the shift from the mechanical watches to the quartz
watches is causing a very high replacement demand for watches. This along with the
low penetration levels represent the untapped market potential for watches in India.
The major players in the Indian watch market include HMT, Titan and Timex. The
other players include Westar, Shivaki, Maxima, SITCO. Foreign brands such as
Cartier, Piaget, Omega, Tiffany’s and Corrum, Gucci, Longines, Casio, Citizen, Tag
Heuer and Espirit are also making an inroad into the Indian market.Titan has been
consolidating its market share over the past decade. Timex watches, which entered in
India with collaboration with Titan, now independently has also gained substantial
market share.
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2.1.2 TITAN INDIA:
Titan Industries was established in 1984 as a joint venture between the Tata Group
and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation. The company brought about
a paradigm shift in the Indian watch market, offering quartz technology with
international styling, manufactured in a state-of-the-art factory at Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
Leveraging its understanding of different segments in the watch market, the company
launched a second independent watch brand-Sonata, as a value brand to those seeking
to buy functionally styled watches at affordable prices. In addition it focused on the
youth with its third brand – Fastrack. It has also premium fashion watches by
acquiring a license for global brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss, while.
It has also in its portfolio its first Swiss Made watch brand – Xylys.
In 1995, the company diversified into jewellery under the brand – Tanishq to
capitalize on a fragmented market operating with no brands in urban cities. In 2005,
the company launched its second Jewellery brand, Gold Plus, for capitalizing on the
opportunity in small towns and rural India.
The company has now diversified into fashion Eyewear by launching Fastrack Eye-
Gear sunglasses, as well as Prescription Eyewear. The Company leveraged its
manufacturing competencies and branched into Precision Engineering Products and
Machine Building from 2003.
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Today Titan Industries is India's leading manufacturer of watches and jewellery
employing 3,800 people. Titan and Tanishq are among the most admired brands in
their categories.
2.1.3 Products
The company manufactures over 8 million watches per annum and has a customer
base of over 80 million. It has manufacturing and assembly operations at Hosur,
Dehradun, Roorkee and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and an ECB plant in Goa. Its
main products are:
Watches : Currently manufactures four main watch brands viz. Titan for the
premium segment,
Fastrack
– focused on the youth and trendy fashion space,
Sonata
for the mass market and
Xylys
for the premium market. The Titan brand architecture comprises several sub-brands,
each of which is a leader in its segment. Notable among them are:
Titan Edge
– The world's slimmest watch which stands for the philosophy of
"less is more";
Titan Raga
– the feminine and sensuous accessory for today's woman,
Nebula
- crafted in solid gold and precious stones and several other collections like
Wall Street, Heritage , Regalia, Octane, Orion, Diva, Zoop, WWF and the Aviator
series, all of which form a part of the Titan wardrobe. Sonata is today India's largest
watch selling brand and is priced between Rs 295/- and Rs 1200/-. The company's
first Swiss Made watch – Xylys is for the hi-end connoisseur and new age achiever. It
also markets Tommy Hilfiger watches under a licensing arrangement and is
introducing Hugo Boss.
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Today, the Titan portfolio has about 65% of the domestic market share in the
organized watch market. The company has 255 exclusive showrooms christened
'World of Titan' , making it amongst the largest chains in its category. Titan watches
are sold through over 12,000 outlets in over 2,500 cities and internationally in over 30
countries, primarily in the Middle-East and Asia Pacific. Its after-sales-service is itself
a benchmarked operation with a network of 750 service centres and amongst the
world's fastest turnaround times. The company has a world-class design studio for
watches and accessories.
Jewellery :
Tanishq is India's largest and fastest growing jewellery brand with a premium range
of gold jewellery studded with diamonds or coloured gems and a wide range in 22kt
pure gold. Platinum jewellery is also a part of the product range Tanishq is one of
India's largest speciality retailers and is transforming the jewellery market in India
102 boutiques in 72 cities across the country. ‘Gold Plus' is the recent retail offering
for the mass market with plain gold jewellery selling through 19 stores in 19 towns.
The jewellery division has its own design stud.
Eye wear :
Titan Eye+ is currently on a pilot mode with 5 stores in 2 cities and has sunglasses
under Fastrack brand and prescription eyewear consisting of Frames, Lenses,
Sunglasses, Accessories and Contact Lenses of in-house brands and other premium
brands.
Precision Engineering
Awards
Being named the No.1 Brand in the Consumer Durables category in the
"Brand Equity" Survey of The Economic Times, a leading Indian financial
daily.
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The Titan Design Team won the Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year
award at the design awards instituted by the National Institute of Design and
Business World, a leading Indian magazine. The team has won 7
accreditations also.
Titan has won the Brand Leadership award at the India Brand
Summit.
The Time Products Division of the company was awarded the JRD
QV Award in 2006.
Brand equity: TITAN has a very strong brand image. People know TITAN
because of its quality and reliability.
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Industrial relations: company has very good industrial relations. Till today
company did not encounter any kind of labor or industrial relations problem
which can put company in to jeopardy.
Weaknesses:
No emphasis on R&D and design . TITAN did not pay much attention to
aesthetics and design. While its competitor titan kept innovating its products
with latest technology, features and design, TITAN was still grappling with its
basic design models.
Retailer policy: TITAN did not have control measures over its retailers;
hence they lost control over prices and the trade.
Lack of team spirit and awareness: TITAN’s motivational strategies-
punishment/reward have been inadequate, resulting in low utilization of
human and machine capacities.
Trade audits: No regular trade audit was being carried out by the company to
check what was actually happening in the market.
Management levels: The ground level TITAN staff has nearly six rungs of
bureaucracy to go through before a general manager in sales or marketing
could take a field decision.
Opportunities:
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Product improvement: Company can manufacture product based on current
customer preferences, combining technology and aesthetic appeal together to
enhance the experience.
Threats:
Unorganized manufacturing
2.2 DistributionNetwork:
Titan firmly believes in providing total customer convenience in shopping. This fact
is justified by the location of their outlets and the recent move by the company to go
in for a major renovation of all the WORLD OF TITAN show rooms updating it to
modern selling concepts, saving space, making it more attractive for the customer,
easy maintenance, a show room which stands out from the rest. This has been done to
the highest standards taking care of even of the minute details.
