After a decade of disrupting online optiwear markets in India and Singapore, Lenskart, India’s largest eyewear retailer, has formally entered the Middle East with the aim of securing 10-20% of the regional $3.5 bn optiwear markets by 2026.
With the twin objective of establishing market-leading status as the region’s top eyewear platform within two years, backed by more than 5000 styles of eyewear, Lenskart’s US$50 million (AED185 million) expansion into the Middle East with its omnichannel strategy includes the opening of the first physical store in Dubai on December 19, spread across an area of 1300 sq ft at the Dubai Festival City Mall. The brand will expand into two other locations at Ibn Battuta Mall and BurJuman in the coming months.
The brand’s flagship store will feature state-of-the-art AI technology through a 3D Try-On machine integrated with virtual face-mapping that suggests suitable frames to customers. The service is available on Lenskart’s website and app as well, allowing customers to see themselves from multiple angles, making frame selection faster, more effective, and fun for the buyers. Another newly introduced concept available in-store is The Sun Room – a trial room for sunglasses that replicates the outdoors.
Lenskart’s premium fashion eyewear is also available online with free delivery across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. The company’s super trendy and affordable offerings include Lenskart’s brands of prescription and non-prescription eye, sun, and computer glasses, by in-house manufacturing brands such as John Jacobs, Vincent Chase, and Lenskart Air.
Lenskart has also launched an exclusive loyalty program in the form of a Gold Membership. Available to purchase online or within the store for just AED 100 per year, the program offers customers access to buy-one-get-one offers on the complete range of eyeglasses and sunglasses, extended warranty, unlimited exchange and returns, and more.
Lenskart, which employs more than 5,000 people across the globe and has an in-house data and technology team of over 300 engineers, shipped seven million pairs of eyewear last year, the largest volume of any eyewear startup founded globally in the last decade.
The company is currently developing a new production hub in India’s Delhi-NCR region, equating to an investment of over US$100 million, with the goal of becoming the world’s largest eyewear facility with a supply capacity of over 150,000 glasses per day.
