MARKETING PROJECT BY
J.SAINATH REDDY D.MADHU S.RAMESH HIMAN MOHAPATRA S.ANAND SHARIFF
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Timex watch segment is one of the India’s chief producer of watches and ranks seventh in the world’s watch production. Company really understands the psyche of the consumer and they offered quality products in classical design with superior technology. It is a perfect amalgamation of high-end Italian designs and cutting-edge German engineering. Its Intelligent Quartz collection is primarily made for fashion-minded men who are interested in features like chronographs, fly-back movements and night-light. Today the company has model for every prices segment and every market. Basically it deals with four target market: 1. Low income group 2. Low-mid income group 3. Mid income group 4. High income group As group Marketing Objective is to increase the market share of the company as well as to increase the profitability of the company. The competitor is also playing an important role by having a majority market share. To achieve a good market share the company has to follow the marketing strategies, which basically include the marketing mix. The marketing strategies basically include the 4-P’s. Here the marketer has to focus first on the product, which is basically for the Timex doesn’t have a wide range of product portfolio though having a diversified sub-brand range.
Secondly the promotions are not as
creative and good as its competitors. There is no wide range of products in Timex whereas its main competitor Titan is offering numerous products for different segments. Though in the improperness or in innovation of the product, Timex is fairly doing well, but there is a need of few changes.
HISTORY Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is a subsidiary of the Dutch company Timex Group B.V., and its US headquarters, is based in Middlebury, Connecticut. The company is the current successor to the Waterbury Clock Company, founded in 1854 in nearby Waterbury, Connecticut. Advent of the wristwatch The Waterbury Clock Company met Artillery gunners need by modifying the small Ingersoll ladies' Midget pocket watch to become military-issue wristwatches, thus making one of the first wrist watches. Slogan: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking John Cameron Swayze, as a spokesperson for live torture tests on television with the tag line created by Russ Alben, "Timex – Takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking" – a well-recognized campaign in advertising history. A strong relationship was forged between the companies in 1950 resulting in United States Time becoming the exclusive manufacturer of all Polaroid cameras worldwide. In recognition of the Timex brand's worldwide success, United States Time Corporation was renamed Timex Corporation on July 1, 1969.
Timex Corporation (1969 –2008) In the 1970s and early 1980s, the American watch and clock industry was devastated by the arrival of cheap mechanical watches from the Far East, as well as the development of digital quartz
watches
pioneered
by
Japanese
companies.
New
technology, in the form of electronic digital watches and quartz
analog watches, was developing very rapidly, making Timex's mechanical watchmaking production facilities obsolete. Timex Corporation transformed itself again in the mid-1980s as it abandoned its development of various consumer products and refocused efforts specifically on timepieces. In 2000, Timex Corporation purchased the French fashion watch brand Opex. Under its Callanen subsidiary, Timex acquired the watch license for urban fashion designer Marc Ecko in 2002. The company entered the luxury market in 2005 and acquired Swiss-based Vertime SA, Vincent Berard. Vertime is responsible for the design, manufacturing and distribution of Swiss-Made watches and jewelry for the Versace and Versus brands. In 2007, Timex Group B.V. established Sequel AG as a separate company devoted to the design, manufacturing and distribution of the Guess and the Swiss-Made Gc watch brands.
Timex Group USA, Inc. (2008 –present) In 2008, Timex Group USA signed a four-year agreement making Timex the first official timekeeper of the ING New York City Marathon. Meanwhile, parent company Timex Group B.V. launched two new Swiss-Made luxury watch brands – Salvatore Ferragamo Timepieces and Valentino Timeless – under the Timex Group Luxury Watches business.
Timex Group India Ltd. The Company was incorporated on 4th Oct 1988. It was originally established as a joint venture between Timex Group Limited, Bermuda and Jayna Times Industries Limited, an Indian company. They planned 2 million quartz analog watches per annum. The company was promoted by Timex watches BV & Titan Watches Ltd. The main objective of the company is to
manufacture and sales of quartz based wristwatches. During the course of implementation of the project, Jayna Times Industries Limited withdrew from the project, and was replaced by Titan Watches Limited. The name of the company was changed to Timex Watches Limited on 1st Jan 1991. Currently, Timex, US, holds a 29.68% stake in the company. Under Phase II, the company is to undertake in-house manufacture of various watch components including bezels, dials, straps, movement components, crystals and case backs. The company has marketing and selling arrangements to use Titan Industries marketing network of over 4300 outlets all over the country and 172 high-profile showrooms and shops. It takes a project for the manufacture of metal cases utilizing vacuum plating in May '95. Company name has been changed from Timex Watches Ltd to Timex Group India Ltd. in 2009.
VISION Our vision for the future goes way beyond timekeeping. We will delight and surprise our customers through innovation in design, technology and application of our brands and deliver a superior customer experience. This will lead to enhanced values for our shareholders and increase returns on investments and assets.
VALUES Design, Durability and Performance
OBJECTIVE Though TIMEX is one of the leading watch makers in the world with wide range of products, it has failed to capture majority market share in India. Our objective is to study the reason behind this.
