Omega to expand retail presence

The Swiss watchmaker Omega plans to expand its footprint in India by adding three more brand stores. With this addition, the company will have eight brand stores by the end of the next year. The watch major has 100 mono-brand stores across the world.

One each in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi will join the list of existing stores in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. Omega is also available at 52 multi-brand outlets across the country, and the company has no plans to increase this number.

"We expect India to be among our top five markets in the next three-five years. Indians have a tradition for appreciating quality products, and there is also a strong middle-class that is constantly looking at higher value products," Omega President Stephen Urquhart said. At present, India is ranked between 12th and 15th among the company's markets the world over.

Launched in India in 1998, Omega intends to straddle the middle ground between being a niche product brand and a mass-market brand in India.

"While it will still remain an exclusive product, we don't want to position Omega as a niche brand in India," Urquhart said.