The Hindu Business Line : GKB Lens plans to scale up retail outlets

Speaking to Business Line here, Mr Lalit Gupta, Director (Marketing), GKB Rx Lens, said the company aimed to set up five or six outlets every year. This year, the company would add two or three stores in Mumbai, where it now has two, and enter Chandigarh. It now has 15 outlets in the four metros, Gurgaon and Bangalore.

GKB has been in the manufacture and export of lenses and frames for over 40 years, Mr Gupta said. It moved into retail as it found that retailers at large were not guiding consumers properly in the choice of lenses. When spectacles are prescribed, consumers leave the choice of lens to the retailer as they are unaware of the technical side of things. They exercise a choice only when it comes to frames. According to him, the lenses should account for the major portion of the expense incurred on a pair of spectacles, as clarity of vision is dependent on them, and not the frames. However, as it stands, the frames are what bring in the money in the retail business and consumers end up with cheap lenses even when better options (plastic lenses, not glass; anti-glare, impact-resistant, even bullet-proof) are available, he said.

GKB Opticals, the retail chain, aims to be a one-stop shop for all optical needs. Apart from prescription lenses, it also retails its own brand of sunglasses as well as Rayban, Gucci, Armani and the like. The group has exclusive distribution and technical tie-ups with Rodenstock of Germany and Seiko of Japan for lenses and frames, apart from pacts with companies in other parts of the world, Mr Gupta said.

The eyecare market is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore, of which the organised market accounts for Rs 400 crore. The organised market for sunglasses, which is growing very slowly, is at best Rs 80 crore. There is a `social stigma' attached to wearing dark glasses and even then, they are worn mostly for fashion and not because they protect against UV rays, which cause cataracts prematurely, Mr Gupta said, adding that India has a high number of such cases.

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