How Lenskart Made Indians Comfortable Buying Glasses Online

In the past, purchasing eyewear in India was a highly regional activity. You entered a local optical store, selected a frame from a dusty wall, waited for someone to verify your power, and hoped the total cost wouldn’t be too exorbitant. There was little choice, little transparency, and little any justification for considering eyewear to be anything other than a medical necessity.That was altered by Lenskart.

Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi founded Lenskart in 2010 in response to a question that many people disregarded: why was purchasing glasses still so difficult? Glasses are a personal item. People are concerned about the price, the quality of the lenses, and how the frames will seem on their faces. Because of this, selling eyewear online became challenging. In response, Lenskart did not make consumers pick between online and offline buying. It blended the two.

Before making a choice, customers may now browse frames online thanks to the company’s introduction of facilities like virtual try-on, home eye tests, and home trials. However, it also established physical locations where clients could obtain eye exams, try on frames, and get assistance from qualified personnel. This “online plus offline” strategy turned out to be one of its main advantages.

The more unexpected action took place in the background. Lenskart did not wish to rely just on local optical stores, importers, and overseas manufacturers. It started to have more control over the chain itself, including designing frames, manufacturing lenses, operating stores, and overseeing delivery. Lenskart benefited from what is known as vertical integration in three ways. First, by eliminating middlemen, it could maintain lower prices. Secondly, it might have closer control over quality. Third, as a frame style gained popularity, it could respond more quickly.In Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, Lenskart currently runs a sizable automated production facility capable of producing up to 50 million pairs of glasses a year. The company made 4 million lenses and 6.4 million frames internally in India in FY25.

In India, its expansion continued. Lenskart paid over $400 million to acquire the bulk of the Japanese eyewear company Owndays in 2022. Through the acquisition, Lenskart gained access to a number of Asian markets and gained knowledge from a more developed retail environment. Lenskart recorded operational revenue of ₹6,653 crore by FY25, a 22.6% increase over the previous year. However, Lenskart’s revenue isn’t what makes it intriguing. Glasses, a product that consumers often only purchase when they have a problem, were transformed into an inexpensive, technology-driven, design-driven shopping experience.

Due of its online frame sales, Lenskart lost. It prevailed because it eliminated the anxiety associated with purchasing eyewear online and then constructed stores for the times when clients still required human assistance.

The conclusion is straightforward: consumers don’t give a damn if a company operates online or offline. Convenience, assurance, and value are important to them. Businesses that integrate all three typically succeed.