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Fossil

TETE-A-TETE WITH Johnson Verghese

Johnson Verghese has been associated with the watch business since 1989. He started his career with the Tata Group and had a long stint of 17 years with the Group. He worked at Tata Press (Infomedia) and was instrumental in the launch of the first Official Yellow Pages in India before moving on to Titan Industries. His last stint with watches was as Head of the western regional operations. He moved to Titan headquarters to handle the nascent jewellery brand Tanishq. In 2000 he along with a small team set up a new venture in jewellery with the brand Oyzterbay. Starting 2006 Oyzterbay began a business relationship with Fossil, and that relationship has now culminated with the brand Oyzterbay being owned by Fossil, and an opportunity to lead the growth of the Fossil brands in India. … excerpts from an exclusive interview…

Tell us about Fossil’s association with India?
As a brand, Fossil has been in India for 7 years and it was earlier handled by a distributor. Fossil began operations as a company in 2008 and we are quite happy with tremendous progress made over the last 2 years. We are ranked as the No. 1 brand in brand awareness and are also the leading watch brand by value in some of the best departmental stores.

Who is your core target group?
Fossil is a brand that appeals to the young and young-at-heart across 90 countries of the world. The core design elements are ‘modern’ and ‘vintage’. The ‘modern’ elements are represented in the use of material (eg stainless steel, ceramic etc), technology (eg patented twist mechanism). The ‘vintage’ theme is reflected in use of mixed material (eg wood inlays), retro styling. Our core target is between 18-40 years, both male and female, across metros such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. However, we are now finding buyers across 15 cities and towns in India. There is a huge market opportunity here and we are consciously moving forward. We expect a strong 25% plus growth rate for this brand in 2010-11. We have a complete portfolio of watch brands for the India market including Fossil, DKNY, Diesel, Emporio Armani and Burberry amongst others. This portfolio helps us to fulfil the needs and aspirations of the target group.

What are the plans for 2010?
In 2009, we started off operations with a plan of where we wanted to go. This year, for Fossil, we are looking at qualitative play. As the departmental stores are ramping up, we will increase our points of sales. You will find that Fossil is a lot more visible at the point of sale and is also presented in a more dramatic manner, across the year. We are looking at being present in over a 100 departmental stores. We are also present in 100 plus chain stores and multi-brand outlets. We shall ramp this up in 2010. We are looking at filling in gaps. We are focusing on increasing presence in the eastern region. We don’t have any plans to open exclusive stores.

Tell us about your collections and offerings?
Fossil has recently launched the Spring Summer Collection. We have unveiled the ceramic range of watches. The use of mixed materials is a big trend. We have been strong in stainless steel. We have always been at the forefront with mixed materials such as silicon, rubber and wood. This is in sync with the theme of vintage styling. In addition to our watch portfolio we have major plans for Fossil mens leather products and eyewear, both of which were launched in 2009. We have also just launched ladies leather goods and bags. We are testing out travel bags and larger leather products this year. How do you deal with stiff competition? Our core competitive strength globally has been our ability to be at the forefront of design. We believe we are unique in the category and segment where we are present. We are quite strong in the Rs. 5000 to Rs. 10000, which is our core range for Fossil. We are strongly integrated vertically and this helps us get to the market quickly. We are present in 90 countries. We have an edge in terms of the level of control over our supply chain. Fossil has always been a people oriented company. Fossil has strong e-marketing initiatives in the US and Europe. We believe that India will be at the same level in the next few years. We shall bring in all our global learnings and leverage the same here. What is your message to the trade? These are interesting times in India. We have seen rapid progress happening across the world and have rightly wondered when it would touch Indian shores. It is all happening as we speak and the impact will be felt in the next few years. The markets are moving in the right direction; retail is building up and the trade must take the plunge early enough to build value propositions for the customers to benefit. The delivery mechanism is undergoing rapid dramatic changes and this will bring in new customers. They will come with their own aspirations and expectations in terms service and delivery. It’s time to seize these opportunities.