THE AMBASSADORS OF TIME

Luxe ambience, experiential Knowledge, skilled staff and World-class after-sales Service—india is now Emerging as a leading market For luxury watches.

Time ’n Style presents retailers who Have carved a niche for Themselves in this category

OFFERING ITS CUSTOMERS A TRUE QUALITY EXPERIENCE WHILE SHOPPING FOR THE BEST HIGH-END WATCHES AVAILABLE, THE ZIMSON LUXURY WATCH BOUTIQUES HAVE MAJOR PLANS FOR EXPANSION IN THE NEAR FUTURE

The complete Retail experience

One look at the Zimson boutiques in Bangalore, Chennai or Coimbatore makes you feel as if you’ve been transported to a different world—one that is defined by space, ambience and products.

All the brands that Zimson retails are laid out in a style that allows visitors to browse at a leisurely pace. The well-trained boutique staff promises guidance to the customers, establishing a personal rapport with them. This also reflects in the store’s treatment of after-sales service requests. The customers are hence guaranteed complete satisfaction from their experience.

Legacy In Retail

The company began as a small family-owned enterprise way back after independence in 1948. Today, it is a professionally-managed entity, with the priceless legacy of the people who have worked to make the company achieve this growth. Since its inception, the business has registered a steady expansion. Going by the current growth rate, by 2010, the company should be worth INR 100 crores. The figures speak volumes, as do the years of retail experience, with the same values that are upheld by the company today. With such a fruitful and illustrious past in retail, it should come as no surprise that Zimson retails some of the most impressive names in timekeeping worldwide. This list of brands includes Baume & Mercier, Bvlgari, Chopard, Corum, Dior, Franck Muller, Hublot, Longines, Montblanc, Movado, Omega, Piaget, Rado, Raymond Weil, TAG Heuer, Tissot, Ulysse Nardin and Vertu. A major strength of Zimson is their aftersales service. They have a mother care service centre authorised to maintain several Swiss brands.

Essence Of Teamwork

The value of effective teamwork is of utmost importance to the management and the staff at Zimson boutique. The store believes that such values bring about results that go a long way in long-term customer relationships. The employees at the boutique are encouraged to share and build a database of knowledge from each individual’s experiences with customers. This helps them improve their service. They make it a point that a director or senior manager are present at all times while a customer is being attended to. A regular participation in refresher programmes, seminars and workshops to upgrade the technical and people skills of the staff has always shown effective outcomes in the operation of the boutique. The service executives pay close attention to the requirements of the customers. With years of dealing in the watch industry, the people behind the smooth operation of the Zimson boutiques are valued for their experience. While the chairman, EA Ismail himself has 40 years of experience in watch trade, the vice chairman, managing director and deputy managing director each have 30 to 35 years of experience. The Deputy Managing Director is a Horological Engineer trained in Switzerland. An effective combining of their knowledge and expertise in the field has greatly helped the company grow, with a very promising future ahead of it.

Great times ahead

Despite the experienced top-level management, the company also credits its growth to its young employees. The third generation— all management graduates—are actively involved in the business, shouldering various responsibilities. This again is a big strength of Zimson as they have sufficient, qualified hands to successfully run the business. With the drive of youth and fresh perspective, the team is well equipped to take the company ahead with flying colours. At present, four stores are functional in Bangalore. They have exclusive Omega and TAG Heuer boutiques, and a high-end multi-brand watch boutique, all located at UB City. There is also a premium Swiss brands showroom in Garuda Mall, Bangalore. Two more showrooms will open by September 2009—one an exclusive Swiss brands boutique and the other a multi-brand outlet. And while Coimbatore already has two boutiques, Chennai will have three more showrooms by early 2009. One will be a 2,000 sq. ft. luxury watch boutique in Ampa Mall.