It is too early to assess the impact of the ongoing war in West Asia, but luxury brand TAG Heuer is ‘not afraid’, said Guillaume Boilot, MD of TAG Heuer for the Middle East, India, Africa and Turkey (MEIAT) in an interview.
“We are safe in Dubai and other markets in the Middle East. Our operations are safe. Tourism is impacted in Dubai currently, but we expect the situation to recover after a few months. We are not afraid at all,” he said.
TAG Heuer has opened its first franchise boutique in India in Noida, in partnership with Kapoor Watch Company and DLF Retail.
Boilot said the brand is also aiming to expand to markets such as Mumbai and Bengaluru.
“We have 40 points of sales through multi-brand retailers and India has been a key markfor the brand for a long time. We were one of the first brands to come to India 30 years ago,” said Boilot.
“The last few years have seen an acceleration in sales and demand. We have seen demand going up not only in India, but also in the Middle East thanks to our Indian clients,” he added.
Boilot said the brand is present in markets such as Surat, Kolkata and Chennai and willl work more closely with its multi brand retail partners in a bid to expand further.
Pratiek Kapoor, director at Kapoor Watch Company said luxury watch imports are not impacted currently due to the West Asia conflict. “As of now we are fine. We have been growing organically for the past one year,” said Kapoor.
“But, it’s a tricky situation. If the conflict escalates, and goes on for some time, discretionary spending gets affected first and we are a luxury retailer. The upside could be that brands which are facing supply issues in the Middle East might prefer India as we are still more isolated. So they might feel more secure about investing and expanding in India,” he added.
Kapoor Watch Company plans to expand to markets such as Mumbai, Chandigarh and Jaipur besides opening a new store in Delhi. “We are also getting Piaget on board,” he added.
