Casio’s premium watch brands got the Christmas present they were hoping for with G-Shock, Edifice and Sheen each displaying triple-figure growth in the UK.
The record-breaking festival sales figures saw G-Shock up by 115%, Edifice up by 143% and Sheen up by 120% on the previous year.
Casio reported a strong sell-in to retail partners in the peak season of 2014. Retailer sell-out over the same period, which includes independent, multiple and department stores, was also stronger than ever before, with a value increase of 45% compared to 2013.
Tim Gould, Casio’s head of marketing, explained that Edifice’s highly successful collaboration with Formula One team Infiniti Red Bull helped the brand achieve record growth, largely due to the huge success of the brand’s new hero product, the ERA-300RB-1AER.
He said: “This has been Casio’s most successful product launch ever, even surpassing the winning ERA-200RB from last year. The Edifice range has been supported by a six month Discovery TV campaign, versus a three month campaign last year, which has certainly driven both distribution and consumer awareness.”
G-Shock also had another record-breaking year with successful new launches within the Aviator range and extensions to the Premium range in 2014 within premium jewellers. The G-Shock Aviator range was up 126% against 2013.
Gould continued: “The G-Shock brand has been fully communicated to the right consumer. The campaign utilised the G-Shock ethos of ‘Never Give Up’, telling incredible stories of incredible people doing incredible things and this has driven our Premium range to reach these record-breaking sales.”
Casio’s women’s watch brand Sheen, which partnered with the UK biggest band The Saturdays, also achieved successful PR and sales across the country, gaining a sales growth of 120% in December, compared to the same month in the previous year.
