The Switzerland-based high-end watch company Omega SA opened its first store in Taiwan yesterday and expects to see its sales in Taiwan grow between 10 percent and 15 percent from a year ago, a company official said yesterday.
Omega is owned by the Swatch group.
When asked whether rising inflation was expected to affect sales, Kevin Rollenhagen, head of The Swatch Group Ltd in the Greater China region said the company had not seen a strong impact so far.
Rollenhagen said Switzerland’s global exports of watches grew 15 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year.
“The luxury brands are still doing quite well in a rather difficult economy, but the middle-priced brands will probably be suffering the most,” Rollenhagen said.
Phill Hwang (黃孔祥), general manager of The Swatch Group (Taiwan) Ltd (台灣斯沃琪瑞表), said during an opening speech yesterday that although Taiwan’s economy had not performed well in recent years, he believed opening the market to China would help.
In addition to the new Taipei store near the intersection of Zhongxiao and Fuxing roads, Omega operates department store booths at three locations and plans to expand its number of outlets to eight within two years, Hwang said.
Omega’s main consumer group in Taiwan consists of buyers between 30 and 40 years old. The average selling price of an Omega watch is between NT$150,000 and NT$200,000, Hwang said.
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