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Thread: Interesting article about the future of physical watch stores

  1. #1

    Interesting article about the future of physical watch stores


  2. #2
    That is interesting. I do agree with the notion that a watch is something one generally wants to buy in person, says the guy who has bought at least a dozen new/newish watches sight unseen... It is a different market than most retail, more like buying a car or even a house.
    Solve all your doubts through question mode.

  3. #3
    Interesting. I'll wait for the 2nd part.
    Last edited by CFR; Mar 1, 2019 at 12:15 AM.

  4. #4
    Moderator - Central tribe125's Avatar
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    My prediction is that physical stores will survive but will increasingly be confined to cities. This is only really a continuation of a process that has been observable for some time. Internet shopping plays a large part in that, but so does the fact that watches have become less essential to daily living.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by tribe125 View Post
    My prediction is that physical stores will survive but will increasingly be confined to cities. This is only really a continuation of a process that has been observable for some time. Internet shopping plays a large part in that, but so does the fact that watches have become less essential to daily living.
    Agreed. I also think the trend towards boutiques owned by the manufacturers will continue...and then at some point it will start to swing back again as they discover most people actually want to compare multiple brands at the same time. That will push them back in the direction of shops that carry a select (read all under the same corporate umbrella) number of brands that don't have huge overlap with each other.

  6. #6
    Boutiques seem to be more about advertising status than generating sales. In Vancouver there is this street (Alberni) that recently became the 'luxury' goods street. And Richemont is now paying for a huge amount of real estate with individual brand boutiques. The two corner stores are non-Richemont (Tiffany's and Hermès), but then they have a Panerai boutique and JLC boutique side by side. A Montblanc is opening across the street. Further down is a Van Cleef and Arpels, and an IWC. Only other watch boutiques there that I can think of are a Hublot and Rolex, but they're way down the end, Rolex being a couple blocks down. The Omega boutique is in a Hotel across from where the street starts, but around the corner.

    It seems not super economical for Richemont to have so much different, spread-out facilities, but they do kind of dominate the fancier area, whereas Hublot, and especially Rolex ended up pushed quite a bit down. And I can't think of seeing more than a couple of potential customers total from all of them last summer.

    It really doesn't seem likely that these places are even paying for themselves, let alone making a profit.

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  8. #7
    I am posting part 2 only for the sake of completeness, as I think it's useless and obvious. Who thought of the "well, people are spending 24 hours per week on line, so that leaves another 144 hours where people will go to physical stores."

    https://www.watchtime.com/wristwatch...eid=38d37133bd

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  10. #8
    Thanks for sharing, mlcor.
    To me, this article is kinda obvious, kinda chaotic, and kind of detached from reality. Plus, it mixes casual buyers, luxury (as in rich) buyers, and watch enthusiast buyers -- three groups who in my opinion have totally different buying habits and expectations.
    I can't tell about the first two, but when it comes to an average WIS, brick and mortar shops' existence can only be justified by convenience, ie immediate availability for purchase at an online/street price. Being able to see the watch in person AND buy right away = happy.

  11. #9
    Moderator - Central tribe125's Avatar
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    Yes, part 2 is a bit feeble.

    The depth of thought in the bit you’ve quoted is truly remarkable.

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  13. #10
    The pop up shop concept is how some retailers are trying to balance doing their business as inexpensively as possible online, but providing an experience and the advantages of physical retail at a frequency they can afford or deem necessary. The big guys don't seem to mind doing that through hardly visited boutiques. The Oris concept is interesting but hardly unique in other niche retail which has been doing this for years before the watch companies.

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