Description:
In the watch business repositioning the brand has always been a difficult process. Often the reason is that retailers are afraid to change their preconceived attitudes towards the brand and its capabilities. And it is in vain.
That is now the total increase in the price bracket of interest to buyers of the goods, we wrote several times. Mass cheaper brands will inevitably pass position, increasing the level of requirements for quality and class hours. In connection with this many watch shops now face the challenge of transition to a higher price niche. Similarly, many watch manufacturers; it was popularized in the lower price segment, go to the production of better and more respectable models.
A classic example is the Japanese brand Orient. For a long time the best-selling collection of Orient was the famous “3 Stars”: men (and women at least) the mechanical self-winding models in steel, sometimes with gold-plated and recognizable three asterisks at the bottom of the dial. Classic design combined with high reliability and very affordable prices (900-1500 rubles) made “stars” in a truly popular brand, which provided the lion’s share of income.
However, in recent years, Orient itself significantly changed their image.
First, there was a women’s collection Lady Rose, consisting of designer watches with high quality gold-plated, the person that has become a pop star Alsou. Active advertising campaign with the singer immediately attracted to the brand the attention of young girls and women. And do watch Orient were quite worthy of a good advertising campaign: the original design and high quality coatings made entirely justified higher, compared with competing brands, the price level.
The customer chose to pay half as much, but to buy a watch that would be a long time does not lose their marketability. After the success of Lady Rose company went further and developed a line of modern business hours for women, a collection of Jewellery inlaid with zircons crystals and Swarovsky, which last year added the Seth of the jewelry the same style.
In addition, Orient, although the already strong advertising support, significantly modified the line of men’s watches, creating a modern design model of automatic and quartz watches with extra features such as chronographs, models with power reserve indicator, alarm clocks, and watches the full calendar. These watches are made in stainless steel or titanium; the price level (from 1500 to 6000 rubles) is specifically designed for the most active part of the consumer audience: young people aged 25 to 35 years.
However, a kind of “brake” in the successful promotion of brand unexpectedly retail. Many shop owners and sellers of Orient is still associated primarily with “stars”. They believe that the goods of higher quality and price simply discourage the buyer from the store and the brand, the more that “3 stars” are still sold, albeit in smaller amounts. So why risk it?
But if we talk about risk, it is just now in the most precarious position are those stores that do not change its product range to meet changing demand. Indeed, today it is clear that a better offer – a much more important factor than the best price.
Last autumn, the owner of the Lipetsk network clock shops “Shark-trading” addressed to the distributor Orient, the company “Avanteydzh,” the order: deliver the most comprehensive collection of stamps available at the moment in Russia, one or two copies of each model.
Order had two purposes. The first goal was marketing: to stand out among the other shops in town, offering customers the widest choice of the brand. The second goal was of the research and commercial in nature: having a full range of brands gradually by experience to form the most efficient package models.
It was assumed that this package will consist of hits and sales models that can support a range between supply stores. After receiving the first full collection, in subsequent orders emphasis on those models that have already been sold, as well as new items. Both targets “Shark-trading” has been successfully achieved.
As expected, the experiment produced some interesting information about the real demand for the various collections of stamps Orient. It turned out that the first demand is for women’s watch with a gold coating of the collection of Lady Rose. Behind them in the ranking of consumer preferences are women’s watches with rhinestones, as well as men’s chronograph from the latest collections.
According to the management network “Shark-trading”, about 60% of all visitors expect to spend time shopping for the purchase of hours the amount of 2,000-3,000 rubles. And Orient model of price and quality meet the needs of virtually all consumers. This also applies to those who buy a watch for every day, and more affluent customers, who often choose the Orient as gifts to their employees.
It is noteworthy that although the first order “Shark-trading” has received almost all models Orient, including a full set of”3 Stars”, only a few months of stores practically gave up this collection, reducing the order of “stars” to a minimum. So, if before the line “3 Stars” was introduced more than 100 models, but today the company believes is sufficient to have on display about 20 models. Granted, the best collection of Orient in the shops”Shark-trading” believes 300-500 models.
Practice has shown that, if not close to the usual least-cost models, the Orient can give the store a very high turnover. If the cabin are all collections of stamps, most buyers prefer not cheap goods, but more interesting and more expensive models. Thus, the percentage of ‘stars’ in itself is reduced, thus increasing the average purchase price and revenue store.
If you have a full collection of sales between the various lines are as follows: 60% of sales are to men’s watch in stainless steel or titanium, while the demand for mechanical and quartz watches are distributed equally. Among the mechanical clock significant proportion of new sophisticated models cost from $ 70. The remaining 40% – are women’s watches, the lion’s share, about 90%, relates to the collection of Lady Rose.
The popularity of this collection is so high that the “shark-trading” are confident that the jewelry collection of Lady Rose, which will soon be available in Russia, will also sell well, despite the rather high price for jewelry from $ 30. Watches Lady Rose are very good alternative to the Korean brands. Buyer, they guarantee a higher quality and no problems with the coating, and the store – an increase of revenue due to higher unit price.
Experience has confirmed the Lipetsk salons in the capital. For example, in the salon “Element of Time”, which sells mainly European fashion brands, Orient represented only Lady Rose and the new men’s collection of steel and titanium.
The traditional “3 Stars” is not at all. According to the consultants of the interior, the high demand not only women’s collections, for which many women customers come specifically to see ads with Alsou, but men’s watches and contemporary design, attracting younger buyers. “Maybe these people never heard of the” stars “- say in the cabin. – They just see the clock, they like the quality, design and price, they respect the fact that the Japanese brand. And our customers at all Orient not associated with cheap watches. “
If you look at the long history of Orient brand in our country, we can see that its image and customer acceptance of significantly changed several times. And the winners are those vendors who have time to catch the change and provide our customers the optimal range of new watches.