Titan eyewear to exit large format stores in three months as sales stagnate

Had presence in 200 such stores; it has already moved out of 70 Lifestyle stores

Titan’s eyewear division has decided to exit the large format store channel within a quarter as it is seeing stagnant growth there. Titan had a presence in over 200 such stores across the country, including at Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Central.

It has already exited from over 70 Lifestyle stores, and work is on to shut shop at Shoppers Stop.

“Typically, we sold sunglasses through this channel, and being discretionary, that category has been stagnant for some time. Covid has taken a serious toll and recovery is going to take even longer now,” said Saumen Bhaumik, chief executive officer of eyewear, Titan Company, who took over the role in January. 

While the prescription segment saw an 80 per cent revival in September, it was only 40 per cent for sunglasses.

Over the past 9-10 years, sales at large format stores have contributed only 2-3 per cent of the eyewear segment’s annual revenue of Rs 940 crore. “Once I started looking channel by channel, I felt it did not make sense. This is a very high cost channel and you have to really pay to be there,” says Bhaumik, who has been with Titan for over 30 years.

Other sales channels for the segment are standalone franchisee stores, multi-brand outlets, and e-commerce portals. It has a presence in about 230 cities with a store strength of 560, which are standalone stores either owned by Titan or are franchisees. After Covid spread, the company had to shut 35 such stores, where either sales did not pick up or rentals were not viable.

The eyewear segment has adopted a calibrated expansion plan post Covid, and has opened only 14 stores in the past 6 months, which could have been about 60-100 stores in FY21 if there was no pandemic. “I am in no rush for an expansion,” says Bhaumik.

While Titan Eyeplus retail stores generate 70-75 per cent of the segment’s revenue, e-commerce generates about 10 per cent sales, 2-3 per cent comes from large format stores, and the rest from multi-brand outlets.

The Bengaluru-based company is also laying emphasis on product innovations with anti-fog glasses, anti-viral frames, and patented clear sight lenses. While sales of its anti-fog glasses have more than doubled in the past two months, the anti-viral lenses will be available at all of its 560 stores within a month. These frames have a chemical coating that produces nano-needles on the surface and if a virus or bacteria comes in contact its outer membrane gets damaged, claims Bhaumik.

The company will also roll out IndiFit frames that were developed after extensive research on Indian face structures and can be a perfect fit for over 80 per cent of Indians.