Chopard pleased with growth in GCC business

By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, the designer watchmaker, has said the business in the GCC markets is crucial for her company.

The entrepreneur, who is on a visit of Doha as part of the ongoing Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, said her family-run company has had a long-standing relationship with Qatar. Next year Chopard plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their business association with Alfardan Jewellery, one of the main dealers of her company’s watches. “In fact Alfardan is one of our first business associates in the GCC,” she said.

Yesterday, Scheufele launched a series of her company’s new ladies collection, at what she described as a “Pre-Basel” launch at the Chopard booth in the Alfardan pavilion. “The new collection was supposed to be launched only next month at Basel (exhibition) but we decided to offer the new range to the customers here owing to the good demand for our watches in Qatar,” she said.

The collection is in fact redesigned models of ‘La Strada’ that hit the market more than three decades ago, disclosed the Chopard Co-President. She said like many of the businesses in the region, Chopard is also a 100% family-run company. “Hence I’m extremely happy at our relations with my business associates in the GCC states, each of who are part of major family-owned business groups,” added Scheufele.    

While appreciating the growth in the company’s business in Qatar in the last four decades, Scheufele said the clients in Qatar and UAE have patronised Chopard watches all along and the market for her products continued to record impressive growths in both the countries.

Recalling that Doha has recorded amazing growth at all levels in recent years, she said in the’80s when she used to accompany her father on his business tours  one could see Doha Sheraton from the southern end of Corniche without any difficulty. “Now the hotel is hidden in the midst of numerous new high-rises that have come up in the area,” she said.

The entrepreneur also spoke about the new marketing trends emerging at the global level and said along with providing an array of new products to customers a high amount of flexibility also needs to be brought about to remain successful in the business.