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TITAN
Case Analysis

Yesterday, Today and

Tomorrow

Presented By: Robin Adaval

Registration No:200728037

Program Name:
PGDBA(Marketing)

By: Robin Adaval

Registration No: 200728037
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Background:
TIL was incorporated as a joint venture between Tata Group of companies
and TIDCO.Titan is a part of the TATA group having a turnover of >USD 22
bn, equivalent to over 2.5% of India’s GDP and having the biggest market
capitalization.Titan is credited with transforming face of Indian watch
industry and Diversified business approaches; forayed into Jewelry, Eye wear
and fashion watches. Titan Emerged as market leader within 4 years of its
inception & almost eliminated HMT’s market share,offering products for
customers with different age, status and preferences.

Recognition and Awards:

Titan & Tanishq both bagged 6 different category awards in NID-Business

World Awards 2004. The various awards which were bagged by Titan in
different categories are :

(A)The Watch Division won the coveted JRD QV

(Malcolm Baldrige) Award in 2006.

(B)India’s most admired consumer durables company

having the most trusted brand -TITAN.

(C)Both Watches and Jewellery adjudged most admired brands for the last 4
years. Also adjudged Retail Company of the year.

(D)Retail Asia and Media Award-Singapore,for Retailing and preferred brands.

(E)Ideator Awards for Titan designers.

(F)Best Corporate Citizen – Mother Teresa, Helen

Keller, Rotary and Chamber of Commerce Awards.

(G)President of India Award for best employer of the

physically challenged.

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TITAN : 30+ countries across the Globe

Watches
• Titon,Sonata, Fastrack

Jewellery
• Gold Plus, Tanishq, Surrogate brands( diamond jewels)

International Business
• Foraying into Europian Market, country specific business model.

Precision Engineering
• OEM sales to car & device manufacturers.

Preceision Eyewear
• Newly emerged business line of sun glasses and spectacles.

BRANDS:
The brands which are available in market are :

• TITAN
• SONATA
• XYLUS
• FASTRACK
• TANISHQ
• GOLD PLUS
• TITAN EYE+

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Advertising at Titan
From very beginning Titan has invested significantly in
advertisement.
• In 1989, it was Aqura, the trendy range for the youth, colourful, smart
and affordable plastic watches for the youth: The other side of Titan for
the other side of you.
• In 1992, it was Raga, the ethnic range, with striking symbolism from
ethnic India, for the sophisticated India woman who appreciated such
things.
• In 1993, it was Insignia, very distinctive and international-looking top-
end watches, for those seeking exclusivity and status.
• In 1994, it was psi 2000, rugged, sporty and very masculine watches
with serious sports features (200-m materesistance, high precision
chronographs) for those with thepenchant for adventure.
• In 1996, it was Dash, the cute and colourful range for kids.
• In 1997, it was Sonata, the affordable, good quality range for the
budget-conscious.
• In 1998, it was Fastrack, the cool, trendy, funky range for the young
and young-at-heart.
• In 1999, it was Nebula, the sold gold and diamond-studded range of
luxury watches for those affluent people to whom gold is a precious
acquisition.
• In 2001, it was Steel, the smart and contemporary collection for the
young 21st century executive.
• And in 2008, the brand has collections like the Octane, Diva, WWF and
Zoop - each of them unique and fascinating.

Situation Analysis:

Titan is an undisputed leader in Indian wrist watch market.

• It has captured approx 68% of premium watch segment.
• Titan has diversified into gold ornaments, accessories & eye wear
segment.
• Its attempt of going global was partially successful and forced the
management to rethink on the strategy, particularly for EUmarkets.
• Stiff competition is being given by mature and stable brands like
Swatch, Tissot, Citizen, Seiko for upper & premium segment business.

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• Returns on Investment have been showing negative trends as the

margins are reduced due to increasing cost of raw materials,
marketing and skilled manpower cost

Problem Identification:
Challenges with Titan are
• To leverage associated brand value of ‘TATA’ ?
• To retain the market leadership position and to establish its premium
segment brands (Xylys, Nebula, Orion…) into its band.
• To penetrate deeper into semi urban & rural customer segments.
• Making reach till lower middle class & gaining premium customers.
• To achieve its objective of becoming a Global brand in its segments
• To increase its CMS (Customer Market Share) and RMS (Revenue
Market Share).
• To formulate strategies for taking edge over other existing established
brands and ensure profitability to its Middle East, Asia pacific and
European business units.
• To gain strong foothold in precision engineering & OEM segments

Reasons : Why Some Brands Didn’t do well?