Titan’s retail operations are a mix of company-owned and franchisee outlets, with the
idea being to ensure a dominant presence in all market areas through different kinds
of stores, and to assure the availability of every Titan product. Titan has concentrated
on customer perspective, and have engineered the entire chain to suit different
customers.
Titan concentrates more on the customer theme. Earlier there was no attempt in the
retailing sector to entice customer to buy a watch, but Titan has tried to bring the
brand to the customer in an appropriate setting. The company does this through its
`World of Titan’ show rooms.
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The franchisee is a critical cog in Titan’s retail matrix. The company organizes
various programmes for franchisees, their managers and customer relationships
officers. These include training workshops and seminars on market trends, visual
merchandising, store operations and maintenance, and customer service initiative.
However, the real challenge in retailing is managing the franchisee network through
processes and systems that ensure a superior brand experience for every customer.
Franchisee relationship management is important because of increasing competition,
not only from the watch business but also from other business in the retail industry.
Besides the franchisees and its own showrooms, Titan sells its product through other
outlets as well. Among them are the Time Zone stores, which stock all the leading
brands, and the Value Mart outlets, which operate in Bangalore and Chennai and sell
surplus – to export watches at a discount. For its many customers Titan has Tata
Signet, a 1,36,000 member club that looks to build relationships through rewards,
regular discounts and special offers. Customers can also count on a service-centre
network that’s 550-strong and spread over 30-odd cities and towns across the country.
The service centers have been deliberately kept apart from Titan’s showrooms. The
business is different and the customer is in two different moods at the two places
Titan’s blueprint for the future including making watches for international
heavyweights such as YSL, Christian Dior and Gucci. Titan believes there is huge
potential at the designer end of the market. The marketing investment is however
lower because “the brand is doing the marketing for you”. Also on the anvil are
specialty stores for niche customers, and an expansion into product categories like
sunglasses and leather goods.
However, it is staying ahead of the competition that is the overall priority: “We have
to ensure Titan has the best wristwatch store in any given city or town”. You don’t
really have to watch this space for confirmation on that count.
Titan stores can be broadly classified into 4 stores each having its different features
making TITAN attractive to everyone.
WORLD OF TITAN
experience the touch of Titan, all you have to do is walk into the stylish World of
Titan showroom anywhere in India. Prepare to be floored by the cool international
ambience and the staggering choice of over a 1000 watches and trendy accessories.
And because the customer has to be given special treatment, we deliver your gifts,
offer gift vouchers for your loved ones, and what’s more, we invite you to join the
Signet Club, our loyalty programme with lots of special privileges. Come closer to us
at The World of Titan!The world of Titan is the biggest among all stores of the
company and is an exclusive dealer in Titan watches. These showrooms are generally
about 1000-2000 sq.ft and have an extensive range of watches. These showroom are
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the major revenue generators of the company and every 5 years the showroom is fully
done up updating it to modern international standards.
TIME ZONE
Titan Industries brings together the country’s leading watch brands under one roof,
providing the customer with variety in brands, looks and price ranges backed by
efficient after-sales service. Presenting Time Zones – the chain of trusted watch
shops. Conveniently located, these 1142 Time Zones across 89 towns offer you the
complete watch shopping experience.
VALUE MART
These outlets sell surplus stocks of Titan watches at reduced prices, offering fabulous
value for money with the same warranty as a regular, full-priced watch. These
concepts in the recent past have caught up with any product with it being total value
for money. However these shops would not be placed in the main locations so as to
interfere with the working of the normal shops. This is to make the customer go to the
shop rather than the shop calling the customer and hence the locations are not very
suitable for shopping.
SONATA STORE
If you’re looking for Sonata watch, visit these exclusive Sonata outlets which also
have an Authorised Service Centre for Sonata & Titan brands. The idea of a Sonata
store came upto cater to the large scale demand for the watch and to open Titan to
more customers. More over these shops had full stocks of the watch in demand
whereas the others could afford to maintain only limited stock
Since its introduction, Titan has been positioned as a premium brand, providing high
quality products. With its numerous sub-brands catering to different segments, the
challenge that Titan faces is to create a strong brand image. It follows different
positioning strategies, these strategies can also be analyzed as given below:
Attribute Positioning:
When the company launched its products, it was the first to bring quartz watches
to the Indian market. The company successfully leveraged this to penetrate the
market and gain a market share. Raga, Classique and Regalia come under this
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strategy. Classique has been positioned as elegant corporate wear that leaves a
quiet, but definite impression and fusion of function and sophistication. Power
dressing now has a new weapon! As Magic in gold and bicolour look, the 'Regalia'
range represents the essence of dress-wear. Raga has been differentiated and
positioned as exclusive watches for women. The Raga and Silver Raga collection
is elegant, delicate and feminine with each piece being truly unique.
User Positioning:
Titan caters to several user groups- children (the Dash), sportspersons and
adventurers (PSI4000 and Fastrack range). The Fastrack range is seen as being
contemporary, sturdy and reliable. The advertising, packaging and merchandising
of this range is young, vibrant and ‘cool’ (the ad line says “Cool watches by
Titan”)
Benefit Positioning:
The Fastrack Digital range offers the customer a functional watch that is also
attractive. The digital watch has a “techno-geek” image, but Titan seeks to
differentiate its offering on the basis of superior style and attractiveness.
Competitor Positioning:
With the entry of several foreign watchmakers into the market,Titan had to
counter the threat. Most of the entrants are catering to the upper end of the market-
Omega, Tissot, Cartier etc. Titan already had the Tanishq brand in this segment.
However, it has tried to reposition this brand by increasing the price range to
encourage more customers.
POSITIONING
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TITAN PERSPECTIVE
Titan initially pioneered the concept of "Gifting watches". The ads captured the
essence of gifting and along with the trendy music, easily caught the imagination of
the market. Customers who were fed up with ugly time machines welcomed the brand
and Titan had a dream run for many years. Titan then moved away from gifting. Titan
was positioning itself as a fashion accessory rather than a time keeping device.
Titan also found its persona in Mr. Aamir khan which provided the much needed
edge to the brand. Titan was careful in keeping the brand above the celebrity. The ads
were fresh and neatly executed. The idea was to make watches that would be seen as
style and fashion accessories rather than just utilitarian devices. The company
decided to use Aamir in brand and product communication on television and in the
print and outdoor media. Though, the vast distribution and service network of TIL had
served as an effective entry barrier in the 1990s, foreign brands were becoming
increasingly popular in the early 2000s, thanks to the paradigm shifts in the retail
scenario and the growing affluence of the Indian consumers.
