WatchPro – August 2019

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a change. Five years ago for us,

ecommerce sales amounted to 5%,

today it is 30%. That tells its own

story. From our point of view, we are

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make sure that whether customers

go to a store or a website, our

product looks amazing. Generally,

the retailers understand that and

are happy for us to provide images,

stories and data. If anything, we want

to do that better and we have put the

people in place to improve that.

WatchPro: How are the

independent jewellers doing?

Steve Brydon: From what we see,

the majority of independents have

moved upmarket and are working

with the big brands with their

accompanying big demands. These

brands are demanding shop-in-

shops, etc, or they will pull out. That is

working its way through.

We have some stunning

independents in this country. I travel

a lot and the standard of these

independents rivals anywhere in the

world.

The mid- to lower-end

independents are having a tough

time. They are up against some very

big, well run groups.

There is a window of opportunity

while department stores sort

themselves out — and they will — for

independents to battle back. But if

they cannot get any of the 10 or 20

brands that account for 75% and

90% of the market, they need to

come up with something different.

That might be jewellery and watches.

For us, independents represent a

relatively small part of our business

because there are fewer of them that

are successful.

WatchPro: Are the small

independents moving out of

watches altogether?

Steve Brydon: We tend not to have

so much distribution there anyway

because there are quite strict criteria

with our brands in terms of the

types of stores are allowed to open

and what adjacencies. The ones

that do it well are still successful, but

undoubtedly those that do not move

with the times are falling away.

WatchPro: How do you feel about

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of Baselworld?

Steve Brydon: We were one of

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from Baselworld [last exhibiting

in 2017]. We have 11 brands as a

group and having that many stands

costs tens of millions. It had less

and less relevance for us. Part of

our philosophy is to be as close as

possible to our partners and to be

genuine partners for them. We found

that there was little point inviting

buyers from major multiples to Basel

because we will almost certainly

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prior to the show and would be in

there again four weeks afterwards.

The majority of our turnover comes

from 6-8 accounts, and we are able

to show them new collections in

the UK every year weeks ahead of

Baselworld. That being the case,

spending the money at Baselworld

did not really make sense.

Now we bring our partners to

an amazing location in Davos and

immerse them in an experiential

environment. It is much more

relaxed. Nobody is dashing from one

appointment to the next. It is really

successful for us.

We have done Davos twice, and

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the press to Davos. That is one area

where Baselworld is still important

because the world’s media is still

keen to go.

We are also changing what we

do here in the UK. Print advertising

is pretty much gone, it is all digital

now. The PR company is tasked with

making sure we speak to journalists

throughout the year rather than rush

them round 10 brands in an hour.

WatchPro: What are your

expectations for this year?

Steve Brydon: We expect to grow

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quarter. Product for the second half

is really good. Boss watches are

probably as strong as I have seen in

20 years. Boss has two facias: Boss

Black, which is for the classic watch

customer. Hugo is for a more trendy

audience. There are two standalone

stores for Hugo as a fashion brand.

We have made the decision that

we will never place Boss Black and

Hugo together. That gives us two

sets of customers in stores and even

online.

We have several brands in really

good growth. We are putting more

marketing money in the pot this year

because there are some wide open

spaces in the market that we feel we

can capitalise on.

There is also the jewellery story.

We have Mvmt, which we launched

only a few weeks ago and have

opened with John Lewis and it will

go into both Ernest Jones and H.

Samuel.

Above:

Hugo Boss watches

have consistently

played the anchor

role for Movado

Group in the UK

THE BIG INTERVIEW / MOVADO GROUP UK

22 WATCHPRO / AUGUST 2019 / watchpro.com