The Hindu Business Line : Titan to open more eyewear stores

Coimbatore, Nov. 25 Titan Industries Ltd (TIL), which made an entry into the eyewear business last year with a modest turnover of Rs 10 crore, plans to take the number of showrooms to 60 and expects to witness a five-fold increase in turnover by the end of the current fiscal, according to Mr V. Govindraj, Vice President (Integrated Retail Services), TIL.

He anticipates that the eyewear division’s contribution to the annual turnover of TIL would go up to Rs 300-Rs 500 crore in the next three years and the number of optical showrooms under the ‘Titan Eye+’ brand to be in the region of 300 by that time.

Speaking to newspersons here after inaugurating the first Titan Eye+ showroom in the city and the first outside Chennai in Tamil Nadu, he said eyewear was the fourth business activity entered into by TIL after watches, jewellery and precision engineering.

Retail focus

Except precision engineering, all other activities have a strong retail focus which is the forte of Titan. Explaining to customers the benefits of TIL’s entry into retail, Mr Govindraj said “there is credibility in the Titan and Tata brand” and apart from Titan products, the eyewear showrooms would also sell internationally known brands. The showrooms also have certified technicians trained by Chennai’s Sankara Nethralaya.

TIL’s eyewear division has 40 showrooms in India. In Tamil Nadu, there are four showrooms in Chennai, and the newly opened one at Coimbatore.

Market potential

Commenting on the market potential, he said nearly 30 per cent of the population was estimated to have some vision problem requiring correction but this was really not being addressed due to reasons such as ignorance or not wanting to go for the check up among others.

Asked how Titan was different from other organised players in the eyewear market, he said the company had brought into business “good practices” as it had done in respect of watches and jewellery sales. It has qualified personnel to do eye testing.

Mr Govindraj said the eyewear division was piloted last year by Titan with nine showrooms and the intention was to test the concept before deciding to expand. The response was so good that Titan decided to scale it up faster.

In the last year, the contribution from this division was around Rs 10 crore and in the current year, the turnover may cross Rs 50 crore with around 60 stores in operation. In three years, the number of eyewear showrooms would go up to 300 and the turnover might be in the region of Rs 300-Rs 500 crore.

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Titan expanding eyewear retail network
Titan Eye+ opens showroom

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