Middle East v/s China Market

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In the year 2013 Swiss watch exports world wide reached 21.8 billion francs as per the Swiss Watch Federation. The following is the breakdown of the Swiss Watch Exports figures for all countries;

All figures are in mln of CHF   

 

The Middle East markets recorded a net of CHF 1,874 billion Swiss Watch Exports in the key Middle East market led by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. (Breakdown as below).

 

It is remarkable to note that the Middle East is positioned at No. 3 in terms of Swiss Watch Exports after Hong Kong & USA and it is followed by China with a difference of 427.70 million Swiss Francs.

While looking at the First quarter of the year 2014 the Middle East maintains its position at No. 3 again after Hong Kong & USA and again China is trailing at No. 4 with net exports amounting to 322.70 million Swiss Francs vis-à-vis 505.90 million Swiss Francs of the Middle East Markets.

The Middle East markets recorded a net of CHF 505.9 million Swiss Watch Exports for the first quarter of 2014 in comparison to CHF 462.70 million for first quarter of 2013, in the key markets again led by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt as per the breakdown below.

The Middle East is well positioned amongst the emerging-market countries as the fastest growing market for importing high end Swiss Watches ahead of China since 2013.

In spite of the challenges facing this industry, the rising incomes & growing prosperity in the Middle East continues to offer substantial growth opportunities for the luxury watch industry. The following factors also influence a great deal for the growth of imports of Swiss Watches in the Middle East; 

1) The Swiss watches are the most highly favored Luxury items among the Middle East consumers & corporate buyers.

2) Another indicator of growing demands for Swiss Watches in the Middle East is the increasing number of tourists in the Gulf countries such as UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. These countries are becoming important tourist destinations & are currently an essential attraction to tourist.

3) The other important attractions for these Luxury Watches are the low custom tariff imposed in the region making these items affordable to the end consumer & overseas visitors.

4) A strong driver which is worth mentioning is the fact that the Luxury Watches have long been established as a favored gift for government officials in the Middle East. In some countries this corporate gift selection would tap 60-70 % of the total sales of a single brand.

5) Watches are becoming the popular wedding gift next to Jewellery.

6) According to a Middle East large Luxury Retailer survey a trend of shopping addiction whereby 74% percent will make a purchase even though they have not planned.

On the other hand, Swiss watch companies are required to improve their level of services in the Middle East and invest in a more serious and long term approach to sustain and grow their exports to this Oil rich region.

Data provided by Federation of Swiss Watch Industry FH

All the figures released by FH refer to exports data and not to sales to end-consumers. Differences between these two types of data may therefore exist. These data must be regarded as consolidated figures gathering export results from all Swiss watch companies. They obviously cannot reflect the individual results of one particular company or group of companies, knowing that business activity may greatly vary from one to the other.