Titan Industries has announced its entry into the prescription eyewear segment and plans to open 150 outlets in the next 3-4 years. The company will launch eyewear, including spectacles and lenses, under its new brand Titan Eye+ as well sell its Fastrack range of sunglasses and other global brands.
Titan Eye+ stores will also provide services like eye check-ups and style consultancy. This will be the company's third business after watches and jewellery.
The first Titan Eye+ store will open next week in Bangalore and the company plans to set up five stores in Bangalore and Nagpur by the end of April .
It has tied up with several international vendors for the manufacture of spectacle frames, and with Essilor and Nikon for lenses.
Titan is investing Rs 15-20 crore initially in this venture and is expecting revenues of Rs 15 crore from the stores in the first year itself. The company expects the eyewear business to contribute 15 per cent of the total turnover in five years."We are hoping to capture about 20 per cent of the market in the next 3-5 years," a company executive said.
The total eyewear market in India is about Rs 1,800 crore of which only about 10 per cent is in the organised segment. Titan is hoping to benefit from the fact that there is no clear market leader in the prescription eyewear market. According to estimates, the eyewear market in India is growing around 15-20 per cent per year.
The 150 stores will be opened across the country mostly in A and B segment towns. Each store will be between 1,100 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft.
Glasses under the Titan Eye+ brand will start at Rs 395. The company is also creating a special brand for children called Titan Dash, glasses under which will start at Rs 395. Frames bearing the Titan brand will start at Rs 950. Dash had earlier existed as a watch brand for children. It will also sell frames under brands Elle, Vogue, Versace, Dior, Steppers, Hugo Boss, Armani,Levis, Esprit,Oxydo, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Silhouette, Swarovski, Dunhill and Mont Blanc.
"Most of our business is likely to come from customers who view glasses as a necessity as well as a tool for personality enhancement. In India about 300 million people need glasses but only about 84 million people wear them. The market is about 30 million pieces per annum so obviously there is a gap we can fill," Titan's Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat said.
The stores will also sell sunglasses under its homebrand Fastrack and a host of other global brands like Vogue, Esprit, Gucci, Dior, Prada, Adidas, Police, and contact lens under the company's own brand and other established brands like Bausch & Lomb, J&J, Silklens. The stores will sell both prescription and cosmetic lenses.
Note: 1 crore = 1- million; 100 crore = 1 billion
