If everything goes as planned, and if the demand for luxury maintains the current growth momentum, we will have at least eight more boutiques by FY27, adding to our seven stores and seven galleries at present, CK Venkatraman, the managing director of Titan Company, which is a joint venture between the Tatas and the Tamil Nadu government, told PTI.
On the investment side, he said each store commands at least Rs 40 crore, which means, they will invest over Rs 320 crore over the next three years.
The investment in each boutique is close to Rs 40 crore. Despite such high investment, the brand Zoya is profitable, he added.
When asked if doubling the number of footprints also implies doubling the topline from the present Rs 200 crore — which is not even a per cent of the parent’s annual turnover, Venkatraman answered in the affirmative.
If all goes well, yes. The top line can also be more given the projected explosion in the number of high networth individuals and the domestic luxury market, he said.
He bases his optimism on the fact that India is among the fastest-growing luxury markets globally and is forecast to be around USD 8.5 billion this year, and some estimates say it will grow to USD 200 billion by 2030. And with the number of HNIs growing very fast, we expect the demand for Zoya to grow. When asked why such a slow expansion, Venkatraman said Zoya was not created with a focus only on numbers. “We created Zoya with a vision of a brand as a world-class product. It was created as a very refined product for the discerning Zoya woman who is self-expressive, aesthetically astute, globally aware and well-travelled who is a sophisticated aesthete and every creation in Zoya is a meaningful piece of wearable art.”
Also, when one is marketing luxury, exclusivity is an important element. This is maintained partly by consciously limiting sales volumes and outlets. Citing the examples of Taj Palace Mumbai he said Taj is amongst the most diversified hospitality groups, with 196 hotels but only nine palace hotels which are their most luxurious.
In the same way, we have over 1,000 Titan stores, but Zoya as a luxury brand, will have a more exclusive retail footprint.
“And when our customers tell us that Zoya is India’s answer to the West, we feel we are on the right track,” he said, adding Zoya, which means ‘alive’, was created 14 years ago to celebrate womanhood.
He said the brand commands higher margin justifying the higher investment. With Zoya we are redefining the way fine jewellery is experienced as meaningful pieces of wearable art, offering an experience of warm luxury.
Every Zoya creation takes 9-12 months to make as they are made of the finest stones by astute craftsmen. And so are the boutiques designed and commands an investment of close to Rs 40 crore for each.
On the product side he said, Zoya introduced two signature collections last year – Samave and Aeterna, with patents in design and cut and a high-end jewellery collection Beyond.
On Titan, he said despite the market leader, its share is only less than 10 per cent in the jewellery industry, and hence there is headroom for growth. “We will continue to be very aggressive when it comes to expansion.”
