Market with high potential: Swiss watch industry sets its sights on India

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The Swiss watch industry is breaking new records in exports and going through a transformation, consulting firm Deloitte said on Thursday. The strong growth trend continued this year, despite inflation and the strong franc, after watch exports reached a new record of almost 25 billion francs in 2022.

It was stated that Switzerland’s top ten export markets in terms of regions continued to grow in the first eight months of 2023. The US remained the single most important market for Swiss watches, with exports of almost 2.7 billion francs, up almost 10 percent on the previous year. China recorded similar growth of 9.3 percent over the same period, but exports are still 7.5 percent below 2021 levels.

India as the locomotive of growth

India also achieved above-average sales growth of 18 percent in the first eight months of 2023, as Deloitte’s 2023 study on the Swiss watch industry shows. The audit firm expects India to become one of Switzerland’s top ten export markets within a decade.

Meanwhile, survey respondents are less confident in the industry’s expectations for the next twelve months. Only half of those surveyed said they viewed it favorably, compared to 57 percent of those surveyed a year ago. A quarter said they were negative. Geopolitical uncertainty, inflation and the ongoing cost of living crisis were cited as reasons.

Stores remain important

Despite the rise in e-commerce, the majority expect in-store sales to continue to dominate in the future. Most brands and retailers (62%) agree that offline sales will continue to outweigh online sales over the next five years. Therefore, they want to further expand their fixed retail activities.

For the research, an online survey was administered to 75 industry managers between August and September and interviews were held with industry experts. In addition, 6,045 consumers were surveyed in India this year, as well as in China, Germany, France, England, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the USA. (SDA/kae)

Source :Blick