Eyewear major Titan Eyeplus will look to expand its retail footprint in tier-III, IV cities, even as it focuses on strengthening its own (spectacles) frame manufacturing and lens-making facilities.

The ₹400-crore eye-wear business – spectacles and sunglasses – of Titan competes with the likes of Lawrence & Mayo, Lenskart, Vision Express, GKB Opticals on a national level.

Titan Eyeplus will supplement its lens-making facility at Bengaluru with smaller regional units.

At present, two such smaller facilities have come up – one each in Noida and Kolkata – and a third at Mumbai is expected to be operational by July.

“Each smaller unit, called satellite lens manufacturing facility, is coming up at a cost of ₹4-5 crore and will have the capacity of manufacturing 400 pieces per day,” said Ronnie Talati, Chief Executive Officer, on the sidelines of the launch of its Kolkata facility. (The Kolkata facility is located in Madyamgram, on the northern outskirts.)

These smaller units will help Titan reduce its turnaround time – between placing an order for a specs and its delivery.

For instance, a frame ordered in Kolkata would take four-five days for delivery.

Now after the new facility, it will be delivered within 24-48 hours.

These facilities will also be leveraged for delivery of orders across the region (Kolkata for East and North-East States).

The own frames manufacturing facility will come up at Bengaluru at a cost of ₹27-30 crore and will have an annual capacity of one million.

The facility will be on the trial run later this year. Commercial production will start in FY-18.

Retail expansion According to Talati, retail expansion plans have been much faster this time around.

This year, the company will look to add 100 new stores against the 60-odd last year.

Expansion will include foray in 50 new tier III and IV towns and also strengthening presence in existing areas.

Titan Eyeplus is present across 151 cities through 404 stores.

The company has a near equal mix of company-owned to franchise stores.

An approximate investment of ₹50 lakh goes into stores in large cities, whereas the investment in smaller ones will be to the tune of ₹25-30 lakh.

“We have witnessed a CAGR of 20 per cent over the last five years,” he added.