When it comes to India’s magical unicorns (Know Lenskart Success Story), there are a few who have transformed the industries in which they work. Lenskart is one such disruptive unicorn that has made substantial improvements in the eyeglasses business. Lenskart transformed India’s disorganized eyeglasses sector. The company began as an online portal for contact lenses but has now expanded to include prescription glasses and sunglasses in its product line.
Lenskart, which uses cutting-edge technology to provide 3D Try-on and online eye check-up services, has now expanded into the offline sector, with more than 550 locations around the country. Lenskart India continues to add new and creative goods and services to its repertoire, with the goal of becoming the Maruti Suzuki of the Indian eyewear business in the next ten years.
Peyush Bansal is an Indian entrepreneur and the co-founder of Lenskart, an online eyewear retailer. He co-founded the company alongside Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi in 2010. Bansal had worked for Microsoft in the United States before founding Lenskart. He chose to leave his work and return to India in 2007. He started Lenskart from the ground up, and it is now India’s largest eyeglass retailer. Lenskart joined the unicorn club in 2020, with a valuation of over $1 billion. He is also a Shark Tank India investor. Here’s Peyush Bansal’s story of success.
How did Lenskart India Begin?
Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi launched the company in 2010. Peyush, who formerly worked at Microsoft, also founded Valyoo Technologies, which is Lenskart’s parent business. In 2007, he founded Valyoo Technologies with SearchMyCampus as the first business portal while doing his post-graduation in Management at IIM B. The website aims to provide students with solutions to a variety of issues. It provided housing, books, internships, carpooling, part-time jobs, and other services.
While investigating this path, he learned that the eyewear industry is one of the underserved sectors that has yet to be exploited by e-commerce behemoths like Amazon and eBay.
With this in mind, he founded Flyrr.com in the United States, and after a successful debut there, he decided to expand the business to India. As a result, Lenskart was established in India in 2010.
Prior to Lenskart
Peyush Bansal was born on April 26, 1985, in New Delhi, India. Bansal holds an Electrical Engineering degree from McGill University in Canada. He began working at Microsoft after graduating. Bill Gates had long been a role model for Bansal, and he had always wished to work for him. He worked on MS Office at Microsoft and came up with ideas to improve the user’s experience. Bansal quit his work at Microsoft in 2007 and moved back to India.
From 2007 to 2009, he was involved in a couple of successful companies. He also graduated from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore with a management degree. Bansal founded SearchMyCampus while studying his post-graduate studies. The website provided solutions to a variety of issues that students confront, including housing, internships, part-time jobs, and more. During this time, he saw that huge e-commerce behemoths were ignoring the eyeglass business. Bansal aspired to do more and address more complex issues. That is how Lenskart came to be.
Business Model of Lenskart | LensKart Success Story
At Lenskart India, customers can pick from over 5,000 frame designs and 45 distinct kinds of high-quality lenses. The designs follow the newest eyewear trends, thanks to an in-house staff of designers and stylists that stay on top of the latest trends.
It operates on an inventory-driven business strategy, passing these designs on to its producers. This, together with Lenskart’s supply network, allows them to keep product costs under control. While developing their product, the corporation considers the following factors: great product quality, consumer variety, product innovation, excellent marketing techniques, and services such as a 3-D trial facility.
The emphasis of the brand is not only on the product’s trendiness but also on its longevity and quality. Lenskart is the only manufacturer in India that can make eyewear with up to 3 decimal accuracies, thanks to robotic technology brought specifically from Germany.
Lenskart India provides approximately 5,000 frame shapes and 45 lens kinds to cater to the Indian sentiment of ‘aur dikhao.’ They don’t simply sell reading glasses; they also provide a selection of the most up-to-date designer sunglasses. By utilizing cutting-edge technologies, Lenskart has likewise transformed the eyewear market. It provides services like 3-D trial facilities to make the process go more smoothly for its consumers. It also employs a bold marketing technique in which it provides its first-time consumers with a free frame.
Lenskart’s business model has evolved over time, and it now employs an Omni-channel retail strategy. In an Omni-channel retail model, a company provides services both online and offline. It had only an online presence at first, but it quickly established itself in the offline world as well. It now has over 550 stores in over 30 Indian cities.
