Omega sees strong growth in India

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
May 2, 2019

Omega saw growth in India outpace its global average last year, the Swiss watchmaking business’ vice president Jean-Claude Monachon has said.

During a recent visit to Bengaluru, Monachon shared with ET Retail that the brand’s Indian arm has recovered from the industry-wide struggles of the GST and prior-demonetisation and is now enjoying robust growth. “Worldwide, our company has seen a double-digit growth in 2018,” said Monachon. “While we cannot disclose the figures, interestingly, India has witnessed a higher growth than our global average last year.”

“Demonetisation and GST had been disturbing and affected the brand in the luxury space,” explained Monachon. “We recovered in 2018 and have performed well. We predict similar growth in sales in 2019. Calamities and terror attacks can affect the economy but the first trimester has been comfortable.”

India is currently the brand’s 12th largest market but it could jump to 11th or 10th by the end of the year, Monachon said. The three main markets within India are, in order, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. The brand will focus on securing its current customer base instead of continuing to expand to new brick-and-mortar locations. 

Monachon recently inaugurated Omega’s renovated store in Bengaluru with actress Vaani Kapoor and also launched the brand’s new “Constellation Manhattan” collection. The line features 101 new women’s watches.