Omni-channel eyewear retailer Lenskart has seen a record shift in consumer shopping behavior, with 90% of sales currently coming from the online channel, aided by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, Lenskart is one of the few brands to expand offline retail stores. It plans to open more than 300 new stores as state-wide lockdowns are relaxed, taking the total to over 1,000 stores, company founder Peyush Bansal told ET in an exclusive interview.
Lenskart has over 750 stores in total and more than 720 are in India. Prior to the pandemic, Lenskart would see around 60-65% of sales online. Due to the nature of the business, consumers end up visiting stores quite often. Bansal did not specify the numbers but said the online channel had seen a significant shift due to the second Covid-19 wave and that it had strengthened the Ghaziabad-based startup’s market share in the organized retail space.
“We were hit by Covid-19 but the positive has been the online channel adoption. We have seen it as sustainable as well since more people are now buying glasses online than ever. Our market share is growing,” Bansal said. “People now want to go out and shop – 400-450 of our stores are fully operational while the rest are partially open depending on local lockdowns. We are adding new stores and have signed up for over 130 stores already.” Most of these stores will be in India while it will also expand into the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
According to Bansal, the company is on track to record net profits for the first time in the ongoing financial year despite the second wave’s impact from March to May. The company recorded revenue of around Rs 1,000 crore in FY20 without turning in a profit.
The SoftBank-backed company has seen a recovery of 70% in sales and expects a full recovery to pre-second wave volumes by July as offline markets continue to open.
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