The key motivation for Lenskart India to build physical storefronts was to address Indian consumers’ apprehensions about purchasing eyewear online. Customers wanted to see, touch, and feel the product in person in order to be certain of its quality. Additionally, opening physical storefronts aided the company in expanding its business and gaining client trust. They leveraged the Omni-channel to convert their offline consumers to online ones by providing them with applications and portals. This also aided them in developing their consumer relationships.
Funding and Valuation of Lenskart
PremjiInvest, Kedaara Capital, Chiratae Ventures, TPG Growth, Ratan Tata of Tata Sons, Rajeev Chitrabhanu, Adveq, Eqip Capital, IFC Venture Capital Group, and others have invested in Lenskart. It has raised a total of $459.6 million in nine fundraising rounds.
Lenskart secured $275 million from SoftBank Vision Fund in December 2019, valuing the company at $1.5 billion and generating revenue of Rs. 486.26 crore in 2019.
The Eyewear Business | Success Story of LensKart
Almost half of the world’s population now uses glasses, with nearly a third of the population in India alone requiring them. However, approximately 25% of the 1/3rd genuinely address their eye problem and wear spectacles.
In India, the eyeglasses industry is largely unorganized. There are only 10,000 optometrists in the United States, despite a demand for 40,000. However, because the industry is evolving into a more organized sector, there is a lot of room for expansion.
In the early years of its existence, the sector grew at a 30 percent annual rate, and it is now a $10 million market. Every day, more than 1.5 million spectacles are sold in India, as more people become aware of their eye problems and individuals buy spectacles to keep up with the latest fashion trends.
What sets Lenskart Apart from the Competition?
Lenskart is up against both online and offline competitors. and Titan Eye Plus, GKB Optical, Vision Express, Cool winks, Lens bazaar, Deals4Opticals, and Specs makers are some of its primary competitors. Lenskart is also up against e-commerce behemoths like Amazon, Flipkart, PayTM, and others, which all sell eyewear online.
The eyeglass industry is a disorganized mess. The organized sector accounts for only approximately 9-10% of the $18,000-20,000 crore market. Although Lenskart has a 70 percent market share among organized companies, its biggest difficulty is to keep customers away from the unorganized sector, which sells low-cost knockoffs of popular brands.
Lenskart can outperform its competitors with an aggressive marketing strategy, a variety of price points, and unique and new products and services. Bhuvan Bam is the company’s current brand ambassador. It also sells products at several price points, starting at Rs.345 and rising to Rs.30,000, allowing it to reach customers from various demographics. In order to be competitive and viable in the long term, it must constantly design new methods. Some services, including in-house eye exams, are highly valued by customers.
The career of Bansal and Lenskart
With his business partners Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi, he founded Lenskart in 2010. Initially, they only sold prescription contact lenses. Lenskart’s website began selling eyeglasses and sunglasses in March of 2011. Bansal claimed in an interview that the goal of Lenskart was to help individuals with vision correction all around India. Second, the business intends to raise awareness about eye care by conducting around 15,000 eye tests per day. Finally, it offers customers inexpensive, fashionable, and high-quality eyeglasses. According to Bansal, they also aim to figure out what their clients want and then surprise them with fresh experiences. It is because of this that Lenskart has been so successful.
Lenskart now employs approximately 4000 employees. The corporation also has over 500 locations around the country. With a worth of $1.5 billion, Lenskart joined the unicorn club in 2019. The company increased its sales from Rs 486 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in March 2020. Titan Eyewear, the company’s major competitor, was also surpassed. Peyush’s dedication and hard work aided Lenskart in reaching new heights. His business prioritizes the consumer and strives to deliver the finest service possible. “It’s about consistently exceeding your own expectations and delivering delight to your customers and workers,” Peyush explained. (Lenskart Success Story)
Shark Tank India
StudioNEXT produces the business reality television show Shark Tank. It became a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs. Aspirants can present their ideas and tactics to possible investors directly here. Peyush Bansal recently joined Shark Tank India in the year 2022. He became a judge on the Shark Tank show at the age of 36, after becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs. As a result, Peyush became well-known on social media.
Lesson learned from his Success | Lenskart Success Story
Peyush Bansal resigned from his job in the United States and returned to India without a plan. He established Lenskart from the ground up with determination and a desire to succeed, and it is now a billion-dollar corporation. Many entrepreneurs throughout the world are inspired by his accomplishment. If we want to achieve, we must work diligently toward our objectives and never give up. Finally, try to learn from your mistakes as much as possible.
