Titan managing director CK Venkataraman doesn’t like being in the spotlight. Yet, the jewellery and watchmaker under his leadership (he took over in October 2019) has successfully navigated the pandemic, rode a discretionary slowdown as well as ensured that high volatility in gold prices does not impact consumption of its jewellery products significantly. Venkataraman, 63, who has been with Titan for four decades (he began in 1985 after passing out of IIM Ahmedabad) and will retire in October next year, has also authored a book called The Tanishq Story: Inside India’s No. 1 Jewellery Brand (published by Juggernaut). In this interview with Viveat Susan Pinto, Venkatarama dwells on Titan’s strategy for FY25, response to Tanishq in international markets, and what his book will offer readers. Edited Excerpts:
How are you making sure that Titan is a woman’s best friend? How do you identify the categories you will enter to fulfil this ambition?
Today, a good part of our business is around women’s products. That is in terms of revenue. But if you look at the number of customers we have, it changes significantly. That is because the watches business, eyewear, wearables are male-leaning in terms of the share of consumers. From a customer perspective, I would say that we are balanced from a male-female point of view. But yes, we have a large jewellery business, which is centred around the woman. So, that changes the skew from a turnover perspective. Our criterion for entry into new segments is that the opportunity for organising a category should be large, competition should be low, notably on the organised side of the market and the role of design and branding should be significant. These are the markets that attract us.
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Which are the new segments you are getting into for the future, given that Titan is looking to evolve into a well-rounded lifestyle company?
Right now, we want to stay with the new businesses we have started, from sarees to accessories to fragrances. The focus would be to make them large in their respective categories as well as reasonable in terms of their size within the overall portfolio of Titan. We are not looking at new categories for the future, at least not in FY25.
Titan is opening stores internationally within the jewellery segment. What is the response to Tanishq in global markets?
The response to Tanishq in global markets has been good. In the last 15 years, the Indianness of the Indian diaspora in the US, for instance, has become very strong. People are celebrating their Indianness like never before. Therefore, when we opened stores in the US in 2022, we targeted the Indian diaspora and it clicked. This approach was different from our first shot at internationalisation way back in 2007, when we opened two stores in the US, targeting American consumers. We sputtered and had to shut down those outlets.We are currently focusing on the Indian diaspora in different parts of the world, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc, apart from Singapore, the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
Titan also has a strong regionalisation strategy. What does it entail and how is it helping you gain share in India?
Between 2013 and 2015, we realised that in order for us to make a significant mark in the wedding jewellery segment, which was at least 50% of the total jewellery market in India, we needed to become very focused on every state in the country. Within states, we needed to focus on sub-segments that draw consumers to jewellery. That journey got wings over the last few years under the ‘Winning in Many Indias’ programme. Under the programme, we expanded our jewellery product lines, created zones within stores which echoed the culture of that city or state where the outlet was located; signed up with regional brand ambassadors. We undertook on-ground initiatives where we celebrated brides of a particular city or state and thereby conveyed that Tanishq was relevant to every Indian woman.
What is your strategy as far as acquisitions are concerned?
We have done acquisitions very strategically. For instance, Caratlane was one acquisition we did in an area where we thought it would take us way too long to build a business, namely, an online jewellery business that targeted digitally-savvy, young women, by ourselves. Now, Caratlane has become an integral part of our omnichannel strategy as digital adoption grows.
What do you think people will take home after reading your book?
I think the way of running a brand and organisation through an obsession with customers, through an emphasis on innovation, by keeping the people of that organisation at the centre of everything. By giving voice to the equity of partners of the company, whether they are engaged in the manufacturing or sales functions. These are the aspects I have tried to capture in the book. Therefore, in whatever business one is in, if these principles are followed, there is a reasonable chance of achieving success.
From: financialexpress
Financial News
