Lenskart to expand in tier I, II cities, launches new app

Ratan Tata-backed eyeware firm Lenskart is eyeing aggressive expansion in tier I and II cities across the country and setting up 20 brick-and-mortar stores a month to strengthen itself in such markets.
Lenskart, which gets a significant portion of its revenues from offline channel, also aims to ramp up sales from tier III and IV towns with the launch of 'Lenskart Lite' app.
"We have focussed on ensuring that when we launch a new channel to reach out to consumers, it doesn't cannibalise on the other channels... We are adding about 20 stores a month in neighbourhood markets across tier I and II cities," Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal told PTI.

Lenskart already has about 250 stores in 90 cities operating through the franchise route.
Bansal said the company has also launched an app called 'Lenskart Lite', which is smaller in size in comparison to its existing application. This (new app) is targeted at users in tier III and IV towns, who often face network connectivity issues.
Users would need internet just to download the app (size under 1MB) and then the SMS technology in the back-end allows them to place the orders, he added.

Since it is a lighter app, it will also help customers who are using affordable smartphones that often do not have a lot of memory space.

Bansal said the new app has seen about 10,000 downloads already and expects it to "contribute to about 25 per cent of the revenues" in the coming years.
The company aims to seal the ongoing fiscal with a monthly revenue run rate of Rs 40 crore. It is currently processing about 6,000 orders daily.
Founded in 2010, Lenskart has raised over Rs 700 crore from investors like IFC (venture capital arm of the World Bank), Ratan Tata, Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys co-founder), TPG Growth, IDG Ventures, Unilazer Ventures and Adveq.
In September last year, it raised an undisclosed amount from Premji Invest (investment office of Wipro chief Azim Premji), three months after a Rs 400-crore funding led by IFC and Tata.