Seiko CEO Shinji Hattori recently explained how Seiko can grow overseas by promoting its premium brands. He spoke after the opening of Seiko’s first premium boutique opening in Tokyo’s Ginza district at the beginning of August. The Seiko premium boutique only has Seiko’s premium brands on display, as Seiko look to take advantage of the lucrative premium watch market.
Seiko’s Global Reach
Currently about 50% of Seiko’s sales come from the international market, meaning that 50% of their sales come from within Japan. Seiko hope to take advantage of the premium watch market to increase the portion of international sales up to about 60%. They hope to do this by putting their premium watches on display around the world. Seiko have opened up boutiques around the world, including boutiques in Frankfurt, Madrid, Paris and a new boutique which is due to open in Moscow.
Hattori explained: “Opening boutiques is effective, as such stores can give people a chance to see our premium products.”
Seiko’s premium range includes the well known Grand Seiko and the Seiko Astron GPS. The Astron GPS is a very popular Seiko watch, which makes use of GPS to set the time according to different time zones. Just as Seiko said when they released the original Seiko Astron, they are once again telling the world that “someday all watches will be made this way”. It’s too early to tell if that will actually be the case, but the numbers on premium watches are promising.
Seiko have found that unit sales have been going down, but the good news is that Seiko’s sales revenues have increased. Hattori noted: “This means that high-priced products are making good sales.”
If Seiko continue to place the focus on the premium watch market they can continue to increase revenues even if they sell less watches overall. For Seiko, the most important step is to let the world know that they are producing premium watches. Seiko hope to do this by focusing their marketing on the premium range and allowing customers to experience premium watches at Seiko boutiques.
Seiko is a respected brand, but most of the world knows them for quality quartz watches at a good price. But if more people can see Seiko’s premium watch range, the reputation may switch to a premium watch brand that people love to splash out on. If that happens then Seiko will really become a force to be reckoned with in the premium watch market.
Images: See-ming Lee, Dnalor 01
