How watchmakers are changing how they think about women | WARC | The Feed

How watchmakers are changing how they think about women

Women are critical to watchmakers, a new report into the industry finds, and the methods used to market timepieces are shifting accordingly.

Why it matters

In part of an FT in-depth report into watches – they do one relatively often – one chapter delves into the ways brands consider how to sell to women is changing, mostly as a result of more sophisticated thinking around female audiences as both end-users, buyers for others, and the crumbling barriers between what were once men’s designs and women’s designs.

What’s happening

• Watch marketing is shifting with usage patterns, Julien Tornare, CEO of Zenith (watchmaker, not the media agency), tells the FT, “when you buy watches today, women influence men and men influence women; couples share the watch they wear”.
• In five years, the percentage of female to male customers has grown fast from an eighth five years ago to a quarter today.
• Brand ambassadors are shifting toward influencers, especially in China where actor Dilraba’s partnership with Italian brand Panerai has coincided with a 60% leap in sales to women.
• These accompany deeper changes in the luxury market, as simple prestige and exclusivity to deeper ideas like sustainability or circularity. Yet, certain aspects remain the same: elements like packaging and experience remain central to the category, regardless of the buyer’s gender.

Sourced from the FT, WARC. [Image: Zenith]