Dubai: Bomberg, a Swiss watch brand, looks to expand to Iran to take advantage of the country’s largely untapped consumer market, according to a senior company executive.
The company aims to have between 10 and 15 points of sale in the country, the majority of which will be in Tehran, Giancarlo Mantuano, chief executive of Bomberg, said by phone.
“It is an interesting country with a big population. It is a country that can absorb a concept like yours [the UAE’s can],” he said.
Iran, which has a sizeable youth demographic among its 80 million population, has a surfeit of home-grown as well as cheap Chinese- and Indian-made products as years of US- and European Union-imposed sanctions prevented many global firms from selling there.
Besides Iran, Bomberg is eyeing expansion in Europe and the US, said Mantuano. However, it is currently not planning to expand further in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries where it has 50 points of sales.
“We have covered the GCC,” Mantuano said.
Bomberg, which was launched in 2012, is retailed across Ahmad Seddiqi and Sons’ stores in the UAE.
The company expects to sell 20,000 watches worldwide this year, up from 10,000 last year, he said.