And TIL found that it was not safe even at the bottom of the pyramid. The grey
market with cheap Chinese imports and the unorganized sector had cornered a sizable
chunk of the low-end market. The appointment of Aamir Khan as brand ambassador
for the Titan brand was seen as an attempt to broad base the appeal of the Titan
brand.
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Titan also was pushing another strategy. Watches were perceived as a onetime buy
and consumers seldom owned multiple watches. So Titan pushed the concept of
"Matching Watches to Clothes" in the recent commercials. Since men are becoming
more serious customers of fashion accessories, this is strategy that is worth trying out.
For Titan, even if the concept fails, It has created the much needed freshness in the
brand.
Earlier Fastrack was targeted at 20-25 year olds and positioned along the line "Cool
watches from Titan". Then the company found out that the youth in the age group of
11-20 years account for 42% of watch buying in India. Based on this insight, the
company relaunched the brand lowering the target segment to 18-30 year olds with
the baseline “How many you have?". Again the strategy aimed at promoting the
multiple watch owning concepts. Fastrack also launched a range of fashion
accessories like Sunglasses trying to be a lifestyle brand
WATCHES
Raga
“The slimmest watch in the universe”All good things are packaged small. Or we can
say they are packaged slim. Titan presents a large range of Titan Edge watches –the
slimmest in the world. Clean –cut, elegant designs that speak of who you are. Go
ahead , choose a style that says so much with so little. And you can see it is adding an
edge to your persona.
Orion
A unique range of watches inspired by the astral wonders of the universe. The
collection celebrates the intelligence and masculinity of today’s men.
Octane
“Be speed, Be more”A range of high octane sports watches personifying speed and
power with multi-functions, retrograde, analog-digital and chronograph.➢
Nebula
Inspired by the noble metal. Titan presents a classic collection of stunning jewelry
watches-NEBULA. Crafted superbly from 18 karat solid gold and inlaid with precious
stones, each piece comes with a lifetime guarantee.
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Zoop
Titan presents Zoop- timepieces for young stars. Take your pick from floral, butterfly,
duckling, and base ball themed watches or go digital with features such as dual time,
countdown timer, 50 yr calendar, compass, stopwatch, alarm, EL backlight and more.
WWF
Titan & WWE have joined hands to celebrate the beauty & behavior of six
endangered species with the launch of six new animal themed watches. A part of the
proceeds from every watch sale is contributed to WWE towards the preservation of
these animal.
Raga
“Unveil the real you, Be more” The magic of ornate motifs and blushing enamel casts
a spell on you. From intricate dials glowing with inner radiance, to delicate bracelets
that flow around you in familiar embrace. The essence of woman, Revealed at last.
FAST TRACK
Titan Fast track is positioned as an essential thing for the trendy youth of today. With
its special offerings it is really serving the urban youth. Its strongest offerings are
availability and affordability.
Titan Eye+ of Titan Industries offers sunglasses under its Fastrack brand. Prescription
eyewear such as lenses and contact lenses is also part of the range. Titan Eye+
offers frames, sunglasses, and accessories of Titan Industries’ in-house brands as
well as other premium brands.
Fast track was spun of as independent brand of watches targeting the urban youth In
2005. Since then it has carved a niche for itself with designs that were refreshingly
different and affordable. During that time, Fastrack also extended its footprint into eye
gear and in the last 4 years has quickly notched up the title of being the largest
sunglass brand in the country.
Fastrack has now chartered into newer categories – bags, belts, wallets and wrist
bands – as part of its vision to become a complete fashion brand for the youth. With
enough categories to fill up one cool store, Fastrack has ‘moved on’ to open its
own stores for its young consumers. The store is positioned as a complete
accessories destination with all Fastrack gear under one roof.
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Titan Fast Track provides an impressive range of stylish and contemporary
eyewear, through exclusive optical outlets. Currently, Titan Fast Track boasts 70
stores across 41 cities. Titan Fast Track heralded standardisation by benchmarking
with the world’s best, in sync with the TATA principles of quality and trust. Sales
counters now offer products and services of international quality standards coupled
with transparency in pricing, style, and upbeat designs.
Tanishq
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In order to compete with the regional players tanishq introduced the
concept of ‘consistency in delivering promise’
Tanishq is known for its ability to develop specialized design
collection. It is the only jewelers that houses a full fledged design
studio with a team of several international award winning Indian
designers.
Offer a totally new perspective to jewelry buying especially when it
comes to exquisite oriental jewelry.
Pricing Objectives:
Titan consists of watches that cater to various segments and to various categories and
so their pricing strategy is also in accordance to their products and the features offered
by them cashing in on monopoly, unique features, outstanding performance and the
name TITAN.
PRICING METHOD MARK UP PRICING – Titan goes in for the mark up pricing
strategy. The Titan product carries a maximum retail price on it. Now shops such as
the world of titan – exclusive showrooms buy directly from the dealer and hence the
element of the middleman is not there.
A retailer in this category buys the watch for 17-18% lesser than the MRP and hence
he is able to get the 17% profit margin on sales. It is up to the discretion of the retailer
to offer any discount on the MRP as it would affect what he gets in return. In the
recent past Titan has also used the
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to say the international presence of an Indian Watch. Titan has also in the past done so
for its steel collection but using Commercial Advertisements.
There is always a positive relationship between high prices, high quality, and a high
advertising budget. Titan too demonstrates this feature. People are willing to pay the
price for the quality and titan spends 25 crores a year on advertising its products. This
is the highest spending done in the watch industry in India. More so ever with high
value and lower prices in case of the sonata, the product is the heart throb in the watch
industry.
The main plank of the watch market is in the less-than-Rs.1,000 price category.
Effectively, about 70 per cent of the sales in the watch industry in India is in this
category. None of the foreign brands has a presence in this category. Only cheap
Chinese watches are present in this bracket and they compete with the unorganized
manufacturers, who are more expensive than them. So, the unorganized sector is
getting hit from the bottom by Chinese products and at the top by the organized sector
brands, such as Sonata.
