Clients in the Middle East are looking for more discrete watches, according to Georges Kern, the newly-appointed chief executive of Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling.
During a visit to the UAE, the CEO said consumers are also looking for brands with history, roots and DNA, adding that Breitling needs to turn more digital in the way it communicates and interacts with consumers, but also in the way it sells its products.
“We need to become omnichannel, meaning, how do I have a seamless integration of our retail business, our wholesale business, our in-house e-commerce and our non-in-house e-commerce business?” he added.
Kern said the UAE and the Middle East are booming from an economic point of view.
“You have a rising population, you have investments, you have wealth in the region, so it’s one of the biggest, and fastest growing regions in the world,” he said.
He explained that the brand has three types of clients in the UAE, including local citizens, expats and tourists, particularly Chinese.
He estimated that for one watch sold in China, there are four watches sold to Chinese tourists travelling abroad.
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