• Timex: joint venture with didn’t last longer due to different

management approaches. Tata, as known is a slow & steady player
wherein Timex was seen an aggressive partner. It was later realized by
Tata management that Timex is actually eating Titan’s own share.
Which can be termed as unintentional cannibalization of successful
brands.
• Maxima: initially Maxima could not do well as people were not very
used to for quartz watches and Japanese watches were considered
above than any other brand. The branding was also done as Water-
resistant watch.
• Regalia: The other variants of citizen, swatch were available and
when the series was launched, trends were for big size dials were IN
fashion.
• Classique: The series failed due to its pricing factors. A watch was
costing approximately 4K which was too high for middle class
customers during 1998-99.
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• Xylys: Xylys name has not been very friendly to watch lovers as there
are international brands such as Tag-heuver, Omega, Hugo Boss, D&G,
Cartier etc who have also made entry into Indian markets. Mall culture
has provided great space & better shopping opportunity for all such
brands which have been obstacles for Xylys to be stabilized.
• Zoop: This series is a recent (re)launched series of Titan which targets
teenagers, school goers and funky style youths. This is modified &
corrected version of old Dash series. However availability of variants
from Swatch, Timex, are giving very strong competition.

Solutions For the Problems :

(A) Product Related:

Core, Technical & Emotional:

• The core of Titan products should be latest technology, superior quality
and state-of-art designs which will gradually reach at higher level of
acceptance.

Pricing factors:
• The differentiation line between Sonata, Titan- Nebula, Heritage,
Classique, Regalia, Raga, Octane, Theme series (WWF etc) & Orion has
to be defined very clearly which will help customers & market forces to
give needful impetus of desired brand / product line.

Attributes:
• Innovative features, attractive designs and Quality in services are
some factors which need more attention to build strong perception
about Titan products.

(B) Brand related:

• Leveraging brand ‘TATA’ in brand architecture: Tata is highly

reputed name in India and since last few years it is also being accepted
widely across the globe. A product from Tata gets customer’s trust
faster than others. Titan should use this to leverage this for all its
product lines. Mother brand Titan should go along with entire product
line.
• Visibility & TOMA: catalogue marketing, celebrity endorsement,
exchange offers, publicity thru electronic and print media (business
magazines for Premium/ middle class, sports magazines for youth) are
better options for creating higher TOMA and brand awareness. Displays
at prominent places will give Titan

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• Brand recall & recognition: Titan should develop customized

advertising & promotion plan to up-sell its low penetration brands like
Raga, Nebula, Orion, Heritage and Xylys. Such as Sonata, Maxima have
been made.
• Social status & acceptance size: some brands like Xylys, Orion and
Nebula need to be given more attention as either most of people are
not aware about them or there are better substitutes like Swatch,
Cartier, Pierre Cardin are available.
• Merchandise & POS display: Wrist watches are not limited to be
only a timekeeping devices. It has beyond and now have become more
a status symbol. Most of the time buying decisions for a watch go
impulsive if any specific
product is displayed at Posit of Sales.

( C ) Reach & channel related:

• Channels of Distribution: To capitalize upon existing retail channels

World of Titan, Time Zone. Deeper penetration in emerging retail
chains Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop etc.
• Surrogate Retailing: Along with these existing ones, Tanishq show
rooms, Gold plus stores can also be explored as retail outlets for
premium segment watches. Raga series watches can be made
available at leading jewelers stores for women customers. Purchasing
capacity comes to peak when women are at jewelers shop.
• Exclusivity & differentiation: Dedicated brand shops for prominent
brands like Regalia, Orion, Rage etc. Such outlets should not carry
other brand below certain price level and can be opened at prominent
places across A, A+ cities across the world. This will also work as entry
barrier and entry qualifiers and will provide Brand efficacy to
customers.

(D) Marketing strategies related:

• Endorsement: message & purpose from brand & brand ambassador

has to be delivered effectively. Along with Aamir Khan, MS Dhoni, John
Abraham some child artists like Taare Jameen par fame Darsheel,
Balika Badhu fame girl can also be taken for ZOOP brands.
• Premium products like Raga, Regalia, Orion & Octane kinds of products
with distinguished portfolio, need strong brand ambassador who can

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endorse the brand not only in India but can also drive the message for
its global business operations.
• Brand Orientation & Engagement initiatives are needed particularly for
Octane, Heritage and Xylys brands.
• Customized marketing plans needs to be developed for transnational
markets.

