Europa Star: How is your concept different?

Sugi Kusumadi: When you talk about watches, normally everyone thinks of Swiss watches. We tried to do something different with our concept - the brands are not mainstream, they are Russian and German, and they are all mechanical watches. We saw a niche in the market between high-end watches and econ-omical quartz watches, because the prices for the Russian and little-known German mechanicals are lower than the Swiss entry-level brands.
The price range for the watches we sell is from 120 to 550 Euros for a nice automatic watch. We don't sell the more expensive watches, that's not our niche right now.
The concept has been doing very well. We opened our second shop within a year. We are running two shops now and we are not even two years old. The acceptance has been great. People can see the difference of what we are offering - the product, the concept, the history. People are interested in mechan-ical watches, but many are not willing to pay high prices.





ES: Why did you choose these watches?

SK: I am a collector of watches myself. There are only a few brands that come from Russia that are good quality and those are the ones we chose. These companies have great concepts and the finishing is great. Some of the watches are using ETA movements as well. I have one model in our store using the Valjoux 7751 for 1,300 Euros.

ES: How has business changed in recent years?

SK: In terms of the number of big players, there haven't been many changes. In terms of selection, the number of new brands has increased over the last few years. We do have some local brands here in Singapore as well.

ES: What is your relationship like with other retailers?

SK: We are a start-up company and we are independent. Naturally, when you have a new store that is doing well, the other retailers are a little bit worried.





ES: How's business?

SK: The watch market in Singapore is very strong. Singapore is a trading and tourist hub, so a lot of watches come here and there is a huge selection of brands available. Last year, we had 9.4 million tourists come here and the population here is only four million.

ES: What do you like about your job?

SK: I came from a non-watch related business, so this is a new industry for me. Learning the ropes from the beginning was very interesting. I like being different and the market has accepted that. We are looking to expand into other countries around Singapore. I am having fun.





ES: What is the biggest challenge facing your store right now?

SK: To change the mind-set of people here in Singapore. We have to communicate to them that watches are not only Swiss and Japanese. We incorporate this approach into our training. When customers walk into our shop, we have to do a lot of education about Russian and lesser-known German watches in general and the brands we carry in particular. We tell them about the different brands. We do a lot of press relations and advertising here in Singapore. We have more and more traffic coming into the store. Singaporeans are pretty open-minded and they are very well travelled, so they are willing to consider new things.

ES: How do you market your store?

SK: We have been getting a lot of publicity because of our store and design concept. Red Army Watches is a catchy name and we can do some cool things with graphics and pictures. In terms of paid advertising, we have been doing watch magazines and general magazines. We do exhibitions as well in shopping malls and other venues.

ES: Who is your customer?

SK: Our customers are mostly male - professionals, managers, executives, mid-20s to late 40s. We also have females and men aged 50 to 60. The designs are pretty macho and male orien-ted. The brands we carry, however, are moving more and more into ladies ranges as well.

ES: How do you handle repairs?

SK: We warranty the watches from one to two years, depending on the brand. We have in-house technicians, so we service the watches here in Singapore. For every brand, it's important here to offer after-sales service, to give confidence to the customers.

ES: How do you do training?

SK: We have orientation training for a week on all the products. So far I have been doing the training myself. The brands train me and then I, in turn, train my staff. We do mentorship as well, so the more senior employees will work directly with the junior staff. The training is very personal and one-on-one. The brands visit us from time to time. Last week the President of Poljot was in town and he came to see us.

ES: How important is it to have exclusive distribution in Singapore?

SK: We are the exclusive retailers for these brands in Singapore and there is no plan to distribute to any other shops. It's very important that we are exclusive. Selling these brands requires a lot of communication. It's not easy to train the staff in all these brands. We have to change the mind-set about Russian watches. People like that we are the only shop that carries this brand. They like buying here because they know that they can't get it anywhere else.

Headquarters address: 9 Raffles Blvd #01-105, Millenia Walk, Singapore 039596
Size of store: 500 square feet / 46 square metres
Location: two stores in Singapore
How long: two years
Slogan: “Dare to be different. Join the Revolution”
Employees: 10
Average sale: 250 Euros
Price range: 120 - 550 Euros
Best selling watch: Vostock Europe
Brands: Poljot International, Vostok Europe, Aviator, Buran, Sturmanskie, Denissov, Junkers, Zeppelin

For more information, please visit www.redarmywatches.com




First edition of Europa Star / Eurotec for Russia and Comecon countries in 1967


Source: Europa Star February-March 2007 Magazine Issue
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