Introduction: Watchmaking house Fiyta is one of China’s most-respected and innovative brands, having grown into a household name across the country during the 36 years since its founding.
That popularity has been boosted by Fiyta’s close relationship with China’s manned space programme. Since 2003, the brand has provided high-quality timepieces to Chinese astronauts and become one of the world’s three major space watch brands.
In 2011, it exhibited in Baselworld Hall 1 (the famed watch fair’s location for global brands), the first Chinese brand to be located alongside the great international watchmaking names. Besides its pre-eminent status in China’s burgeoning domestic watch sector, Fiyta has strong global ambitions, with travel retail singled out as a key channel for growth in line with the return of outbound travel.
On the eve of the TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore, where the company is exhibiting (B2-F26), Fiyta International Business General Manager Jobs Wang tells The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie about the brand’s positioning within and outside China, its internationalisation strategy and the role of travel retail in its plans.
Wang also highlights the importance of the emerging ‘China chic’ trend and the importance of the relationship with China’s space programme.
Martin Moodie: Fiyta has come a long way in a short time, being a young brand founded in 1987. Can you sum up Fiyta’s position today both within and outside China? What percentage of business is international?
Jobs Wang: Fiyta’s original intention was becoming the leading watch brand in China and reaching global markets. After 36 years development, Fiyta has well-organised channel structure covering all-tier cities in China and it enjoys very high brand awareness among Chinese customers. After more than ten years of international development, over 10% of Fiyta’s business is from outside China.
Where is your price positioning, relative to other Chinese brands such as Rossini and Ebohr?
Other Chinese watch brands normally have a very wide price range. In our brand building process, to deliver a clear message to the customer, we focus our price range from US$200 to US$600. We launched our young and fashionable brand to reach the lower price range and acquired a high-end brand to target a higher price range. For Fiyta, we want to position it for the mass market, but with professional watchmaking expertise.
What is your internationalisation approach and within that what role does travel retail play in your plans – both at home and abroad?
Working with professional and renowned retailers is the key to developing our international business. And of course, travel retail operators are our priority option. We say the travel retail channel has three highs: high traffic, high exposure and high turnover. So this business plays an important role in our international development.
How established are you in travel retail today and how would you describe the brand’s positioning?
Around ten years ago, FIYTA penetrated into travel retail channels. Until now we have opened more than 100 travel retail points of sales worldwide and worked with most of the main travel retail operators such as China Duty Free Group (CDFG), King Power, DFS Group, Lotte Duty Free, Heinemann, Lagardère Travel Retail etc.
Our positioning in the channel is that of an entry-price watchmaker. We are in the fun or fashion watches section in travel retail, but we are a professional watchmaker compared to other brands in the segment.
How important to FIYTA is the rapid emergence of the ‘China chic’ trend and fast-rising patriotism towards Chinese brands – a dynamic that seems to have been accentuated by the pandemic?
Yes, we can see the ‘China chic’ trend in beauty, fashion and watches and jewellery category nowadays. We try to incorporate the China chic elements not only in the product development but also in the shop design.
We worked with China’s manned space programmes and aviation projects to develop the products we called ‘with China spirit’ to influence the young generation. We also use this concept in the shop design, such as our China Space Station Concept Pop-up store in Haikou Meilan Airport Duty Free Shop with CDFG and the Oriental Garden Concept Pop-up store in Sanya Duty Free City with Hainan Tourism Duty Free. These kinds of ‘China chic’ products and concept stores attract customers and boost business.
Fiyta has provided watches for China’s astronauts since 2003 and one of its timepieces, the Fiyta Extravehicular Space Watch, was worn for the nation’s first spacewalk in 2008. China’s space programme is a great source of pride for Chinese consumers – so how important has this been to Fiyta’s success?
Firstly, to keep providing the space watches for China’s astronauts, we need to keep exploring techniques of watchmaking and inventing new materials for watches that can endure different conditions, including outer space.
Fiyta’s in-house research & development team and watchmaking expertise have ensured zero faults for Fiyta space watches in all past timing missions within China’s space programme. Our R&D and expertise also ensure we deliver high-quality products to all customers.
Today, Fiyta is officially named as China’s Space Watch and we have added it to the brand slogan. We also launched the Space Station Boutique in China and soon will be in travel retail channels to provide an immersive experience to customers.
You will be exhibiting at TFWA Singapore. What can buyers expect to see there?
Yes, after three years Fiyta is back to exhibiting at TFWA Singapore. We have a newly built booth with traditional Chinese culture reflected in the design. We bring our latest watches inspired by China’s space missions and aviation projects to the international travel retail market. More importantly, we can see each other in person and talk face-to-face.
Finally, what’s your message to international duty free retailers as to why they should list Fiyta?
Fiyta is an entry-price watchmaker in the fun and fashion segment – where the customers are always looking for something new.
Fiyta’s value for money products and interesting brand story offers one more choice for consumers. At the same time, Chinese tourists are demanding Fiyta, and they can enjoy more favourable prices, exclusive products and a five-year warranty in the travel retail market. ✈