Titan’s Sales Channel In India

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10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000 All India
4000 World of Titan
3000 Time Zones
2000 Service Centres
1000
0
Dealers Show Centres
Rooms

Existing retail & sales channel network of Titan industries is arguably one of
the best and robust network of any wrist watch, eye wear and organized
jewellery company in India.

Business Opportunities for Titan: Way Forward

Watch & Time keeping devices:

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• More than Men, Women own watches in India.

• India is an under-penetrated market for watches – only 27 % of Indians
own a watch
• Total estimated market as of 2007 Volume ~ 39 mn units & Value: Rs
2500 Crores (USD 550 Mn)
• Vast proportion of the Indian market is below Rs 500 ~ 68% (85% by
volume)
• Market has been split into: Low end, Mass market, Mid market,
Premium

Jewellery:
• Size of market: Rs 65000 crores (~ US$ 15 billion)
• Urban market is about 38% of this base.
• Branded jewellery is less than 2% of the overall market
• Importance of jewellery to Indian consumers: Gold is seen as
auspicious, an investment, for adornment.
• Product mix: largely plain gold 22kt, with gem set.
• Jewellery constituting less than 20% of the market.
• Key players: Fragmented market, mainly retailer driven.
• Most retailers are unorganized and stand alone, absence of
hallmarking
• Increased investment by industry bodies (DTC, PGI, WGC) is spurring
rapid growth of the branded jewellery market in India

Precision Industry:
• growing as a manufacturing base for precision products across
industries.
• Cost pressures and offset requirements guarantee a long term
opportunity.
• High cost of switching for customers.
• The global market for precision engineering products addressable by
Titan is Rs.135,000 cr.

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Recommendations

Wrist Watch :
• Should continue its focus on premium segment of watches and take
edge over existing brands.
• Distribution of brands like Hugo Boss & Tommy Hilfiger with Titan
brand.
• Designer watches Raga, Nebula & Heritage should get place at Tanishq
stores so that can also be substituted with gold jewels.
• Intense marketing plan for Octane & Orion brand is needed so that
acceptance level can touch competitive products.

Jewellery:
• Emerging demand of Diamond based & designer jewellery to be looked
into.
• To drive plans to develop bonding with house wives & working women.
• Quality assurance drives to develop credence value and customer’s
faith in brand and product.
• Standardization of product to compete with ‘me too’ kind of
goldsmiths.

Precision Engg. / OEM:

• Precision Components: Opportunities in progressive Die-sets,

multistation
cross travel combination tools, multi-cavity precision moulds and
forming dies.
• Aerospace & Automotive solutions: OEM supplies to high tech
products that requires time keeping devices. Consumer durable
manufacturers who can give in built time devices in their products.
• Medical Equipments: Should also capture manufacturers like GE,
Siemens, Hitachi, Philips, Ericsson who make electronics/ medical
devices.
• Calendar & Dash board instruments: Gift items, Bookstores, retail
chains,
corporate gift etc.

Eye wear:
• Should give impetus on establishing brand Titan Eye+ so as to it can
compete with upper middle class players like Ray-Ban, ESPIRIT, Cartier,
D&G, Diesel and Police etc.
• Should develop strong portfolio for Sunglass as currently the focus is
more on frames.
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• Accessories of Fastrack-product line should also be made available at

Titan Eye+ stores to attracts youth which will build strong customer
relationship that will last longer.

Reasons for Recommendations:

• Happening India :A $ 270 Billion market !!

• Emerging consumption patterns driven by upwardly mobile young
adult, working women, the new rich & aspiring middle class.
• Changing Consumption Basket - Lifestyle related spends moving up at
the expense of Regular spends.
• Urban working women in India , on an average , spend about 24% of
their earnings on enhancing the quality of their own life & on self
grooming as compared to 13% on household purchases .
• Tanishq & Raga … two very esteemed brands close to hearts of many
Indian women.
• The Rural and semi urban renaissance and life style change in Tier II
and III cities with estimated spend of $34 billion.
• Sonata and Gold Plus : Mass focused products that are seizing the
opportunities.
• Top 9 cities account for 30% of urban market, next 130 cities provide
an equally large market.
• Distribution of malls to be 50% in Tier I cities and 50% in Tier II and III
cities
• 50% of India’s population are less than 25 years of age and still young
affluent on the rise.
• India adds around 3 million young earners in the age group 20-24
annually.
• 80 million new jobs opening up in by 2011.

By: Robin Adaval

Registration No: 200728037
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By: Robin Adaval

Registration No: 200728037