WatchPro – August 2019

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT THE MARKET FOR FASHION AND LIFESTYLE WATCHES PRICED AT UNDER £500 HAS BEEN SHRINKING EVERY YEAR

SINCE THE MICHAEL KORS PHENOMENON IN 2014. BUT MOVADO GROUP UK HAS BEEN BUCKING THE TREND OF SLIDING SALES THROUGH

A FOCUS ON BESTSELLERS FROM HUGO BOSS AND TOMMY HILFIGER, AND CONTINUOUS INVESTMENT IN FRESH BRANDS LIKE MVMT AND

LACOSTE. SECURING PRIME LOCATIONS AT MAJOR JEWELLER MULTIPLES AND DEPARTMENT STORES HAS BEEN CRUCIAL TO AN UNBROKEN

RUN OF 26 QUARTERS OF GROWTH AS ROB CORDER DISCOVERED WHEN HE MET THE COMPANY’S UK GENERAL MANAGER STEVE BRYDON.

W

atchPro: The sub-

£500 price point

been getting tougher

and tougher since

2014. How are Movado’s brands
      doing?
      Steve Brydon: It could be argued
      that sales at the Kors level [in 2014]
      was unsustainable. We carried
      on doing our own thing in the
      background and have notched up 26
      consecutive quarters of growth. We

TOMMY, HUGO & FRIENDS

Above:

Steve Brydon,

general manager of

Movado Group UK

have Boss, which is the number one

fashion brand now. We have Tommy

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fastest growing brand under £

and the second fastest growing

brand in the entire UK watch

industry. Lacoste is good for us too.

We did not go as heavily as other

brands into the connected watch

space. We put our toe in the water

and were able to offer it, but we

did not transfer massive marketing

bucks to it and it looks now as if

Apple has won that battle.

We have concentrated on the core

values of our brands — the design

of the watches and on executing as

well as we possibly can. We are good

at marketing our brands and invest

heavily in it, whether that be shop-in-

shops, which we are spending more

and more on, or coop campaigns

with our main retailers. Gone are

the days when you could just

18 WATCHPRO / AUGUST 2019 / watchpro.com

THE BIG INTERVIEW / MOVADO GROUP UK