LOWER SEGMENT
The SONATA Brand which proudly emphasizes it to be a TATA product is the watch
for the common man and for the lower class of the society. Pricing itself between
Rs.300 – Rs.900 is Titan’s fastest selling watch. This watch was launched to make
titan everybody’s company from the image of it being a Richman’s company.
Watches were offered for as low as Rs.300 with a guarantee of 1 year and the styles
were very appealing for the price. Titan in this case has followed the Penetration
policy. Maxima Quartz is a competitor with similar offerings at Rs.350. The lower
end market being price sensitive, such pricing used to drive away competition,
making people buy the product to make one trust what a Titan is all about was
promptly why this low price was offered. There are many in the stable such as the
Exacta, Spectra and Fast Track which is priced at what one would pay for a simple
but impressive watch. These watches deliver value for money with Titan’s name and
the innovation done by the company to deliver better models at the same price.
The TITAN market share is actually growing because of the increased share that has
been cornered in the Rs.1,000 – 2,000 range, which is the main strength for Titan plus
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a growing contribution from people upgrading to Rs.1,500 range. In the last 2 years
TITAN has been introducing lot of products in this range and have been growing in
this segment. The Indian watch market itself is expanding in the price bracket of
greater-than-Rs.2,500. This has been happening for the last couple of years. The
greater-than-Rs.2,500 price bracket is the highest growth category, though it might be
a small contributor to the total watch market. This segment is growing because of the
interest that has been created by the international brands. Titan was quick to launch
the steel collection, the world watch and its bandhan, insignia comes in these ranges.
Titan used its technological prowess as its unique selling point. Priced in the
Rs..4,500-Rs.5000 range, Titan targeted the brand at the techno-savy consumer
looking for a prestigious watch, who would otherwise go in for a foreign brand.
`The WORLD WATCH TITAN’S’ latest offering to the Indian market is a watch
which is made in India but which shows off a truly international look with styling rare
to the Indian market. This is a product which none of the Indian watch makers can
offer as of today but meets with competition from foreign players like Swatch and
Esprit. The watches taken out are priced between Rs.2700 – Rs.5500. This range of
pricing can be associated with Skim the cream pricing used by titan. These watches
represented true international quality for an Indian price.
The same watch by Calvin Klein would cost the Indian customer about 4 times a titan
watch and hence he would prefer the titan watch for the same value for lesser price.
There has been societal changes and a growing demand for these price watches with
the culture of the west coming in and the smart move to get these watches to India.
The Indian consumer is still a price sensitive player even though it be a high value
product.
The NEBULA is Titan’s price catch and is also watch selling in top of the line. These
solid gold watches gracefully and elegantly shows off richness of the gold and the
design makes it stand out from a regular gold watches. Preferred on occasions of
Diwali and marriages it is priced between 10000 to 40000. Titan is able to do so for
the reason it is a pure gold watch and the same time no one else in the market can
offer these watches. A pure gold watch for a festival or marriage would be 90% of the
times bought by titan.
Thus whatever may be the price titan carefully chooses it to see that its product is able
to survive, rise and become the product leader and at times after skimming the market
it attains price leadership with cutting prices slightly or waiting for competition to
come in and promote the market. One final statement that can be made is the
objectives and the price go hand in hand as it should always go.
Titan has tried to achieve a balance of cost focus and differentiation focus. By this we
mean that in the lower - end (Popular segment) of the market, it seeks to achieve a
cost advantage by exploiting the differences in cost behavior. In the mid-and higher–
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end (Mid Premium segment) of the market, it seeks differentiation by providing better
designs.
Titan once a year comes out with a Price discount sale on the MRP of the watches.
Now this is entirely based on the stock carried by the company at the year end.
Allowances are more on the company to the retailer where the retailer gets a special
allowance if the store picks up more than a certain quantity.
Titan promotes sales by adding a free warranty or service contract to its watches and
this is backed up by the name TATA which is especially needed to convince and
march ahead in the lower segment market.
The differences in the prices of the watches are justified by the features, the style, and
the differences which makes up each watch. Titan prices all its watches in such a way
that it maximizes the total profit on the total mix.
Captive Product Pricing There is a general buzz in the market about titan being
more expensive than the rest in terms of servicing and the parts used by TITAN. Titan
watches, the lower end ones are cheap but the straps and the battery with services is
generally expensive.
For the past few months, the one-point agenda of the Tata group has been to bring
about synergy among its individual companies, and to promote Tata as a single,
unified, central brand. “The Tata’s have realized that many of their companies are
addressing the same target clientele and share a common customer base. So it makes
sound business sense to synergies the marketing efforts for these companies.
The main reason behind Tata doing this was the results of a survey which revealed
that: “the Tata brand is like sameone who is established, but not modern, large but not
focused, profitable but not in top gear, a warm person but not efficient, Tata group is
so large and fragmented that the central brand gets lost in the vastness of the empire.
As a result, the top-of-the-mind recall of the Tata brand-pegged at Rs.10,000 crore –
is not so strong amongst its various products, be it Taj hotels, Titan watches or
Westside garments.
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Tata has come to realize that their biggest asset is their name TATA and not their
factories and hence like the value of the assets the value of a brand can also come
down and so is the name coming down, now the Tata Brand Equity and Business
Promotion Agreement states that – advertisements and commercials by any Tata
company must carry the TATA mark.
The Tata’s may be a 102-year-old company, but they want to be seen as a young,
contemporary, new, entity”,. Besides evolving a central brand for all companies, the
Tata group has also redefined its objectives and laid down three key themes that
would guide the philosophy of the “new Tatas” – global, futuristic and modern. The
target audience? Generation next.The Tata Open The battle ground for this new
strategy of synergy started with the Tata Open (India’s biggest tennis tournament)
held every year in December – January. The tata’s have paid Rs.10 crore for the three-
year contract. For the Tatas themselves, it meant more than just sponsorship – it
signaled the beginning of a new era in the Tata regime.
