Chapter 4. The Marketing Environment

Rolex has a really strong team of competitors against them, brands such as AP, Omega, Patek Philippe and etc, try to dethrone Rolex from the leading position in the watch-making industry by creating new watches and improving older models every year at Baselworld.

To maintain the the competitive advantage of the brand, Rolex tries to innovate through marketing research making the watches better and substituting what costumers dislike about past models. The submariner 116610LN model carries a ceramic bezel instead of an aluminium one, the new "Cerachrom" is scratch proof unlike the older aluminium version that wasn't a unanimity among its current costumers.

Usually a person that goes after a Rolex has a higher purchasing power and can afford to spend more money without jeopardizing their budget, these people have the ability to purchase higher-priced necessities . In addition many people look into buying a Rolex watch due to his or her lifestyle, these days collecting vintage or high-end watches became a profitable and exciting hobby for many people.

When it comes to ethnic market Rolex is "The gorilla in the industry" although it has lost space for brands such as Omega in the Chinese market (one of the biggest markets in the world), especially with the younger generations, Rolex still maintains the hegemony over sales.

“From a pure branding perspective, Omega have a very, very long way to go to get anywhere near Rolex,” said Jez Frampton, chief executive officer of brand consultant Interbrand. Interbrand estimates the Rolex brand’s value to have fallen 7 percent last year to $4.6 billion, making it one of the world’s top 100 brands. Omega isn’t within the top 150, Frampton said.