Timex to expand India presence

Timex Group, which launched its 100th outlet recently, plans to add 40 more stores by

the end of the current fiscal. The target is to open 40 more ‘Time Factory’ stores during the next 12 months. With the addition of these new outlets, the count will go up to 140 stores.

The ‘Time Factory’ is a one-stop destination watch store for mid-priced and premium international brands. According to Timex Group India MD V D Wadhwa the company, a subsidiary of the US-based global watch maker Timex Group, opened 32 such stores in India during 2011. It had a turnover of Rs 175 crores in fiscal 2010-11, and it would announce its financial result for 2011-12 during the month of May.

Time Factory stores contributed 20 per cent to our revenue. Wadhwa ways 30 per cent of sales in the US came from health and wellness category, which includes watches equipped with heart rate monitor and those that can count calories. Sales from India in this category are likely to pick-up in the coming years.

In the last two years, Timex has extended its portfolio to seven brands in India, which now includes the mother brand Timex, Salvatore Ferragamo, Marc Ecko, Versace, Nautica, Tarun Tahiliani and Helix. The company plans to aggressively expand its retail base across the country apart from bringing in a host of international brands within the premium and luxury segments in the country.