Sample Solution

The stereotypical luxury Swiss watch buyer is an over 40 year old businessman. Indeed, a 2017 study found that in the UK, the average Rolex owner is a 68 year old male, living in South-East England and London, working in a managerial role (HomeProtect, 2017). According to a YouGov poll, 31.2% of 16-34 year olds do not even own a watch compared to 10.5% of 55+ year olds. Of those who do own watches, young people are less likely to wear a watch regularly: 25.8% for 16-34 compared to 49.5% for 55+ (Floyd, 2011). This confirms the older age of target customers for Swiss luxury watch. However, Hublot targets a different customer segment. Typical Hublot customers are 25-40 year old rappers, professional athletes such as footballers, and start-up CEOs according to the previous CEO Jean-Claude Biver. They are necessarily rich to afford the steep luxury pricing. Most importantly, they are flashy individuals who want a showy design. As part of this, exclusivity and uniqueness are highly valued traits in the products they buy. These customers will buy luxury goods regularly (as opposed to customers who may only buy one expensive watch for a very special occasion). This customer segment can be quantified by looking at the number of millionaires under 35 around the world: about 128,000 (Verdict, 2017).

Figure 4 – Number of millionaires under 35 per city (Verdict, 2017)

While 30% of luxury Swiss watches were sold in Greater China in 2015, this number is only 10% for Hublot (Lelarge & Biver, 2015), matching the percentage of millennial millionaires living in Greater China (Figure 4). There is substantial optimism in the luxury watch market for continued growth in d