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Titan had tied up with Essilor India, a subsidiary of
Essilor SA of France, for the supply of optical lenses. Eye+ stores
targeted the mid-market segment and offered lenses with prices ranging
from Rs 145 to 21,000. The stores offered frames priced in the range of
Rs 395 to 20,000. Eye+ stores also sold contact lens under the company's
own brand and other established brands like Bausch & Lomb, Johnson &
Johnson (J&J) and Silklens.
Eye+ stores provided both eye-check and style consultancy services. The
stores had refraction labs for zero-error prescription and offered
warranties on all the products they sold. Unlike ordinary optical shops
where the optician played a dominant role, the Eye+ stores tried to
involve the customer at every stage of selecting a frame/lens. The
customers were encouraged to browse through the different frames
available in the store and select the one which they found most
suitable.
The Eye+ stores in Bangalore had separate sections for men, women and
children. In the children's section, the mirrors were placed at a lower
height. The stores also had play areas for children. Titan had given a
lot of importance to store ambience, and had employed a design firm to
select the lighting, flooring, forms, shapes and colors used in the
stores. The head of the designing firm said that they had tried to bring
in a 'cosmeceutical'6 appeal to
the store.
Titan felt that customers were largely unaware about products, features/
benefits, quality, brands when it came to prescription eyewear. The
company wanted to make the customers conscious about such factors, and
develop a market for branded eyewear. Bhat was confident that the Eye+
stores would be successful, as the prescription eyewear market was
fragmented, and there were no clear leaders in the segment. Titan also
claimed that there was no transparency in pricing when it came to buying
prescription eyewear in the unorganized sector. But in the case of a
store like Eye+ customers could be confident that the products they
bought were of good quality and fairly priced.
Titan's plan was to gain a leadership position in the segment by
leveraging its well-established retail network and design and marketing
capabilities. Titan also felt that with its previous experience of
converting products like watches and jewelry into fashion accessories,
it could bring about a similar shift in the customers' mind when it came
to prescription eyewear. Bhat said that most of the business for the
Eye+ stores was likely to come from customers who viewed glasses as a
tool for personality enhancement. Whether Titan would have the same
success with eyewear as it had had with watches and jewelry however,
remains to be seen.
Additional Readings and References
1. "Titan Industries Enters Prescription Eyewear Biz," The Hindu
Business Line, March 29, 2007
2. "Titan Forays Into Retail Eyewear," www.nerve.in, March 29, 2007
3. "Titan Enters Eyewear Market," www.rediff.com, March 30, 2007
4. Savitha. V and Sushmita Mohapatra, "Titan Enters Prescriptive
Eyewear," The Economic Times, March 30, 2007
5. "Titan Scans Prescription Eyewear Segment," www.tata.com, March 30,
2007
6. "Titan Industries Launches Titan Eye+," www.tata.com, March 31, 2007
7. Radhika Sachdev, "For Your Eyes Only," www.financialexpress.com,
April 16 2007
8. "Titan Launches Prescription Eyewear For Children,"
www.thehindubusinessline.com, May 2, 2007
9. www.gkbopticals.com
10. www.lawrenceandmayo.co.in
11. www.tidco.com
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