4-P ANALYSIS PRODUCTS Timex has wide range of products for different segments. It owns brands like HELIX, SALVATORE FERRAGAMO, VERSACE, TARUN TAHILIANI, and MARC ECKO. Apart from these sub-brands Timex portfolio includes watch ranges like EXPEDITION, WEEKENDER, INTELLIGENT QUARTZ, EMPERA and CLASSICS. These ranges have watches for both men and women. EMPERA and CLASSICS have watches for a pair in addition to men and women. Timex in India has not launched many products for kids segment. Timex tied up with designer Tarun Tahiliani and released jeweled watches in two ranges: bridal and ready to wear. Helix targets the youth segment. Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo and Marc Ecko are targeted towards lifestyle and upper premium segments.
PRICE Timex products are initially priced in such a way that it attracted low to mid- level segments initially. With diversification in its segmentation the company launched products with different prices for different segments. Timex presently markets watches in a wide price range starting at Rs.1500. Most of the watches are in 2000 to 5000 rupees category with products like Expedition, Classics, Weekender, and Intelligent quartz. Versace and Salvatore ferragamo are for ultra-premium segment priced at more than one lakh.
PLACE Timex during its initial years concentrated more on semi urban and rural areas but with changing trend in consumer tastes it started concentrating more on urban areas where its target groups mainly youth are located. Timex apart from selling through normal retail stores it also followed shop in shop model and opened stores in malls where youth presence is maximum. Timex also opened its exclusive stores by name Timex world and Time factory in all major cities in the country to market its products.
PROMOTIONS Timex even from its initial years did less promotions. Advertising had been very less for Timex. Timex for a brief period endorsed Brett lee as company’s ambassador, but after that it did not endorse celebrities for promotion. Timex was one of sponsors of ICC World cup 2011. Timex’s biggest mistake is not having an Indian celebrity to promote its brand. Very less advertising through ads, also Timex generally doesn’t give many discount offers on occasions. Lack of effective promotions is one of the biggest drawbacks of Timex.
COMPETITVE ANALYSIS MARKET SHARE: In India the market share of wrist watches of the organized sector is 35%, out of which 1. TITAN – 65% 2. TIMEX – 12% 3. CASIO – 3% 4. CITIZEN – 2% For every 10 watches sold per day in an outlet, Timex share was only 1-3 watches, whereas Titan share is 5-6.
Most of the sales for Timex are in price range of 1000-5000. In this price range it has tough competition with its competitor Titan. In India youth are the majority segment for watches, here Timex failed to capture that segment effectively with its sub-brand Helix, whereas Titan’s FastTrack is doing exceptionally well.
PRODUCT: When comparing with other brands Timex has a less number of product variety and designs. For example: Titan and Timex both have sub-brands for Youth segment, namely Fast Track and Helix respectively. The number of sales happening in Helix is far lesser when compared with Fast track due to less number of models & designs available. In another instance Titan has a separate sub-brand for Women & Kids segment, Raga & Zoop; whereas Timex doesn’t have any such provision. No special collections have been launched by Timex on any occasions.
PROMOTION: There is no effective promotion taking place for Timex when compared with its main competitor Titan. Titan covers almost all kinds of media for promoting its products whereas Timex has failed in reaching all segments of customer. Shop-in-shop stores Timex outlets are smaller in size and has less products when compared to other brands. No special discounts where given from the company on different occasions.
SEGMENTATION TARGETING POSTIONING SEGMENTATION Timex initially used income segmentation and concentrated more on low to mid-level income groups with products which are priced at Rs.1000 and below. But consumer behavior was changing. Watches are considered as fashion accessories rather than just timekeeping machines. So company had to diversify their segments more specifically suiting the needs of different consumers. So Timex had to intensify its segmentation strategy. Timex criteria of segmentation 1) Demographic segmentation Income Gender Social class 2) Psychographic segmentation a) Lifestyle Luxury Mid premium Mass b) Personality Luxury Sports and casual Fashion Economy 3) Behavioral segmentation a) Occasions Formal Fashion
TARGETING Timex initially targeted mid income groups but with changing consumer behavior their product portfolio had increased. So they revamped their targeting strategies too. Timex now follows three different targeting methods a) Single product for a single segment.
Ex. Sub-brand HELIX is targeted towards GEN Y specifically. b) One product for all segments c) In addition to the above two Timex also adopts multi segment targeting. Timex owns many sub-brands targeting various segments.
POSITIONING Timex initially positioned itself as a value for money brand with technologically advanced features and sporty look. But in recent times it has failed to position itself successfully in India. With changing taglines it failed in communicating its values to the consumer. Its initial tagline was “Technology that keeps you ticking”, then they changed tagline to “Time on your side” and now the tagline is “what next”. It failed itself to successfully position itself in mind of the consumer.
QUESTIONNAIRE TO RETAILERS 1) In what price range watches are sold the most? 2) How many watches are sold per day? 3) How many of those sold are Timex watches? 4) Which brand of Timex is sold the most? 5) Watches in which segment are sold most? 6) How often are discounts given on Timex?
RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Increasing the number of models and designs available in all price ranges. 2. Creating number models especially for women and youth. 3. Capturing youth segment with attractive offers and promotions. 4. Setting up exclusive stores for youth segment( like Titan’s FastTrack stores) 5. Effective promotions through advertisements and other media. Endorsing an Indian Brand Ambassador to promote the brand. 6. Effective store management in shop-in-shop outlets.
