The four top groups in the Swiss watch industry
LVMH Group
The French LVMH Group, which owns CD perfume and Louis Vuitton leather goods, is the number one luxury goods group in the world today. . After purchasing three Swiss watch brands, Ebel, Luxury and Znitt last year, LVMH Group immediately became the fourth largest watch manufacturer in the world. From now on, this "heavyweight" company from France will control 80% of the world's luxury watch production together with the three local Swiss groups - Swatch, Rolex and Vendome. LVMH Group already accounts for 10% of luxury watch production.
To "know and know the enemy", LVMH Group even poached one of the core leaders of the Swatch Group, former President of the Omega Watch Factory, Sophisti, to help the group formulate strategies. Let the three brands of Eubao, Luxury and Znitt shine again. For the three Swiss brands, with the change of ownership of the company, the era of silent hard work has also come to an end: the newly created watch and jewelry department of LVMH Group has begun to take a series of active measures - concentrating production, increasing advertising, and promoting the development of the watch industry through LVMH Group. Global sales network and the Internet to expand sales.
In the past ten years, Vendome and LVMH, two world-famous luxury goods groups, have successively entered the Swiss watch industry and quickly gained the strength to compete with the "old overlords" of the watch industry. This fully demonstrates It reflects a major trend in the current development of the Swiss watch industry, that is, the high-end watch industry is increasingly interpenetrating with the luxury goods production industry. Indeed, in the colorful world created by luxury goods groups through fashion, jewelry, and perfume, how can we lack the important accessory of Swiss watches? Which product can better reflect the luxury group’s concept of “artistic life” than classic and expensive Swiss watches? Moreover, when luxury goods groups enter the watch industry, they have a natural advantage over other industries. That is, luxury goods groups already have a strong sales network, which saves a large amount of cost in establishing separate watch sales outlets.
At the same time, the Swiss watch industry is also preparing to reversely penetrate the luxury goods industry. Swatch Group announced that it will enter the jewelry field next and open a store on the Champs Elysées in Paris, next to the stores of major French luxury brands (especially the new rival LVMH Group), in order to establish its own luxury brand. brand image. In the process of mutual penetration between the two industries, high-end watches and luxury watch brands are of course the main targets of competition. At present, the world ranking of high-end watch sales is still: Rolex, Vendome, Swatch and LVMH.
After the acquisitions and mergers in the previous period, the situation of "separation" of the four major groups has basically formed. The export volume of watches of Rolex, Swatch and Vendome has accounted for one-fifth of all Swiss watch exports. Four. However, industry experts agree that the wave of restructuring in the Swiss watch industry is far from over. In the future, more Swiss brands will change hands, and people are waiting to see new acquisitions. However, most companies in the Swiss watch industry have not entered the stock market, which brings certain difficulties to mergers and acquisitions: the evaluation of the value of the brand itself, the prediction of market development, and the judgment of the development trend of the entire industry may affect corporate investment. acquisition behavior.
Vendome Group
Vendome Luxury Group is a subsidiary of the Richemont Group, the ninth largest enterprise in Switzerland. It owns a series of world-renowned luxury brands, such as Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc, Lancer, etc.
Since 1988, the Vendome Group has purchased three Swiss luxury watch brands: Baume & Mercier, Piaget, and Vacheron Constantin, and expanded Cartier's production field from jewelry to luxury jewelry watches, thus becoming one of the three largest brands in the world. Among the watch manufacturers, annual sales of watches reach 1.5 billion Swiss francs.
Rolex Group
With a history of nearly a century, the Rolex Group is currently the second largest watch company in Switzerland, with annual sales of more than 2 billion Swiss francs and 3,700 employees in Switzerland. The composition of the group is very "elite" - it only produces Rolex watches, which have ranked first in sales in the world for many years, and its brother brand Tudor watches. These two valuable brands have made the Rolex Group the largest luxury watch manufacturer in Switzerland. Every year, half of the total gold produced in Switzerland is used in the Rolex Group's finished watches.
For those companies that hope to maintain the status quo of the watch industry, Rolex is undoubtedly the "mainstay" in resisting the wave of mergers: the Rolex Group, which has no intention of annexing and expanding, represents a large number of companies that resolutely maintain tradition and independence. point of view.
However, in addition to the desire to remain independent, practical effort is also essential. Facing the new competitive landscape, Rolex Group has begun to make greater efforts in marketing, especially increasing investment in advertising for its second brand Tudor watches. Not long ago, it invited golf star Tiger Woods to be its image representative.
Swatch Group
The birth of the Swatch Group played a prelude to the coming wave of mergers in the Swiss watch industry: the former Swiss Watch Industry Company (ASUAG) and the Swiss Watch Group The Swiss Swatch Group, which was formed through the merger of SSIH and SSIH in 1983 and was renamed in 1998, is already the largest watch industry group in the world today.
It owns watch brands such as Blancpain, Omega, Radar, Longines, Tissot, Calvin Klein, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Pibaman, and Swatch. At the same time, it has its own assembly system production company Lasag Company, watch movement production company ETA Company, button battery factory Renata Company and many other supporting production companies.
In 1999, the Swatch Group's total sales reached 3.626 billion Swiss francs, an increase of 10.9% over 1999; profits were 441 million Swiss francs, an increase of 23.5% over 1998. In the first quarter of this year, the group's performance continued to rise, with revenue increasing by another 20% compared to the first quarter of 1999.