Ice-Watch’s renaissance is gathering pace across Europe and Germany is now poised for growth thanks to the appointment of ILG Group as its distributor for the country.
Germany was a key market for Ice-Watch in its first big surge ten years ago when the country embraced its colourful fashion watch concept.
By 2010 the brand was a in the top five for watches priced between €50 and €100.
ILG Germany GmbH, which used to trade as TWC Uhren GmbH, was established in Germany in 2001 and is a subsidiary of the Group ILG based in Switzerland and present in 74 countries.
Worldwide, the group represents brands ranging from Swiss watchmakers Aigner, Saint Honoré, Cerruti and Swiss Military along with licensed products for the likes of Timberland, and Police.
Since 2012, Ice-Watch has restructured its organisation based around a 6,000 sqm logistics centre located in Bastogne, Belgium, which can turn around orders from retail partners in France and Belgium in less than 48 hours.
This speedy turnaround is being promised to Germany as well.
“To duplicate this winning distribution model in Germany, another neighbouring country, we needed the expertise of an already well established salesforce in order to ensure the brand’s maximum reach. We found it with the ILG Germany. Our Ice-Watch team based in Cologne will take care of the large accounts and the sales force of ILG Germany will provide the animation of the retail network. We are delighted to see our forces come together, says Ice-Watch CEO Jean-Pierre Lutgen.”
Matthias Zarbock Sales and Marketing Director of ILG Germany, is looking forward to relighting a fire again under the brand. “Ice-Watch enjoys a strong sympathy with German jewellers. Hard to forget the colourful columns of Becubic, the emblematic packaging of the Ice-Watch watches, which revived the jewellers’ windows and brought a real fresh wind to the watch market in 2007,” he says.
