Titan Eye Plus to foray into e-commerce

Tata group firm Titan Co Ltd today said its eyewear brand Titan Eye Plus will foray into e- commerce space and expand aggressively to increase its market share amidst slowing growth.
"The (Eyewear) division is committed to increasing its market share further through aggressive geographical expansion and a calculated foray in e-commerce space," Titan said in its quarterly update to the BSE.
"The growth in the eyewear industries in India, based on market speak, appears to have slowed down even as a few operators gain market share, it added.
The domestic eyewear market is dominated by local players with few organised retail chains like Lawrence and Mayo, Dayal Opticals and Titan Eye Plus.

Online retailers like Lenskart are also setting up offline stores to eat into market share of traditional retailers.
During the second quarter, Titan's eyewear division added 11 Titan Eye Plus and closed 9 Spexx stores.

Titan is gradually closing the Spexx stores, which is a small-format eyewear store attached to a large multi-specialty hospital. In the first quarter of this fiscal it had shut 7 Spexx stores.
Although the festive season is around the corner, Titan Co, which sells jewelery under Tanishq brand, said low consumer confidence in conjunction with with volatility in gold prices continues to dampen the demand for gold as an investment class.

"Our understanding is that the industry would have declined by an average of 15-20 per cent over the calender year, and the gold imports into the country are lowest since fourth quarter of 2013," the company said.