MAM
Timex ramps up retail strategy in India
BANGALORE: Timex Group India (Timex) has ramped up its retail strategy in India, and more specifically in the southern region.
Timex announced the opening of the 12th Timex Factory store in Bangalore. The new Time Factory store was inaugurated by Timex Head- Retail and New Brands Angelique O’Brien. The south has been a major market for all the brands sold by Timex, revealed O’Brien.
Timex currently has 75 Timex Factory stores in 33 cities in India. The company plans to up the number of these stores in India to 100 in the next 12 months. Its products are available across 3000 points of sale including at organized retailers such as Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle. Timex plans to strengthen its retail footprint in tier II and tier III markets also.
In a bid to grow revenues by 20 per cent this fiscal to Rs 3 billion from last year’s Rs 2.5 billion, the company has plans to complete ad spends of Rs 220 million by the end of the fiscal on 31 March 2011.
In the past, the brand had been using print and outdoor media for advertising. Since the middle of last month, Timex has started advertising on television with a TVC by its creative agency JWT. It’s TVCs’ have been aired on television across genres as well as the on regional television. It also plans to launch email and SMS campaigns shortly.
It has had Australian cricket fast bowler Brett Lee as a brand ambassador in the past. During the last quarter of 2010, it had Indian cricket ace batsman Virendra Sehawag to launch its ICC Watch series (International Cricket Council).
Timex is the official timekeeper for the ICC World Cricket Championship 2011 that begins in the Indian sub-continent from 19 February.
The company has ambitious plans to launch over 400 models of watches across categories by the end of this financial year targeting the discerning Indian consumer. Last month, the brand launched 14 styles of the Tarun Tahiliani collection of ladies watches, 9 of which are a part of the bridal collection. The collection has watches in the price range of Rs.10,995 and Rs.23,995.
Timex Group has a portfolio of 11 brands spread across various segments from mid premium to luxury segment with Brands like, Timex, Opex, Guess, Gc, Marc Ecko, Nautica, TX, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Versus and Valentino with selling channels in more than 100 countries. The Group has a design centre based out of Milano and a manufacturing base spread across various countries.
Mindshare handles the media buying duties for Timex.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
