Charting New Frontiers

Franck Juhel, the President of Montblanc for the Middle East, India and Africa talks about his plans for India, the brands partnership with TataCLiQ and the future of the luxury sector.

- Parineeta Sethi

Based in Dubai, Franck Juhel, in his role as President of Montblanc, is responsible for 33 markets, with a focus on strengthening key partnerships and accelerating development of the luxury brand in the region.

What are your views on India as a market?

Firstly, I don’t think of India as a country. To me, it is a conglomeration of several countries within one – it is made up of varied and fairly diverse social and cultural elements. We have been putting a lot of effort to develop India as market for the last couple of years. Today, we have 10 boutiques in the country and we have one digital offering as well, named TataCLiQ, which is fully operational now. We have another 4-5 boutiques in the pipeline out of which, two should become operational by March 2019.

Where will these new boutiques be located?

The five boutiques will be in the major cities and once they open, we will move to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Today, as a luxury maison, no other brand has as many boutiques as us. It has been a challenge finding the right locations and that is where TataCLiQ has been part of the answer. But surprisingly, 80 per cent of the orders we have received so far and which we are delivering on TataCLiQ have come from Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities where Montblanc is not physically present. This is indeed a great sign for us.

Despite a diverse portfolio of products, Montblanc is primarily known for its writing instruments. Would you concur?