Did you know jewellery market leader Titan also sells perfume and sarees? Here's the lowdown

When CK Venkataraman picked up the baton from his erstwhile boss Bhaskar Bhat as the Managing Director of the Titan Company in October 2019, market watchers lauded the move by its management. Venkataraman is a company veteran like Bhat and his experience as the chief executive officer of Titan’s jewellery business would come in handy, they said.

That, however, was not the only concern he had. The undisputed leader of the branded jewellery market gets the majority of its revenue from its jewellery business but that’s just one part of the story. Titan, also known for its market-leading streak as the favourite choice of Indians for wristwatches, has a much wider portfolio than most of its patrons are aware of.

Founded in 1984, the Bangaluru-headquartered Tata Group firm has, over the years, expanded into segments that augment well with its core portfolio of Titan and Fastrack watches and branded jewellery.

From handcrafted sarees to perfumes - Venkataraman adopted a company that was much more diversified than his long-standing boss Bhat, who had transformed the company’s business over his 17-year stint as its MD. According to Venkataraman, unlike earlier when Titan was primarily known for its jewellery and watches, the mandate now is to heavily focused on expanding its other businesses.

Take its perfumes business, for instance. Launched in 2013, Titan’s perfumes business is placed under a mother brand named Skinn. Developed in-house by six award-winning perfumers including Harry Fremont, Michel Girard and Fabrice Pellegrin, its perfumes are now pushed through its thousands of branded outlets.

Augmenting its business further, Titan ventured into the branded saree business with its first store in 2017 in Bangalore with its saree brand Taneira. And Venkataraman is equally excited about the future of these businesses as he is about jewellery. “Our brand Taneira is placed in a market that has a Rs 50,000-crore opportunity, while for Skinn [the opportunity] could be much smaller. So, the perfumes business may remain much smaller than the saree business. But that doesn’t mean it is less important for Titan. Because, while the revenue share may be smaller for some categories due to their nature, it could be that more number of customers are being touched through them than a larger category like jewellery. So, the aim is to become a market leader in each of them and become a wholesome company that satisfies multiple types of customers,” he told Business Today in an exclusive interaction.

According to him, making the newer businesses and/or brands much bigger is now central to Titan’s five-year plan. “We are also expanding into new categories like under the brand Taneira. Although we will be new players in those categories, the plan is to grow fast and unlock substantial value. In the international market, non-resident Indians (NRIs) and PIOs (persons of Indian origin) are a focus area,” he said.

While the jewellery business - spread across brands like Tanishq, CaratLand, Zoya and Mia - has been expanded to lure every type of customer and their wearing occasions (formal wear for working women, jewellery for parties or lavish weddings etc.), Venkataraman says, Titan is also expanding into new categories like branded sarees. “Although we will be new players in those categories, the plan is to grow fast and unlock substantial value. In the international market, non-resident Indians (NRIs) and PIOs (persons of Indian origin) are a focus area. See, the price of a bottle of Skinn (perfume) may be Rs 3,000, while one piece of jewellery could cost 50 times that. But I want our customers to use both. There are opportunities galore in the luxury products market,” he explained.