Just In Time’s bet on private labels to give its decades-old brand a renewed outlook

For several large companies in the country, private labels are a way of thinking about expansion and staying ahead in the market. Of late, Lifestyle, Nykaa, FirstCry have all jumped on the bandwagon and launched their own private labels.

One among them is Just in Time (JIT).

Starting out in 2006 in Mumbai, Just In Time has opened several brick-and-mortar outlets in the country. Now, it is ready to float two of its own private labels—Darren Clark and Mont Neo—with the aim to woo price-sensitive Indian customers.

Talking to SMBStory, husband-wife duo Ronak Shah and Rashi Chheda Shah, second-generation entrepreneurs of JIT say that the company has been following the brick and mortar after Rashi’s father started the business and today JIT has 60 company-owned and company-operated (COCO) stores across Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Bengaluru.

JIT entered the online space in 2015. Today, at a time when the direct-to-customer (D2C) market is giving a personalised experience to customers, the company has made a bold move to launch its private label brand and expand its business.

Ronak says that while a limited range of the private label collection is available on the marketplaces as a pilot, the company will officially launch the private labels in the upcoming Diwali season.

JIT has an in-house design team with a design facility situated in Mumbai. Ronak says that as of now the company imports raw materials and assembles watches locally. However, it has a vision to make these watches 100% in India.

Origins of JIT

JIT was established by Rajesh Chheda, fondly known as ‘Raju’ in the industry. Having started working in retail stores from the age of 15, Raju had gained vast experience in trading, distributorship, and supply chain management.

“During that time, India was gradually opening up to foreign markets, and fashion, particularly foreign brands, held a special appeal for Indians. Recognising the increasing demand for international branded watches, my father established Just in Time as a distinct business to create a multi-brand store for branded international watches,” says Rashi.

For decades in India, HMT and Titan have been the leading players in watches, and it is a big challenge to scale a watch retail store without selling these brands, Rashi points out.

But JIT has focused on selling watches that suit Indian requirements—affordable international brands that typically cost between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000.

The price range at JIT starts from as low as Rs 5,000 and may go up to five lakhs. With private labels, the company is further bringing down the cost which would range between Rs 2,500 and Rs 25,000.

According to IMARC report, the Indian watch market is projected to exhibit a growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% during 2023-2028 and along with continual innovations, the launch of personalised watches is driving the growth.

The Indian market has other watch retail players such as Ethos and Bizotico. According to Rashi and Ronak, Bizotico holds exclusive distribution rights to sell US-based Movado in India and JIT has partnered with Bizotico to sell these watches.

Talking about seeking exclusive dealerships, Ronak says the company has recently partnered with Italian brand Ferragamo to seek its exclusive distributorship for India across selling channels.

More recently, the company also secured a significant partnership with the Shahrukh Khan-starrer "Jawan," a move that saw spectacular popularity.

Discussing these Bollywood endorsements, Ronak shares that JIT aspires to become a leading omnichannel player in the watch industry and the endorsement by a prominent figure like Shahrukh Khan serves as a tremendous source of motivation and reinforcement of that vision.

The way forward

SMBStory also spoke to Raju asking about his vision for JIT where he says that with Mont Neo and Darren Clark, the company is venturing into the D2C ecosystem and they are waiting to see the acceptance of the brands.

“Our vision is to make world-class watch brands and represent India on the global stage,” Raju adds.

Ronak says that JIT will soon be entering Tier II and Tier III towns and that the company, for the first time, is looking at franchise agreements.