One of the main reasons for the sponsor of this event is “Global event like these
provide a great opportunity to corporates to satisfy their marketing objectives and
cross-promote their brands”,Creative AdvertisingTitan introduced a contest on
cartoonnetworkindia.com which invites children to use their creativity and
imagination to design a watch. The prize –winning design was launched as a new
watch in the Summer 2002 collection and the winner received the first watch of this
collection. The Top 5 won a Dash! Watch each and all participants were awarded
certificates. Type Of Advertising Titan believes in making its ads clean, well made,
touch an emotional chord, convey the message, have catchy jungles and make an
impact. The use of celebrities, superstars is not there. These only ad to the expense
packet of the company and companies only catering to the niche market of the upper
cream like a Rolex or an Omega afford these. Majority of the people are rational
buyers and very rarely get carried away by celebrity endorsements. They also know
that they will eventually end up paying for such celebrity endorsement. Rich kids,
Young DINKS (Double income, no kids) and Yuppies may fall for such ads but not
ordinary people. At the end of the day, if your product or service is not good enough
or does not offer value for money, your advertising will get no where. Promotion On
Occasions
Titan is one of the companies which formally believes in the policy of promotion the
product based on the occasions of the calendar. With every occasion having a special
memory attached to it exploits this memory aspect and pushes its products. Not only
the promotion of the existing products is done on these occasions but new products
which would sell like hot cakes are launched for the sole reason it creates an impact in
the minds of customers and appeals to the occasion thus making it even more special.
In this context TITAN launched the
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acrylic being used together for stunning effect. This was launched for Valentines day
where the name scheme, The watch being advertised for (Fast track) as it pertains to
the youth, jewellery (for the youth), valentines day (more so for the youth) and adding
to the excitement is A LIMITED EDITION FASTRACK VALENTINE'S
COLLECTION that is being made available in four designs. Only 300 watches of
each design will be on sale across cities during this fortnight. These watches are
designed is steel with leather straps in the colors of the season – black, red and silver.
The dials are in matched colors with heart patterns, making the collection a true blend
of fashion and romance. "Young couples are looking for new ways to discover their
relationships and this set of special watches and matching jewellery from Fastrack,
gives them just the reason to do so. The `promotion was in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and
Bangalore from Feb 1–14.Musical Advertisements – Subtle Advertisements
With changes coming up in the way one advertises Titan has changed too from the
trend of constantly bombarding the consumer with the name of advertisements to
subtle advertising. Through this titan is reinforcing just the name Titan and not any
one of its products. The tune used by titan is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 24th
symphony as its signature tune. In the recent trend of advertising Titan uses only
music to get its message across, with the company name making only a brief
appearance.
Segmentation
Titan started its activity of marketing under the name TITAN as a brand not
promoting on basis of the models it had. Gradually when markets became more
demanding it felt that the brand needed to be segmented. This was in the years of 96
and onwards titan segmented because it felt the need that people know about different
brands and the target audience was easy to identify. This was because titan was just
entering the market and needed to meet specific people for their needs. For eg, it went
on with the regalia, sonata brand which met different needs of different sets of people
in the market. Thus titan got known among every one in the market cause they knew
what was in store for them from the titan's stable rather than just knowing that titan
manufactures watches.50 Million Concept Titan achieved the 50 million mark and
hence it had a great slogan to blow the trumpet loud. The 50 million concept signifies
the concept that 50 million happy faces who not only own but a sense of love, care
and prestige, associated with what the titan has given them and will be giving them.
This was aimed at all the categories with the smiling faces of the common man.
Seeing this one gets the message of 50 million watches, the landmark titan has
achieved, which means the name has metal in it and is something which can be trusted
at the same time the emotions portrayed in the ad make emotions run high in the
blood and one wants to be associated with the brand rather than buying some other
watch.
Strategic Implementations
Implementation is an integral part of strategy. Strategy is not just a set of ideas
removed from reality. It becomes visible only when you implement it. When Titan
entered Indian jewellery market it signaled an opportunity for an organized sector.
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The customer was moving towards branded goods in other segments. The concept of
brands was not familiar with the Indian customer. Titan did the process of creating
brands in the minds of customer. A consumer goes to Tanishq because she believes
the brand stands for purity and good design. This insight, along with the increasing
mobility of Indian customers, is helping Tanishq mature into a national jeweller.
Focus
The strategy that Titan adopted in recent years is that of focus. It has segmented the
market into different need groups and tailored its strategy to the exclusion of others.
By optimizing its strategy for the target segments, it seeks to achieve a competitive
advantage in its target segments. Market segmentation is concerned with identifying
differences in the buyer behaviour, allowing a firm to match its capabilities with
distinctive products and related marketing programs. Market segmentation tends to
focus on the marketing activities in the value chain in which Titan commands a very
formidable position. This also allows Titan to find out how it should serve each
segment.
Strategic implementation
Companies must have robust processes to develop strategies irrespective of the
personality of the CEO. `THE WORLD OF TITAN’ our exclusive showrooms for
watches are our assets. As retail formats change the role of the showrooms may also
change. Initiatives need to be prioritized. Some of the showrooms have been done up
last year. However we must start today. Pragmatism has also set in perhaps because of
the downturn. The depth to Equity ratio in titan is high where Titan faces a financial
risk and hence their current initiatives involve any thing which do not require much
financing.
Banners-Hoardings
It is not difficult to see TITAN hoardings displaying its prominence in the streets of
an urban city. The prime locations, next to dealer outlets hoardings with attractive,
clear, simple but catchy slogans are put up and a particular product or some times the
name TITAN in general. One of the hoarding promotes the World Watch where the
hoarding states “MADE IN INDIA” “CHERISHED IN GREECE”. Like this many
catchy ones are there. Older ones state “THE PERFECT VALENTINE GIFT” was
released a month before valentine’s day.SponsorshipTitan is involved in sponsoring
major events, culturals and other fests in colleges, schools and nation wide
happenings. This way of promotion gives it the extra mileage to increase its data base
by directly tapping the customers to convince them about a TITAN.
Revamping the titan Brand Image Titan after all its marketing efforts in the market is
going back to step one where it started when its first marketing activity concentrated
on titan name rather than the different watches it offered. Then came the segmentation
of the brand where every different product was advertised individually that is every
product got its own identity. Titan felt that the segmentations was high and the brands
have got their own name rather than titan being associated with them, so titan has
gone back to revamp the brand image and market this product on the name titan. For
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this all its ads from September 2003 onwards would focus on titan as a name, this
includes the showrooms are being re modeled to suit the strategy. The focus now is on
titan rather than fast track and regalia the logo would promote TITAN. The policy is
in accordance with the advertisement released on television which simply and subtly
promotes TITAN.
