Essilor set to expand bottom of the pyramid model

Essilor India, the wholly owned subsidiary of France-based Euro 2.4 billion Essilor International, is looking to expand its initiative targeting the bottom of the pyramid model where it is trying to reach the the lowest segments of the society. The company which has been at this effort for the past five years said that they are scaling this up and is looking to touch 5,000 villages over a period of time.

According to the company, their spectacles targeted at this segment costs an average of Rs 250 and they are dispensed within an hour to a villager who otherwise would have not gone to an optician for want of time. “If the worker spends more than one hour, he loses his wages. Hence, we have had to come up with a model to ensure they come for vision correction,” said Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Managing Director, Essilor India, and President — South Asia, ASEAN, Emerging Brands, Lab Operations & IT — AMERA (Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Russia and Africa). The spectacles are readied right on the spot where Essilor holds the camp, often in some school in a village. But, it dispenses only stock lenses. About 50-60 per cent of the spectacles that are dispensed are readymade.

“It’s aimed at a man who buys mobiles and garments, but doesn’t give much of a thought to getting his vision corrected for fear of the cost,” he added.

It takes products with hard-coating done at cheap rates and takes them to villages and dispenses them free of cost in association with Shankara Nethralaya and Narayana Nethralaya.