Recently, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Parker on his vision for the watch industry today and the trends of the future. Mark started working in the business in 1998 with Timex and moved to Fossil in 2002 as Senior Vice President for Asia. Today, Mark remains involved both in the fashion arena as well as keeping a hand in the watch industry.
Montrichard: If you have to choose what would be the three concepts you would embrace as a brand owner today?
Mark Parker: I would embrace personalization, customization and technology.
Montrichard: In the context of today’s agile and “fast fashion” market, would you choose to set up an OEM or Just in Time supply chain?
Mark Parker: Well I think there’s no reason to say that you can’t have lean OEM. The product development lifecycle has to evolve with changing consumer tastes. No longer can you be spending 9-12 months developing product. You’ve got to both develop and deliver product quickly. This depends on you having a lean manufacturing-based supply chain.
Today’s consumer segmentation means that styles have much smaller volumes than in the past. Success requires differentiating visual elements while concurrently relying on as much commonality “under the hood” as possible.
Montrichard: After so many years of experience, is there a new generation of buyers? Has it changed with internet?
Mark Parker: Well I think that the answer to that question is no. What’s changed is that a brand is going to be targeted at a much more specific psychographic profile. For example, you’re no longer just looking at a 25 to 34-year-old female. It’s a female that’s age 25 to 34, that works in “this” industry and lives in “this” country; likes wearing “these” clothes while doing “these” activities. We now segment using parameter driven profiles allowing specific brand attributes to focus on consumer profiles. This means you’re going to have more micro brands that are very specific in how they relate to the taste of specific profiles.
Montrichard: Talking about these micro brands, which supply chain would you suggest to them? – Traditional OEM or Just In Time?
Mark Parker: If they don’t go JIT, they’re going to run to a very big barrier to entry. If you try to access traditional supply chains the MOQs and Lead Times are going to kill you. Additionally, you’ve got the inability to create variation or customization. The challenge is: how does somebody who’s got a really good idea to attack a very specific profile access that profile? The answer is that they’ve got to find a watch manufacturer who’s capable of providing a JIT supply chain delivering small quantities to them.
Montrichard: In this context of the new tailored customer, do brands still want to develop these large inventories?
Mark Parker: We’re profiling a specific consumer need, we’re presenting options for them or defining what option best meets that need, and then delivering to that. It’s going to be very difficult to extrapolate the ultimate demand for that. This is why you want a flexible manufacturing system that allows you to be able to deliver very small quantities, cost effectively. And yet if you hit on a winner you want to be able to scale.
If you’ve got access to broad component mixes that allows you to do that experimentation. Then you can leverage your supply chain if you’ve got a winner.
Montrichard: One last question, should brands be optimistic about the future that is in store for them?
Mark Parker: Well I always believe the glass is half full. We’re certainly in a phase of disruption but disruption is opportunity. I think the leaders of tomorrow are those that are going to embrace the opportunity whether they be small nimble startups or bigger organizations that reinvent themselves.
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