Seasonality One major way of promoting the titan product is through seasons. To
understand a little more about it for Example. During a wedding season or for Diwali
Titan promotes Nebula, Bandhan because there is demand for the product. Gold
watches and pairs are the likes of a wedding occasion., similarly the fast track brand is
promoted in the months of June – August when schools and colleges re open and
since these watches cater to the segments of youth, these watches get the extra
mileage on sales if promoted during these seasons.
Gifting Concept Titan initially started of as a brand which was associated with gifting
and relations. Today also titan is associated with the image it stated off with. The fight
concept sells well for people have come to associate titan with love, care and makes
emotions run high. More so ever the product is that of quality and style. The titan
Nebula and Bandhan would fall more aptly in this category and the Dash is promoted
with the gifting concept in mind because a parent gifts the child a watch.
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A Cricket Connection
Titan is targeting Super Fiber sales to come in mainly from the semi-urban markets --
and in keeping with its target group, the company has roped in Mahendra Singh
Dhoni, the young cricketing icon who hails from the small town of Ranchi in Eastern
India, as its brand ambassador.
Fragmented Categories Desai points out that a brand attempting to be among the
first branded presences in a fragmented category must first justify why the category
needs a brand in the first place. "There are good reasons why categories don't have
brands. It could be the artisan aspect of the category, like in the case of female ethnic
garments, or deep personal relationships like with jewelry, or it could be the sheer
price aspect like in commodities. You need to redefine the market and create a value
perception of a different kind that gives the consumers an overriding reason to shift to
a brand."
This is exactly what Titan did when it entered the jewelry market in 1994 with its
Tanishq brand. Tanishq not only brought a wide design expertise and a plush retail
environment to a segment which until then was limited to local family jewelers and
small set ups, but by being the first to introduce the karat meter to measure the exact
purity of gold, it brought the element of trust to the forefront. Before Titan, 'trust'
between the consumer and the jeweler was a factor of personal relationships. "The
reassurance of guarantee and purity in such a transparent manner was a great new
value addition that Tanishq brought to this category," says Desai.
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Chapter 3:
Review of literature
39
attitude towards a brand, and therefore the risk is great that the attempt to
repositioning might be unsuccessful.
After rolling out the strategy, it is time to modify the proposition through update of
the personality and through repositioning. There are benefits and risks with both of
this segments and it is of great significance that they are truly evaluated when
deciding the next step in the process. To further understand the stages stated above,
figure.1 will guide you through the different phases that follow after
establishing a brand proposition.
“Repositioning is built upon the change of unique and differentiated associations with
the brand in some kind of direction, it is about having a balance between the category
party and differentiation when using reposition strategies” (Leading brand strategist)
40
quantity aspects. When a company perceives the market as a demand curve, the
purpose is to down stretch or up stretch in this curve. When moving down it is often
spoken of as an expansion down wards, and when moving up and there is a need for
reaching the premium segment and expand up wards
understand that consumer’s minds are limited. People’s minds select what to
remember and it is therefore significant to convince the consumers with great
arguments. The market demand changes rapidly and therefore repositioning can be
necessary to meet these demands, newer and stronger arguments have to be
established to convince them to stay as loyal customers.
After examining the repositioning of several brands from the Indian market, the
following 8 types of repositioning have been identified. These are:
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o Increasing relevance to the consumer
o Increasing occasions for use
o 3.Making the brand serious
o Falling sales
o Bringing in new customers
o 6.Making the brand contemporary
o 7. Differentiate from other brands
o 8.Changed market conditions.
It is not always that these nine categories are mutually exclusive. Often one reason
leads to the other and a brand is repositioned sometimes for a multiplicity of reasons.
The benefits that can be derived from brand repositioning exercises can be
summarized as:
Value over others
Updated personality
Relevant position
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Therefore, brand repositioning is more difficult than initially positioning a brand
because one must first help the customer “unlearn” the current brand
positioning (easier said than done). Three actions can aid in this process:
(1) carefully crafted communication,
(2) new products, packaging, etc. that emphasize the new positioning and
(3) associations with other brands (co-branding, co-marketing, ingredient
branding, strategic alliances, etc.) that reinforce the new brand
positioning.This exercise is so critical to an organization’s success that the
organization’s leadership team and its marketing/brand management
leaders should develop it, preferably with the help and facilitation of an
outside brand-positioning expert.
43
intuition gained through the titbits of information about competitors every manager
continually receives.” As a result, traditional environmental scanning places many
firms at risk of dangerous competitive blind spots due to a lack of robust competitor
analysis.
In order to expose the necessary information regarding the project an intensive
research was done. The methodology adopted to accumulate the necessary
information is mentioned below.
Largely, research can be done with two types of data:
4.1 Sources of Data Collection
The relevant data was collected from both primary sources and secondary sources.
The starting point of my information gathering has been the secondary sources
such as internet, books, and journals and so on.
First, I made a study of the brand positioning and repositioning strategies of Titan
watches through secondary sources such as internet, insurance magazines, and
journals and so on. Then I conducted a consumer awareness survey on brand
repositioning strategies undertaken by Titan watches in recent times.
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4.4 Research Methodology:
Research methodology is considered as the nerve of the project. Without a proper
well-organized research plan, it is impossible to complete the project and reach to any
conclusion. The project was based on the survey plan. The main objective of survey
was to collect appropriate data, which work as a base for drawing conclusion and
getting result.
Therefore, research methodology is the way to systematically solve the research
problem. Research methodology not only talks of the methods but also logic behind
the methods used in the context of a research study and it explains why a particular
method has been used in the preference of the other methods
The type of research adopted for study is descriptive. Descriptive studies are
undertaken in many circumstances when the researches is interested to know
the characteristic of certain group such as age, sex, education level, occupation
or income. A descriptive study may be necessary in cases when a researcher is
interested in knowing the proportion of people in a given population who have
in particular manner, making projections of a certain thing, or determining the
relationship between two or more variables. The objective of such study is to
answer the “who, what, when, where and how” of the subject under
investigation. There is a general feeling that descriptive studies are factual and
45
very simple. This is not necessarily true. Descriptive study can be complex,
demanding a high degree of scientific skill on part of the researcher.
Descriptive studies are well structured. An exploratory study needs to be
flexible in its approach, but a descriptive study in contrast tends to be rigid and
its approach cannot be changed every now and then. It is therefore necessary,
the researcher give sufficient thought to framing research.
