A market study like no other: World Watch Report 2008 launches at BaselWorld
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BaselWorld
As luxury watchhttp://www.watcheshop.net/ manufacturers, retailers and
aficionados descend upon Basel, Switzerland for the international
watch fair known as BaselWorld, IC-Agency prepares the launch of the
latest edition of the WorldWatchReport. As an Internet Marketing
consulting agency, IC-Agency offers insights on current online trends
for their clients, many of them in the luxury goods industry.
netbining their expertise in the e-luxury field with their proprietary
technology, they publish annually the WorldWatchReport, a market study
deciphering the online demand of luxury watch brandshttp://www.watcheshop.net/
over the past year. This report focuses on 12 of the top luxury watch
brands; Cartier, Chopard, TAG Heuer, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega,
Breitling, Ebel, Girard-Perregaux, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Longines and
Bulgari. The demand for these brands is analyzed in five distinct
markets: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and
Germany.
This market study is like no other. By analyzing actual volume of
queries in search engines, this report assembles millions of
intentions from anonymous users, providing more reliable results than
traditional market studies. Although traditionally targeted towards
the brands themselves, this year?ˉs report will be all the more
accessible, as a special retailer edition will be offered. This
edition will emphasize the top brands in each category and the most
searched models of the past year.
Here is a preview of what will be found in this year?ˉs edition. The
growing number of Internet users and the ever-present market for pre-
owned and replica watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net/ mark this year?ˉs
report.
The markets
A study such as this benetes all the more relevant as the Internet
population grows. Considerable growth of this market is seen year over
year, most notably in European countries. Approximately two-thirds of
residents in Germany and the UK are now connected to the Internet.
France and Italy are still below the 60 percent mark, but are also
seeing the highest increases. France alone saw an increase of over 12
percent of its Internet population in the last year. Looking across
the Atlantic, we see the United States with a colossal Internet
population of 215 million. In 2008, this country surpassed the 70
percent Internet penetration mark. All this means that measuring
search intentions for these markets benetes increasingly relevant. It
also means that the Internet is beneting an even more important means
for these brands to netmunicate with their potential clients. These
brands can no longer ignore their perception on the Internet.
The brands
Search volume is generally high for brands with a strong offering of
men?ˉs and sports uhren watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net/, when
netparing results from our selection of European countries and of the
United States. These brands include Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer and
Breitling. Strong brand awareness propels Rolex to first among the
overall top searched brands. Needless to say that it is also first in
its cat-egory. There is however strong netpetition. Omega netes in
second with a little more than half the search volume of Rolex, while
TAG Heuer and Breitling battle for third.
Although Cartier doesn?ˉt benefit from the same level of search
volumes as its netpetitors in the Men?ˉs and Sport?ˉs categories, it
performs very well in its own category. For watch brands with
offerings targeting mostly women or that also produce jewellery,
Cartier is the clear leader with 62 percent of search queries. Bulgari
and Chopard, the other two brands included in this category, share the
remaining searches.
The last category represents more classic orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net/,
many of which are manufacturers. This category, while more exclusive,
naturally gets a smaller level of search volume than the two previous
categories. What makes this category so interesting is its
netpetitiveness; there is no clear leader. Longines has a strong
showing with 38 percent of the total number of searches. Not far
behind is Patek Philippe with 31 percent. Ebel is also distinguishing
itself, keeping its distance from the bottom two with 18 percent. It
is Jaeger-LeCoultre and Girard-Perregaux that have some ground to make
up, with 9 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The demand
Brand awareness plays a big role in the number of total searches for a
brand. However, by drilling down into search queries, we can identify
and categorize the intention of users when searching for these brands.
While searches specifically centred on the brands themselves represent
the majority of searches, each country has their own unique mix of
search intentions. The United States, by far the largest market of the
study, tends have a more granular level of searches focusing strongly
on specific models and less on the brands themselves when netpared to
our other markets. Although the search for replicas does not represent
as much in the overall volume of searches than other countries, the
shear size of the market means that it is still the top country in the
number of replica searches. Also, the lower weighting of replica
searches in the United States is netpensated by the highest level of
searches for pre-owned luxury uhren watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net/.
The United Kingdom and Italy also have an important level of pre-owned
searches. However, the UK resembles Germany, as both have the highest
weighting of replica searches (18 percent) and a more average
weighting of model specific searches (14-15 percent). Italy has a
little of everything, as search intentions based on price,
distribution and pre-owned orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net/
all have a relatively strong showing. Symptomatic of its lower level
of Internet penetration, search intentions in France tend to weigh
heavily brand specific. Though model specific searches aren?ˉt as high
in this market, this market still has many reasons not to be ignored.
Most notably, this market has the highest percentage of search
intentions focused on purchasing a watch, whether they are looking for
a dealer or to purchase directly online.