Mobile World demonstrates strong capabilities in watch distribution

Mobile World has cornered 15 per cent of the watch market in less than six months

Mobile World started to experiment with the “shop-in-shop” model by selling watches in March 2019. Since then, it has reached 15 per cent of the watch market.

The total number of watches sold by the company in September is to reach 50,000 units, which has surpassed the expectations of both Mobile World and local distributors.

Currently, local suppliers ran out of stock for Mobile World products that made the retailer start buying products at the original source to ease off dependence on the middlemen.

At present, the watch retail market in Vietnam is estimated to be worth more than VND18 trillion ($782.6 million). However, the market is quite fragmented as there are no store chains holding more than 20 per cent market share.

Market research Euromonitor International also forecasts Vietnam’s jewellery and watch retail market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7 per cent between 2017-2021 and reach VND43 trillion ($1.87 billion) in 2021.

The growth of the market is driven by rising disposable income, optimistic Consumer Confidence index, and 30 million millennials (aged 18-34) who increasingly seek products that express their self.

Plans to scale

Since jumping on the bandwagon, Mobile World planned to shape it up in a professional manner. The retailer offers consumers with affordable prices, thanks to the swift strategy to buy at source. The prices are affordable, while policies for warranty and after-sales services for consumers are strictly applied to ensure maximum benefits for consumers.

Accordingly, the firm is set to open 100 stores by September 30 with sales reaching 50,000 watches this month.

The chain will reach 200 outlets by the year-end and sell 100,000 watches by December, bringing the total number of watches sold in the stores to 300,000 in 2019.

It also targets opening 500 watch shops by the end of next June with the target of selling 2.5 million watches in the whole year.

“We still have much room to grow in this segment, and are thus open for any watch manufacturers with whom we can build a long-term trusted partnership,” said Mobile World’s CEO Doan Van Hieu Em.

Known as Vietnam's leading retailer, Mobile World has been recognised as the only Vietnamese representative among the Top 100 Asia-Pacific Retailers voted by Retail Asia Magazine and Euromonitor, and one of the top 50 best big listed companies by Forbes Asia (Asia’s Fab 50) and has been holding these titles for two consecutive years. The company is also a multi-award winner recognised by local organisations.