Questions and deciding the types of data to be collected and the procedure to
be used in this purpose. Descriptive studies can be divided into two broad
categories: Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Sectional. A cross sectional
study is concerned with a sample of elements from a given population. Thus, it
may deal with household, dealers, retail stores, or other entities. Data on a
number of characteristics from sample elements are collected and analyzed.
Cross sectional studies are of two types: Field study and Survey. Although the
distinction between them is not clear- cut, there are some practical differences,
which need different techniques and skills. Field studies are ex-post-factor
scientific inquiries that aim at finding the relations and interrelations among
variables in a real setting. Such studies are done in live situations like
communities, schools, factories, and organizations.
Another type of cross sectional study is survey result, which has been taken by
me. A major strength of survey research is its wide scope. Detail information
can be obtained from a sample of large population .Besides; it is economical
as more information can be collected per unit of cost. In addition, it is obvious
that a sample survey needs less time than a census inquiry. Descriptive
research includes survey and fact finding enquiries of different kinds of the
major purpose. Descriptive research is description of the state of affairs, as it
exists at present. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher
has no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or
what is happening. The methods of research utilized in descriptive research
are survey methods of all kinds including comparative and co relational
methods. The reason for using such needs to be flexible in its approach, but a
descriptive study in contrast tends to be rigid and its approach cannot be
changed every now and then.
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4.7 Sampling Procedure
A sample of 50 consumers who are brand loyal to Titan watches since more than a
year and in the age group of 20 – 30 years have been considered for this
study. As Titan has taken up brand repositioning strategies since July 2008,
consumers who have seen the previous and new campaign have been targeted
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This was a multiple choice question where respondents were asked to choose sub-
brands of Titan which they possess. It was found that around 72% of the consumers
in the age group of 20-30 years possess Fastrack brand, 14% Sonata, 6% Raga, 4%
Nebula and only 2% own WWF and Edge.
Period of use
The respondents were asked to mention since how long they have been brand
loyal to Titan. This was an open ended question and hence various responses were
received. The minimum period of use was set as one year, as mentioned
earlier, while the maximum period of use was determined.
For convenience, the different responses are categorized into three: 1year – 4years,
4years – 7years and 7years – 10years.
64% of the respondents fall into first category, i.e., they are using Titan watch in the
range of one to four years. 24% respondents are in second category and the rest 12 %
are using it for more than seven years.
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Reasons for brand loyalty
The respondents were asked to select the reasons from the options given for their
preference for Titan watches. For this question, multi-responses were received from
the respondents.
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Recall of Titan’s tagline
Titan’s tagline, before brand repositioning exercise has been undertaken, was “What’s
your style”. This tagline was adopted during first rebranding exercise in 2004.
The respondents were asked to indicate whether they remember the tagline in
dichotomous way, i.e., as “yes” or “no”. It was found that only 22% of the
respondents were able to recall the tagline and the remaining 78% answered in
negative.
50
Titan’s advertisements
Titan advertises its watches in almost all media vehicles. The advertisements can be
seen in TV, magazines, newspaper, hoardings, billboards, radio and so on.
This was a multi-response question and the options given to select were restricted to
TV, magazines, newspapers, hoardings and radio. The findings of the survey have
been summarized in a table as follows:
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Brand Ambassador of Titan
Aamir Khan is the brand ambassador of Titan since 2004. When the
respondents were asked to recollect the same, it was found that 46 of 50
sample size were able to correctly mention the brand ambassador while the remaining
4 did not give any response implying that they are not aware of it.
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Awareness of new tagline – “Be More”
The survey has revealed that less than half of the total numbers of respondents
(36%) are aware of new tagline.
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New designs of Titan
Titan has launched several new designs in 2008 and 2009 in its existing collections
and as per its plans introduced new product collections also.
The respondents were asked to rate the new designs as “poor”, “average”,
“above average”, “good” and “excellent”.7 respondents feel that their designs are
“excellent”, 39 have rated them as “good” and 4 have rated as “average”.
The survey has revealed that the percentage of respondents who have seen the new
campaign focussing on “be more” featuring Aamir Khan is 50%.
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Rating of New Campaign
The 50% of the respondents who have seen the new campaign were asked to rate it
with respect to how effective the campaign is in inspiring consumers to have a new
look everyday and be more in lives.
The respondents were asked to rate Titan’s exclusive showrooms on 5 point rating
scale – Poor, Average, Above Average, Good and Excellent. The factors related
to showrooms that were provided to the respondents for rating are – store ambience,
sales personnel, after sales service and display of watches.
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Consumer perception of store ambience
36 of the 50 respondents have rated store ambience as “Good” and 7 each rated as
“Above Average” and “Excellent”. This proves that store ambience plays an
important role in consumer perception of service quality.
With respect to sales personnel, 35 respondents rated them as “Good”, while 4 each
rated as “Poor” and “Average”, 7 respondents gave rating of “Above Average”.
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Consumer Perception about after sales service
In the survey, 31 out of 50 respondents rated after sales service as” Good”, 4 each as
“Average”, “Above Average” and “Excellent” while 7 respondents rated as “Poor”.
Most of the respondents have given high ratings to the display of watches in Titan
showroom. 22 respondents rated it as “Excellent”, 24 respondents as “Good” and
only 4 respondents gave rating of “Average”.
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Overall perception about Titan showrooms
The respondents were also asked to give overall rating to Titan’s exclusive
showrooms. It was found that out of total 50 respondents, 30 rated as “good” while
the remaining considered the showrooms to be “excellent”. Around 50% of the
respondents rated all the variables related to Titan’s exclusive showrooms as
“good”.
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Chapter 6-Observation And Findings
Titan firmly believes in providing total customer convenience in shopping. This fact
is justified by the location of their outlets and the recent move by the company to go
in for a major renovation of all the WORLD OF TITAN show rooms updating it to
modern selling concepts, saving space, making it more attractive for the customer,
easy maintenance, a show room which stands out from the rest. This has been done to
the highest standards taking care of even of the minute details.
Titan’s retail operations are a mix of company-owned and franchisee outlets, with the
idea being to ensure a dominant presence in all market areas through different kinds
of stores, and to assure the availability of every Titan product. Titan has concentrated
on customer perspective, and have engineered the entire chain to suit different
customers.
