BaselWorld and SIHH: WorldWatchReport 2007 publication
Consumer interest and online demand for authentic luxury watch products has seen important increases in 2006 (+ 12%). The same goes for counterfeit products: 1 in 5 internet searches target counterfeits, doubling over results from 2005.
The study done by IC-Agency offers a complete analysis for 12 of the most important luxury watch brands in their 5 key export markets.
The most relevant trends discovered in the 2007 report are:
Online luxury boom:
The online luxury watch market is booming: all studied brands have seen increases in online demand.
Rolex, Tag Heuer, Omega, Cartier and Breitling dominate the market: together they represent 90% of all searches in the studied markets.
Rolex remains the world’s most popular brand in search intentions, followed by Tag Heuer in the US and Omega in Europe.
Jaeger-LeCoultre saw the largest increase in demand in 2006 (+39%) outpacing Omega (+29%) and Breitling (+24 %)
Counterfeit demand increasing:
The French market demonstrates astounding results: demand for counterfeit products nearly doubled from 2005 to 2006. This now represents 21% of search volume in France, 19% in Germany, 17% in the US, 16% in UK and 12% in Italy.
In 2006, the brands most associated with counterfeit searches were ranked as followed: Rolex, Breitling, Cartier. Among these brands, Breitling saw the biggest increase in 2006 (+71,8%), outpacing Rolex (+45%).
“The 2007 results confirmed a powerful trend: the Internet is playing an important role in the decision making process of the luxury watch clientele. Brands must quickly respond to their target’s new shopping habits with online visibility strategies adapted to each market. This approach will help to block the growing threat of counterfeit products and grey markets” stated David Sadigh, Associate partner at IC-Agency.
The WorldWatchReport 2007 offers brands and resellers exclusive data on the evolution and trends for each of the 5 chosen markets: the most popular brands, the most searched models, the seasonal evolution of demand, annual and geographic comparisons, etc.
