From being a watch company to the customers in the beginning to becoming the most popular and the utmost authoritative organization to also manage perfumes, fashion, jewelry, and eyewear, the Titan company set a really huge benchmark for India and its economic growth.
Titan company limited was founded in 1984 under Titan watches limited, which was the sole manufacturer of watches itself. It also partnered with Tata to expand its operations, and now is known to every Indian who keeps a keen interest in watches and jewelry.
Humble Beginnings of Titan:
The founder of this company, Xerxes Desai, was the first managing director of this company, who played quite important role in the operations of this company.
This company was inaugurated on 26 July 1984, under the name of Titan Watches Limited, in Chennai. The company set up a plant in the industrial area at Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
It also further put more growth in its operations, In November 1986, Casio signed a MoU proposing to manufacture around 2 million digital and analog watches.
But besides watches, let us take a close look over the other Ventures of this company. The company presently competes with a range of products, under different ventures, including Tanishq Jewelry, Titan’s own eyewear brand, Titan Eyeplus, Skinn by Titan, etc.
Setbacks:
The brand also experienced a few setbacks. In 2001, Titan launched a kids’ watches brand, also known as Dash. The brand did not settle with the standards of the other competitors, hence discontinuing its services in 2003. This was continued with a fruitful agreement with a company, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton group, a luxury Brand name in the West, to service its selection of discrete and unique luxury watches in India.
And in 2005, The company created Fastrack, which is now India’s most popular youth-targeted brand dealing in accessories such as wallets, belts, and Hand Bags, along with watches.
At the time of its commencement, the Indian watch market was dominated by mechanical traditional watches, which were expensive and required regular servicing, which was very tiresome to handle. Titan saw a fruitful opportunity to introduce quartz watches, which were more accurate, cheaper, and required little to no maintenance cost. The company’s first range of quartz watches was launched in 1987 under the brand name “Titan Quartz”.
Strategy and partnerships:
Titan’s initial strategy was supposed to target the luxurious segment of the market with its quartz watches, which were priced at a higher range compared to the existing mechanical watches. The company’s advertising campaign featuring the catchy slogan “If you haven’t bought a Titan, you haven’t bought a watch” was an instant success and helped to create a distinguished brand as a symbol of status and style.
Titan’s success is often accomplished by several factors. The company’s primary area of concern was stressed on design and innovation, which helped it to create watches that were not only accurate and easy-to-operate timepieces but also stylish accessories. The company’s design team, led by Pradyumna Vyas, worked discreetly with Swiss watch designers to create unique and award-winning designs that were tailored to Indian tastes.
Titan Engineering & Automation Limited was a subsidiary of the titan company which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Titan. It was formerly known as Titan-Precision Engineering Division which now deals in machine building, automation, and component manufacturing.
Also, a very astonishing fact that can be put into consideration is that Titan worked together with Swiss watchmaker Favre-Leuba in 2011 to enter the European market.
Variety of Titan Products:
Titan owns a lot of subsidiary companies that provide different products to its wide range of consumers. The following includes divisions in watches, which include Sonata, Fastrack, Raga, Nebula, Octane and Xylys.
Along with watches, the company has a famous jewelry brand, Tanishq, which was started in 1995.It secured a really outstanding revenue of around Rs. 13036 crores. In 2016, Titan decided to invest in Caratlane, another famous jewelry brand in India.
In the year 2007, Titan put its luck in the eyewear industry, with the launch of sunglasses, after which it introduced eyewear and spectacles also.
Lastly, Titan invested in Perfumes in 2013, under the subsidiary brand, “SKINN”
Conclusion:
Titan’s success story of Titan company is a testament to the power of innovation, design, and marketing. The company’s primary area of focus on creating watches that were not just accurate and intricate timepieces but also stylish accessories which became a style statement that helped it to establish itself as a symbol of status and style. Titan’s ability to cater to different segments of the market through its diligent hard work and understanding the market clearly helped it to grow, and it still plays an important role in its growth.
