How the eyewear retailer Lenskart transitioned from an online-only model to an online+offline model through its in-house capabilities
Lenskart is an e-commerce platform that specialises in eyewear accessories. Peyush Bansal, a former Microsoft employee, founded Lenskart.com in 2010 along with Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi. The 13-year old homegrown multinational eyewear retail chain operates more than 1,000 offline stores, three-fourths of which are in India.
[bs_input_restrict] Lenskart was established as a sole e-commerce company, which later on moved on to become an omnichannel platform. The primary objective of the platform setting up offline stores was the demand of the Indian consumers in buying eyewear online since the customers wanted to test the products physically, experiencing to ensure the quality. Its in-house facilities such as 3-D trial services, robotic techniques, and home eye testing services have facilitated a smooth transition to an omnichannel model.
Problem
- Offline expansion, as Lenskart started as an exclusive online player in 2010
- Creating technological capability online to remove online trial/purchase barriers
- Integration of both mediums for a universal cx
Solution
- Lenskart opened its first offline store in 2014, four years after its online entry. Currently, it has over 1,000 offline stores to cater to the demand of physically trying before buying.
- It established in-house robotic lens manufacturing and assembling centre to cut costs and for quality control.
- It patented 3-D technology enabling virtual trials of eyewear
- It deployed AI and ML-powered search engines on websites and apps as well as a PCI-DSS compliant payment gateway and ReactJS technology, which helped in increasing platform speed and in improving responsiveness.
- It started offering home trial of frames with eye expert carrying over 1000 best-selling designs.
- It also started offering home eye testing by optometrists.
- Integration of channels for CX: Purchase product online and get it delivered either to a store near them or to customers’ house; perform return/exchange at the store/home; place order online, try it at the store/ home and complete the purchase there
Impact
- Entered the Unicorn club with an investment of over Rs 1900 crore by Softbank Vision fund in 2019
- Today it boasts over 6,000 styles of eyewear, 50 lakh customers, 10 million app downloads, 20-30% rise in revenue and the addition of new customers through online trial rooms
- Set up a new viewing eyewear as a style statement and purchase this category at
home
Courtesy: Retail 4.0 India Story – Unlocking Value through Online + Offline Collaborations by Technopak and Nasscom
First published in the March-April 2023 issue of Phygital [/bs_input_restrict]
