Ravi Kant has worn a blue shirt to work. But, the Chief Operating Officer, Eyewear Division, Titan Industries Ltd, is ruing the fact that he forgot to switch the colour of his spectacles frame from green to blue to match his shirt.
Its Switchers range of frames allows users to change the colour of the ‘arms’ of the specs to match your clothes.
Such gambits, says Kant, are part of its strategy to change the category from a functional product use to a style accessory. “We are getting people into owning multiple pairs of glasses, like what Titan did with watches,” he says.
Sustained brand campaigns by Titan, changing tastes and the fact that Bollywood stars made wearing glasses cool, are factors encouraging users to own more than one pair, he explains. “We track multiple ownership of glasses, and we’re seeing the number of people who own two to three pairs going up in the metros,” says Kant. The average time users take to replace glasses has also come down to two years from three earlier.
Titan entered the eyewear business just over five years ago and is now a national chain with 210 stores across the country. This financial year it should finish with 250 stores, says Kant. But, the perception was that its offerings were expensive
Affordability
To get over this, the company launched its Trendz collection where frames are available in the price range of Rs 995 to Rs 1,995, and a “value” range of lenses called Ace, priced Rs 300 to Rs 2,100, the upper end for a pair of progressives.
The brand is also airing a TV commercial where a father and daughter shop at a Titan outlet and the former is surprised that he got a stylish pair of glasses for an affordable price.
Titan recently also launched a new range of lenses manufactured at its own unit at Chikkabalapur near the Bangalore airport.
Apart from Ace, it has launched a premium range called Advantage.
“We’re laddering out product portfolio; at the higher end is the Titan brand and above that the fashion brands; we stock over 20 international brands,” adds Kant.
At its lens unit, which this writer visited, prescriptions flow in from all round the country through the SAP system. All Titan outlets are connected on this system.
N. Jagannath, Head, Manufacturing, Eyewear, says in a month 20,000 to 25,000 prescriptions flow in. “It’s real-time ordering,” he says. Also, being close to the airport allows it quick despatch time.
Profit Margins
The prescription eyewear business is around Rs 2,800 crore and growing at 15-20 per cent annually. “Close to 30 per cent of the population needs corrective eyewear,” says Kant, alluding to the huge opportunity.
But, Titan’s eyewear business itself, in the investment phase, will take a couple of years to break even.
Titan’s strategy of offering more affordable products by cutting margins could be under pressure because of the fluctuating dollar. Most of its frames are imported from Italy, Taiwan or China and this could be a dampener on its prices and margins.