SWOT analysis of Rolex

Rolex is a brand of designer watches headquartered in Switzerland that designs, manufactures, and distributes luxury watches. The watches are sold under two labels namely Rolex and Tudor. The company was established in the year 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, England is the 57 the in the Forbes list of the worlds most powerful brands.

The company was originally called Wilsdorf and Davis and in the year 1919, the company shifted its headquarters as well as operations to Geneva, Switzerland. The brand is associated with a lot of sports personalities like Federer and often sponsors events in tennis, golf, yachting, and racing.

Their major competitors are premium watch companies like Patek Philippe, Omega, and Panerai. Rolex was responsible for a lot of firsts in the watch industry the most prominent one being the introduction of the self-winding watch. According to the latest statistics the watch company manufactures around 700,000 mechanical chronometers in this world. The company registered an annual turnover of USD 4.7 billion and employs around 2800 people.

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Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Rolex

Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its competitors. The following are the strengths of Rolex :

Value-added products: The products of Rolex are popular for their differentiation and people invest in these watches for the superior quality and exclusive designs. The feature-rich watches from Rolex are expensive and as seen as a symbol of social status and sophistication.
History: Rolex is a company with the history of over 100 years. Over the years Rolex has been responsible for many firsts and has always been a highly innovative brand. The company in all its years in the business has never been willing to compromise on the four values which are what epitomizes the brand – quality, performance, innovation, and stability.
Global Presence: Rolex is sold in most countries around the world and their prime markets are spread across Europe, United States of America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. The watch is sold through most premium retail outlets and the company also has their own independent stores.
Product quality: Rolex is never willing to compromise on the quality of its products and takes care of even the minute details in its design. Rolex watches are designed to exceed expectations. A Rolex watch is assembled in around 220-minute pieces by hand and each smallest detail is taken care of. Each assembly goes through a series of stringent quality checks and is tested and retested. Even if a single defect is detected the product is remade and the entire process is repeated.
Specific Products: Rolex has a lot of specific products that they have designed for each customer segment. For example, Rolex Yacht-master has been designed to replicates the actions that usually happen on a boat specifically during a race making it ideal for customers who own a yacht and go sailing on a regular basis. Yet another is the Rolex Submariner a waterproof watch designed exclusively for divers and is capable of overcoming depths from 100 to 300 meters.
Product Development: Rolex has a sound product development strategy and the motto is to keep innovating on existing products and also introduces new products on a regular basis in accordance with the trends in the market.

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Rolex

Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement. Some of the key weaknesses of Rolex are:

Pricing: The pricing of Rolex is in accordance with the concept of each watch. The company does not compare the price to their competitor nor do they have a fixed pricing strategy. This makes their pricing higher than the industry average limiting their customers to the premium segment only.
Image management: Just like most products which compete in the luxury segment, Rolex also has to maintain its image consistently. This means that the company has to be careful about each aspect of the marketing mix and ensure that it is consistent with epitomizing luxury.
Niche segment: Rolex watches are expensive and thus unaffordable for the majority of the customer base which means that the business has to rely more on the value that volume for their revenues.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Rolex

Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:

Changing customer preferences: Customers are having more and more power to spend since most families have become dual income. In addition to this many customers, today prefer to invest in premium brands to portray themselves in a higher social stratum.