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Chennai-based Specsmakers Opticians, an eye-care products retail chain, is planning to add around 300 offline retail outlets in the next 2-3 years to solidify its presence across South India.
“Our business has been on a complete upswing after the Omicron wave . We started our expansion activities in February and already opened 65-70 stores in the last six months,” Pratik Shah, Founder and CEO, Specsmakers Opticians.
“We plan to add another 300 stores across South India in the next 2-3 years,” he added.
Bounced back
A pure-play offline retailer, Specsmakers had 265 stores prior to Covid. It had to close down around 30 stores during the pandemic. The company had since bounced back from the multiple pandemic waves and currently has close to 300 stores.
Shah said the two years of Covid-19 pandemic gave enough time to focus on internal processes, products, pricing , employee growth, sales & marketing and customer acquisition. “We managed cost and ensured our business is managed optimally, which has helped us to completely turn around into a healthy bottom line-driven company.”
Entry into more cities
Of the existing network, Specsmakers has 175 stores in Tamil Nadu, 100 stores in Karnataka and around 30 stores in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The expansion plan will also see its foray into Kerala.
“Our strategy is to go deeper into existing geographies and foray into more cities. The plan is to have about 600-700 stores in the southern region,” Shah added.
He also said that the market for eyewear is growing immensely. “Earlier, 3 out of 10 people were glued to computers and required vision correction. Today, everyone, including kids, are consuming content through various digital devices and are facing more radiation than required,” Shah said.
‘Tech can’t replace salesman’
In March 2020, Specsmakers started an online business channel. The affordable eyewear maker, however, continues to remain focussed on brick-and-mortar models.
“Eyewear as a product category is good to be discovered online but difficult to transact online because it is not a sizeable product like apparels or footwear,” Shah said, adding, “Any product that is made to fit has to be tried and bought and no technology can replace the salesman in front of you in this segment.”
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