Titan Strategy

Executive Summary

India, the land of dreams, is fast realizing its potential. The world is taking note of the phenomenal potential prevalent in the Indian markets. Driven by changing lifestyles, strong economic growth and favourable demographic profiles, India is moving towards a consumption based economy. A recent survey by NCAER shows that the number of families with more than Rs. 1 crore annual earnings will double by 2010. Affluent Indian Men is one segment which is making its presence felt and all the marketers are running post to pillar to grab a pie of this segment. The Gems and Jewellery business in India is worth 14 billion US$ and has been traditionally associated with women. Men's Jewellery is one offering which is conspicuous by its absence. This presents an opportunity as growing number of young high earners are willing to flaunt their wealth as well as make a style statement at the same time. Jewellery provides an added benefit of an investment. So this sector is poised to grow at a rapid pace. Moreover, the business in this sector is primarily unorganised which lends an opportunity for organised players like Titan.

It is proposed that Titan should leverage its Brand Equity and provide an offering of Men's Jewellery which would include rings, bracelets, chains and luxury watches. This offering will be primarily for the Indian market but would cater to the growing demands of export too. The primary platform for selling would be the trust associated with the Titan which is a Tata Group company. In addition, contemporary and stylish designs with an option to customise the product will be the points-of -parity with the unorganised sector. The integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategy would use lifestyle magazines, celebrity endorsements and media advertisements for creating awareness of the extended brand. Finally, the supply chain needs to be maintained well -oiled to gain the cost advantage for the export market. This shall be ensured by using new technologies of ERP and Electronic Data Interchange.

Overview of the Industry and Market Potential

The increasing prosperity, especially in metropolitan cities, is presenting a trend where a large proportion of people are spending their disposable income on luxury goods. A recent income survey says the number of multi-millionaire Indian families (with more than Rs. 1 crore annual earnings) is estimated to have risen by two-and-a-half times in the past four years (source: ibef.org). The NCAER survey says the current figure will double by 2010.

India offers attractive opportunities across the industry value chain. The value chain of gems and jewellery industry can be represented in the following manner.

Men's Jewellery is one segment where a lot of business is in the unorganised sector and a lot of potential remains in its exports. This gems and jewellery industry holds a very important position in the Indian economy. The two prime components of this industry are Gold and Diamond Jewellery with Gold comprising about 80% of the total market.

India Gems & Jewellery Industry - Highlights

Jewellery market size - US$ 13 billion

Diamond jewellery - US$ 1.2 billion

Gold jewellery market growth year on year - 15%

Diamond jewellery market growth - 27%

Gems and Jewellery has over 1500 players with only 80 players having a turnover of more than Rs. 200 millions. The organised sector comprises only 4% of the total trade. It is expected that the industry will move towards organised sector as it matures and the share of family jewellers would decline.

Source: www.ibef.org

The organised sector provides the benefits of better quality and neat finish along with the reliability. Tata with its Tanishq Brand has ventured into this segment with a vision to "Be the most desirable jewellery brand for Indian Women".

Export Potential: India has well-established capabilities in making hand-made jewellery in traditional as well as modern designs. Indian hand-made jewellery has always had a large ethnic demand in various countries with sizeable Indian immigrant population such as the Middle East, South-East Asian countries, USA and Canada.

In recent times, India has also developed capabilities in machine-made jewellery. With imported or domestic processed studding, Indian machine made jewellery is expected to generate demand from non-ethnic jewellery markets as well. Source: www.ibef.org

The share of gold jewellery in India's exports of gems and jewellery increased from 9 per cent in 1994 to 22 per cent in 2004, an indication of growing acceptance in the world market.

Brand Extension and Positioning

The new Brand Titan-Shine would cater to the demand of Indian males as well as would be exported. The product line would comprise of rings, bracelets chains and cuff links and other customized products. The brand Titan would help consumers make positive inference about the product. The extended brand would be a fit in the non-product related attributes such as trust communicated by other Tata group companies. The designs would be contemporary with an added option of creating your own designs. Titan-Shine would be positioned as Men's Jewellery with highest purity among all the jewellery makers because it comes from the most trusted business house of India.

* Point of Difference: The main POD vis-Ðo-vis competitors would be "A favourable and unique association of quality with trust offered for the first time in men's jewellery segment in India".

Target Audience, Sales Strategy and Advertising Campaign

* Target Audience: The product will specifically target males between the age group of 18-35. The metro sexual male of modern India is the segment which has high disposable income and is willing to flaunt even at a higher price.

* Sales Strategy: Reliability associated with the Titan, Tata group will be utilised to address this very sensitive market. The introductory campaign for this extension need not emphasise on the brand as it is already an established entity. Therefore, the campaigns would focus on the product, its quality and the trust factor. The main emphasis would be on leveraging the brand equity of Tata Group. Low cost of production and availability of skilled