Online luxury watch sales platform, Chronext, opened its first bricks and mortar store in the UK last year on London’s Piccadilly. Since then, the UK has quickly become a key market for the international business, contributing to almost 50% of sales in less than eight months.
“We are really proud about being able to move at this pace, and hope that we can become the largest online retailer in the UK in the next 24 months,” comments Chronext chief executive officer Philipp Man.
In 2015 sales rose by 380% from 2014 and has grown from 10 employees to almost 100. All this has been happening at a fast pace in a short time span. Although it hasn’t been easy, Man says they have been able to sustain this momentum because of Chronext’s teams around Europe.
Philipp himself has helped push growth through never giving up. “The most important trait for me has been to remain adamant about continuing, even when things look hopeless,” Man explains. “99% of problems that you encounter can be solved by a human – so why not me. This always allowed me to stay on course, even when I really wanted to give up and quit.”
The next chapter for Chronext is to become the global market leader in the pre-owned luxury watch segment. This will be done by ensuring its customer experience is the best in the business, being present in all markets relevant to the company and building on relationships by facilitating closer cooperation and continuously innovating to grow Chronext’s network of partners.
For the Hot 100 photoshoot Philipp returned to where it all began – Green Park. “I chose the spot in Green Park because its where I had my lunch breaks when I worked at Glencore – where we came up with the idea of Chronext. Also because our first physical retail store is just 100 or so metres away.”
