Titan has been synonymous with watches for about three decades now. It is also the country’s largest watchmaker with multiple brands including Sonata, Fastrack and Titan – under its umbrella. With the Indian wearables market growing by 168.3% year-on-year (YoY), selling 14.9 million units, Titan doesn’t want to be left behind. While the market may still be dominated by regular watches, smartwatches are gaining a quiet but loyal following.
Anticipating the demand for smart wearables, the company created a separate vertical, titled Wearables and Personal Adornment Devices and has even launched 12 variants of smartwatches over the past few years.
Titan had everything it needed, barring the technical expertise for smart devices, where Titan sees a big opportunity.
S Ravi Kant, CEO, Watches and Wearables Business at Titan says that wearables are changing the profile of the industry, but isn’t dominating the market.
“Over the last few years, India has become the third-largest market in the world. We're still a small market, but the third-largest in the world after the US and China. Therefore, it is a big opportunity for us,” he says.
Ravi Kant
In-house innovation
For every device it has launched so far, Titan has partnered with another company — HP, Intel, and a few startups as well. This was until it acqui-hired Hug Innovations.
Founded by Raj Neravati, Hug is a Hyderabad-based gesture-control technology and device startup. Raj has a patented gesture-control technology that works with contextual intelligence to connect with other devices such as a smartpone, a drone, or even a smart television.
While that technology is still in the works, Hug has four consumer products: Hug Smartwatch, Hug Elan (Fitness Tracker), Hug Fit (Entry-level fitness tracker), My Buddy (kids tracker in partnership with Eurokids).
With his acquisition, Hug's team is now a part of Titan and its office has been rechristened to Titan's Hyderabad Development Centre. And Raj is now Head of Technology for Wearables and Watches at Titan.
“Things like software development, firmware development, cloud technology, etc., are things we didn’t have, but now all that is part of the company with the acquihiring of Hug, making all of Hug’s employees as well as its patents a part of Titan. Now the loop is complete, and we don't have to go outside,” Ravi says.
From consumer insights to figuring out what kind of product to launch, to developing everything in house, Titan’s speed to market will improve with Hug. “It will also improve our ability to come out with products which are different,” he adds. And with the acquisition, Hug’s flagship gesture control technology also now belongs to Titan.
Engaging with customers post-sale
More importantly, Titan now wants to go beyond selling products. It wants to build a connected ecosystem.
Along with Hug, one of its first steps in this direction was Titan’s latest offering Titan Connected X, a full touch screen smartwatch with analogue hands, which will keep the watch functioning for 30 days even if the watch is not charged.
Building an ecosystem, Ravi says, also means that Titan will move from selling devices to engaging with consumers post-purchase.
“Our efforts used to earlier end with the sale of a device. Now, we are saying it's going to start with the sale of a device, in the sense that we will engage with consumers, because now they will all be on a common platform. We will start tracking things like the monthly engagement of consumers. We will see how we can offer them services and benefits which are useful to them --- whether it is in the space of fitness, health etc — to ensure that consumers derive greater utility for them,” he said.
For example, Sonata Act had safety features for women, Fastrack Reflex is a fitness band, but Titan’s new watch, Connected X, has 13 features.
According to Ravi Kant, they have received positive responses, and believe that the reason for this is that whichever segment they enter, their effort has been to differentiate the product from what's available in the market.
The company is now experimenting with integrating payments into the smartwatches, allowing customers to pay by just tapping their watch.
“We've always created products which are very different and that is what we intend to do going forward. The performance has been very good for a few reasons — the product was differentiated, we have very strong brands and a strong brand following in terms of loyal consumers, and a very large and well-established distribution network. We are present across all channels,” he says.
Ravi says that Titan is one of the very few brands that has a wide range in terms of price points and consumer segments. Titan watches, across its brands, range from Rs 799 to Rs 24,000.
And with Connected X, Titan is opening up a new segment of consumers which it is calling the ‘first jobber’ for those in the initial years of their career. This is after its previous products targeted women, the urban male and the youth.
“So, there are some use cases — like payments — that would be relevant to all segments whereas there are some products which will be targeted specifically at one of these four segments,” Ravi adds.
Going forward, Titan will focus on working with Hug and develop new use cases, or situations where the product could be used - such as fitness, safety - for its smart wearables. But Ravi says that two to three years from now, Titan will be open to acquisitions should there come an opportunity where it finds somebody who's bringing in a skill set, competency, which doesn't exist within Titan.
However, as Titan makes grand plans of making a mark in the wearables segment, the company is internally in the midst of an overhaul. Most of the company’s leadership have or will soon be leaving the company, leading to a lot of new senior executives being handed over the reins. Ravi Kant, however, doesn’t believe it will disrupt the company’s momentum, as people moving into their roles are veterans with the company. “It's a coincidence that everyone is signing off in 2020, but we were prepared for it, we saw it coming. Those people have been groomed over the last one year,” he says.