Online luxury watch segment is growing over a whopping 200% in India, Flipkart Fashion Head explains why

The shopping scenario in the last couple of years has gone through a massive shift across all segments in India, luxury segment is no different. Luxury goods are becoming more and more affordable and easily available to the consumers.

It’s not just the high net worth individuals who are donning the latest trends available in the hi-end segment but with consumers overall are warming up to the idea of E.M.I options for their luxe shopping, jump from hi-street to hi-end has become rather easy.
A watching trend

When it comes to watches which are a novelty item for most, luxury brands are a favorite.

Leading the growth story of watches with 40% market share online, Flipkart has been witnessing an unusually high demand for premium watches which has been fuelled by an increase in brand awareness and purchasing power of Indian shoppers.

According to a recent study released by ASSOCHAM, the luxury retailing will grow at 25 per cent from 2013 till 2018 and is likely to touch $ 18 billion mark from the ongoing level of $ 14 billion by the end of 2018.

At Flipkart, the projected growth momentum in this segment has been exceeded where premium watches priced between 15-20K have witnessed close to 250% YoY growth while premium watches priced over 10K have witnessed a 200% YoY growth in sales.
With the category currently contributing to 10% of the overall watches business, Flipkart aims to increase this to 15% by the end of 2017 which translates into tie-ups with the brands such as Rado, Tag Heuer, Longines, Movado, Raymond Weil, Fredrique Constant, Tissot and others.

Ruling roost

Men however lead the way at least in this category, “Close to 55% of sales in this category come from metros and tier I cities, with a majority of sales being concentrated in Delhi. Men contribute to close to 75% sales in this category. We aim to maintain this category’s growth momentum by increasing it by 4X times during the upcoming ‘The Big Billion Days’. A couple of exclusive lines with best-selling luxury watch brands too are in the works for the festive sale season,” Rishi Vasudev, Head- Flipkart Fashion told Business Insider.

With easy options such as ‘No Cost EMI’ and ‘Buy Now Pay Later available for buying luxury goods online, Vasudev credited the rise of luxury watch category to the 'price-conscious' consumers for whom the 'timing' couldn't be better to invest in that hi-end watch they always aspired to buy.