Titan partners with Amazon to foray into US market

By Aarushi Singh

India's iconic watch seller Titan will go to the United States tagging along with the E-Commerce retailer Amazon offering 500 models, some of them exclusive. Under the partnership, Amazon through its 'Global Selling Programme' will enable Titan take its vast range of watches to millions of global customers across ethnicities on Amazon.com in the US and eventually across other Amazon marketplaces.

Announcing the partnership on 8^th august, Titan CEO for watches and accessories Ravikanth said this would be maiden foray into the US market with Titan already present in over 30 countries, mostly in the Asian and African continent with exports contributing to ten per cent of the top line.Titan’s collaboration with Amazon will now help them foray into the US market and reach out to Amazon’s wide and loyal consumer base internationally he said.

“We are very excited to take Titan to US and soon to all market places and Titan will be using our flagship product 'Fulfillment by Amazon' so that Titan can sell all their products to our FC (Fulfillment Center) and it is available for one day or two day shipping in US," Amazon India Director & GM- Seller Services Gopal Pillai told reporters here. He said Amazon would also look at expanding the partnership to other markets like U.K., Germany and other European Union countries, as also Japan.

Titan said as the first step it would enter the U.S. market with about 500 handpicked models from its Titan and Fastrack brand of watches, with the price range of USD 30 to USD 300.

Stating that there has been no formal discussion on exclusivity with Amazon, the company officials said Titan has no stand alone brick and mortar store in the US.

Noting that e-commerce is the fastest growing channel for Titan and US is a very matured market, he said "we have also been receiving enough signals in the last few years of people in US, not just NRI's wanting to buy Titan." Titan has over 200 million customers and 7,000 retail stores spread over 30 plus different countries. Titan officials also said it has plans to sell accessories and jewelries over a period of time, once they study the market.

Launched in India in May 2015, Amazon's Global Selling Programme facilitates easy, simple and convenient access for all Indian sellers - including entrepreneurs, SMEs, manufacturers as well as large brands - to sell their products to consumers across the globe. Amazon said its Global Selling Programme is getting a lot of momentum, having started the programme two years ago with few hundred sellers; today it has more than 23,000 sellers listing 65 million products in 10 different market places.