 "Lawrence and Mayo better watch out, Lenskart is planning 100 offline retail stores")
Online retailer Lenskart will setup 100 retail stores across the country over the next 2 yearsas it aims to strengthen offline presence and compete withlocal players in the Rs 10,000-crore Indian eyewear market.
Lenskart, which offers prescription-based and fashioneyewear, currently has seven stores in places like Chandigarh,Pune, Agartala and Goa under the franchise model.
“These stores display a large range of eyewear. Customerscan choose from them or those available on the website andplace order online from the store, helping us expand our brandnot just online but offline as well,” said Lenskart.com CEO andfounder Peyush Bansal.
[caption id=“attachment_58477” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Lenskart, which offers prescription-based and fashion eyewear, currently has seven stores in places like Chandigarh, Pune, Agartala and Goa under the franchise model.[/caption]
He further said the move will help tap the Indian eyewearmarket, which gets about 80 per cent of revenues fromprescription-based glasses.
“Fashion eyewear is still a small category. About 80 percent of the sales are still for vision correction and manypeople are still not comfortable placing orders online fortheir spectacles because either they don’t know their power orhave doubts about how the pair of eyeglasses would look ontheir face,” he said.
Like any other store, customers can walk in with theirprescription, choose frames and the order is placed online bythe store attendant, he added.The domestic eyewear market is dominated by local playerswith few organised retail chains like Lawrence and Mayo, DayalOpticals and Titan Eye Plus.
Lenskart has also started a home eye check-up programme,under which the company sends a check-up van to the customer’spremises. Equipped with relevant equipment, the van also hascertified optometrists for eye examination.
At present, the service is operational in Delhi NCR,Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.“Over the next six months, we will cover 20 more cities,“Bansal said.
He added that the company is planning to invest around Rs25 crore a year towards its expansion programme.As e-Commerce business is burgeoning in the country,players are looking at connecting with customers not justonline but offline as well.
It reinforces the trust factor with the physical feel ofproducts along with the convenience of access to a largerinventory online, Bansal said. “Spectacles are experiential products, and our focus onproviding quality products at affordable prices has helped usgain customer confidence. Today, customers buy power glasses,lenses and sunglasses online on our platform,” he added.The company, which has received $14 million in fundingso far, declined to divulge its revenue details.
PTI
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