TITAN - USERS & NON-USERS

“As long as you have visibility of the end user, you can chalk out a plan of action for design.” Mahendra Chauhan, Design Head, Titan Company Limited

User profiling is perhaps the strongest design differentiator. In the last chapter, we explored how a product can change entirely based on the user it is designer for. As a mass brand, Titan has created several sub brands and collections to cater to all user segments under the sun. However, who are the people that really pick a Titan watch off the websites and stores?To be able to do justice to answering that question, one needed to be able to look at how the design of watches at Titan found a home outside the company’s walls.

The first method used to address this question was to visit stores of varying scale. By going to the stores, one could see for themselves as to who the end user was. Titan’s distribution system ensured that there were a handful of avenues through which a user could come into contact with the Titan Brand and its products. Smaller stores were in abundance on the outskirts of the city, while the bigger stores and mall kiosks could be found at the heart of town. During this process, one ended up visiting many stores that sold more than one brand and this brought about a sense of clarity with respect to which brands were competing directly with Titan.

Earlier in the process, it seemed as though the users who frequented the smaller stores on the outskirts had very little in common with those who visit the larger stores but later it became clear that the individuals who were picking up a Titan watch for themselves were mostly above 30 years old. At the smaller shops, younger customers walked into the store looking for chunky multi-function watches. When asked if they would consider a Titan, they quickly reacted by calling Titan an ‘Uncle’s Watch’. Shopkeepers of Smaller stores mentioned at they do not store many iconic edge watches because the shapes that come for a more a more affordable price do not excite the younger buyers who come looking for watches.

When interacting with users at the bigger stores, something interesting came up. A lot of the people coming to buy watches from Titan were buying watches for someone else as a gift. This meant that in a lot of cases, the user and consumer were not the same person. Younger women would come to buy Raga watches for their mothers rather than anything for themselves.

Figure 79. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Unorganized)

Figure 82. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Collector auctions) Figure 80. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Showrooms) Figure 81. Jansher 2018 Watch Markets (Vintage Stores)

The next step was to observe what watch people were wearing on their wrists. While you could do this as a general practice over a long period of time, a good way to do this in a shorter window of time is to jump on shared transport. In cities like Bangalore, buses and shared cabs are a very popular mode of transport. While people may still chose to use their own vehicle to commute, Bangalore’s traffic menace has put a lot of the working people off the idea of taking their own car out during weekdays. In a bus, it’s very easy to be able to look at what watches people are wearing. Taking pictures of people’s wrists became easy on buses. The added benefit of catching users on the bus is that people enjoy conversations that eat up the wait time that one spends in trying to get to their destination.

The bus rides revealed that the Titan watches that were most common to see on people’s hand were the ones that you wouldn’t be able to assign a collection to. The most significant thing about these watches was that they had the Titan branding on them which meant that people bought them even if they looked like any other watch. These were the kind of watches that just blend in without really asking for your attention and you’d not find these on the wrists on a younger person.

The last method used to reach users was to look at facebook groups. Facebook groups are where people with similar hobbies/passions come together to discuss a subject of interest to them - say, watches. In a facebook search for watch groups/forums, there was a link to the ‘Indian Watch Forum’. After registering with a public introduction on the group, the platform was now open to speak specifically about watches with over 900 watch enthusiasts. Upon making a few friends on the group, an invitation to a collector’s meet a Bangalore was received. Attending the meet and talking watches with the collectors reiterated that the Titan brand was more ‘serious’ than ‘fun’ and attracted an older audience.

The average Titan user is not young. One can conclude that Titan appeals to those users for whom the Titan brand stands for trust and reliability. Titan, in the eyes of these users, stands for simple classic styling and reliable products with good after sales services.

Convinced or experimenting with the functional or stylistic aspect of wearing a watch. Need convincing, gifting or new functionality to adopt watches.

Looks for a watch with basic time telling features and classic styling. Looks for a watch with multiple functions and sports styling.

Looks for watch that runs fully on a mechanism to radiate a premium appeal. Looks for a watch that doesn’t need excessive care or maintainence to function flawlessly. Looks for a watch with vintage appeal and features like an alarm, timer and stopwatch. Looks for a watch with the added functionality that enables the user to keep the phone in their pocket or bag. Looks for wrist based device to inform basic health monitoring features like step count and heart rate..