Titan concentrates more on the customer theme. Earlier there was no attempt in the
retailing sector to entice customer to buy a watch, but Titan has tried to bring the
brand to the customer in an appropriate setting. The company does this through its
`World of Titan’ show rooms.
The franchisee is a critical cog in Titan’s retail matrix. The company organizes
various programmes for franchisees, their managers and customer relationships
officers. These include training workshops and seminars on market trends, visual
merchandising, store operations and maintenance, and customer service initiative.
However, the real challenge in retailing is managing the franchisee network through
processes and systems that ensure a superior brand experience for every customer.
Franchisee relationship management is important because of increasing competition,
not only from the watch business but also from other business in the retail industry.
Besides the franchisees and its own showrooms, Titan sells its product through other
outlets as well. Among them are the Time Zone stores, which stock all the leading
brands, and the Value Mart outlets, which operate in Bangalore and Chennai and sell
surplus – to export watches at a discount. For its many customers Titan has Tata
Signet, a 1,36,000 member club that looks to build relationships through rewards,
regular discounts and special offers. Customers can also count on a service-centre
network that’s 550-strong and spread over 30-odd cities and towns across the country.
The service centers have been deliberately kept apart from Titan’s showrooms. The
business is different and the customer is in two different moods at the two places
Titan’s blueprint for the future including making watches for international
heavyweights such as YSL, Christian Dior and Gucci. Titan believes there is huge
potential at the designer end of the market. The marketing investment is however
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lower because “the brand is doing the marketing for you”. Also on the anvil are
specialty stores for niche customers, and an expansion into product categories like
sunglasses and leather goods.
However, it is staying ahead of the competition that is the overall priority: “We have
to ensure Titan has the best wristwatch store in any given city or town”. You don’t
really have to watch this space for confirmation on that count.
Titan stores can be broadly classified into 4 stores each having its different features
making TITAN attractive to everyone.
WORLD OF TITAN
experience the touch of Titan, all you have to do is walk into the stylish World of
Titan showroom anywhere in India. Prepare to be floored by the cool international
ambience and the staggering choice of over a 1000 watches and trendy accessories.
And because the customer has to be given special treatment, we deliver your gifts,
offer gift vouchers for your loved ones, and what’s more, we invite you to join the
Signet Club, our loyalty programme with lots of special privileges. Come closer to us
at The World of Titan!The world of Titan is the biggest among all stores of the
company and is an exclusive dealer in Titan watches. These showrooms are generally
about 1000-2000 sq.ft and have an extensive range of watches. These showroom are
the major revenue generators of the company and every 5 years the showroom is fully
done up updating it to modern international standards.
TIME ZONE
Titan Industries brings together the country’s leading watch brands under one roof,
providing the customer with variety in brands, looks and price ranges backed by
efficient after-sales service. Presenting Time Zones – the chain of trusted watch
shops. Conveniently located, these 1142 Time Zones across 89 towns offer you the
complete watch shopping experience.
VALUE MART
These outlets sell surplus stocks of Titan watches at reduced prices, offering fabulous
value for money with the same warranty as a regular, full-priced watch. These
concepts in the recent past have caught up with any product with it being total value
for money. However these shops would not be placed in the main locations so as to
interfere with the working of the normal shops. This is to make the customer go to the
shop rather than the shop calling the customer and hence the locations are not very
suitable for shopping.
SONATA STORE
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If you’re looking for Sonata watch, visit these exclusive Sonata outlets which also
have an Authorised Service Centre for Sonata & Titan brands. The idea of a Sonata
store came upto cater to the large scale demand for the watch and to open Titan to
more customers. More over these shops had full stocks of the watch in demand
whereas the others could afford to maintain only limited stock
Varied responses were received for this question. All the responses have been
summarized as follows:
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o The after sales service and behavior of sales personnel have been given low
ratings compared to other variables mentioned in the questionnaire with
respect to Titan’s exclusive showroom
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
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Chapter 7-Recommendation
o Mid price market price range (up to RS3500) and sec C & D brands can go
with umbrella branding strategy.
o Brands like Fastrack can diversify further in other accessories like MP3
players, digital cameras.
o Repositioning Xylis and Nebula with powerful emotional attribute.
o Creating a joint ventures with the high end international brands.a) when an
international brand entering Indian marketb) when Titan is entering foreign
market
o Entering new international geography by acquiring “Me too” players and
positioning as durable product.
o Endorsing the product through international events like FIFA, World Cup,
Olympics, etc.
o Establishing a chain of after sale services in international market.
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Chapter 8-Conclusion
o To increase its visibility, Titan Company can sponsor events similar to fashion
shows in which all latest designs launched are displayed. This would
have multiplier effect as the latest designs launched by the company get
noticed by different segments of the customers in varied ways.
o Majority of the population in India live in rural areas. So, showrooms should
be set up at places nearer to them. Introduce cheaper and rough use watches
for this segment.
o After sales service has to be improved. That is, the process of servicing and
repairing of watches should be made faster. This can be done by ensuring the
spare parts availability and training all sales personnel in Titan showrooms to
undertake these tasks.
o Tie up with international watch brands and make them available locally.
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1.Which sub-brand of Titan watches do you possess?
A. Fastrack
B. Sonata
C. Raga
D. Nebula
E. Edge
2.Since how many months / years have you been using Titan watch?
----------------------------
A) Attractive designs,
B )Reasonable price
C )Brand image
D) Good quality
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7.Who is the brand ambassador of Titan watches?
____________
11.Do you think the new advertisement is effective in inspiring consumers to have a
new look everyday and be more in lives?
a) Not at all effective
b) Effective
c) Highly effective
12.How do you rate Titan’s exclusive showrooms with respect to the following:(1–
Poor, 2-Average, 3-Above Average, 4-Good, 5-Excellent)
a)Ambience-
b)Sales personnel-
c)After sales service-
d)Display of watches-
e)Overall showroom-
13. What suggestions would you like to give to improve Titan’s brand image among
customers?
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Chapter 9-Bibliography
References
II. http://www.flickr.com/photos/20714224@N02/
o http://www.fastrack.in/offer/fastrack-offer.aspx
o www.googlesearch.co.in
o www.titanindustries.com
o www.financialexpress.com
o www.tatagroup.com
o www.economictimes.com
o www.naukrihub.com
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