Ratan Tata-backed eyeware firm Lenskart
is eyeing
aggressive expansion in Tier I and II cities and setting up 20
brick-and-mortar stores per month in order to strengthen itself in such
markets. The eye ware firm, which gets a significant portion of its
revenues from offline channels, also aims to ramp up sales from tier III
and IV towns with the launch of 'Lenskart Lite
' app.
Lenskart, CEO, Peyush Bansal
says his
company has focused on ensuring that when it launches a new channel to
reach out to consumers, it doesn't cannibalise on the other channels. The
company has been adding about 20 stores a month in neighbourhood markets
across tier I and II cities. Lenskart already has about 250 stores in 90
cities operating through a franchise route. Bansal says the company has
also launched an app called 'Lenskart Lite', which is smaller in size in
comparison to its existing application. The new app has been targeted at
users in tier III and IV towns, who often face network connectivity issues.
Users would need an internet connection just to download the app and then
the SMS technology in the back-end allows them to place the orders.
Since it is a lighter app, it will also help customers who are using
affordable smartphones that often do not have a lot of memory space. The
CEO said that the new app has seen about 10,000 downloads already and
expects it to contribute to about 25 per cent of the revenues. Founded in
2010, Lenskart has raised over Rs 700 crore from investors like IFC
(venture capital arm of the World Bank), Ratan Tata, Kris Gopalakrishnan
(Infosys co-founder), TPG Growth, IDG Ventures, Unilazer Ventures and
Adveq.
