Lawrence And Mayo To Spread Wings
India's largest optician chain, Lawrence and Mayo, plans to take the franchisee route to expand its presence.
"As of now, all our showrooms are company-owned. We are planning to open around 25 company-owned showrooms in the next five years. The franchisee model is only for the B cities such as Mangalore, Indore, Nagpur and Baroda. Franchisees would invest in real estate and marketing, and we'll invest in technology and supply-chain management," said Amitava Mendonsa, marketing director of Lawrence and Mayo.
The company would be extending its brand in the eye care segment as well. Lawrence and Mayo is present in optics as well as optical instruments. About 70 per cent of its turnover comes from optical division and the rest from instruments.
"We've noticed that most of the kids have squints, which can be corrected through therapies. We would be launching low visual aids (LVA) in about 18 months from now to address this segment. We are targeting eye care hospitals for this," Mendonsa said.
Lawrence and Mayo is also working towards creating greater awareness in the market. "On the marketing front we have three programs. The first is we visit schools and give basic eye care education to the kids and try to address the stigma associated the spectacles. In the second program we give information about eye care solutions to college students and in the third program we give eye care check-up information to the corporates," Mendonsa said.
The company has recently completed 125 years and the change in its customer profile over the years is symbolic of the changing socio economic environment of the country.
"Initially no common man could think of wearing Lawrence and Mayo since they were hand-crafted and we had around 10 customers a month." Mendonsa said.
Times have changed and now the company wants everyone to use Lawrence and Mayo and the franchisee route is a step in this direction.
The company is targeting a turnover of Rs 52 crore in the current financial year, up from Rs 47 crore in the last financial year.
"As a result of our new initiatives we are targeting a turnover of Rs 125 crore in five years, 65 per cent of which will come from optical division and the rest from instruments division," Mendonsa said.
Commenting on the changing fashion in spectacles, Mendonca said, "We have observed that fashion in sunglasses is always opposite to that in spectacles at any given time. Now, sunglasses are smaller, sleeker and lighter," Mendonsa said.