 "Peyush Bansal")
We deploy our own resources to manage returns because, if not handled well, it can impact consumer experience, Peyush Bansal tells Rohit Nautiyal
How has Lenskart evolved as a brand and business since it began operations in 2011?
We stared our journey in India's e-commerce space two-and-a-half years back as an online optical shop. In a short span of time, we have evolved on both the business and the brand front. Today Lenskart is a well-defined company, which talks about simplifying the shopping experience by going to the consumer's doorstep, offering a variety of eyewear, and encouraging ownership of multiple eyewears. With just one warehouse, we have kept things as lean as possible.
As opposed to apparel, eyewear is a difficult category to operate in, especially when one talks about managing returns. A customer may have problems like product fitment and incorrect lens power…
The probability of a shoe or a piece of clothing not fitting a shopper is usually higher than a pair of glasses. As part of its product selection process, Lenskart tries each piece of eyewear on more than 10 to 20 face types. This helps us in understanding the right fitment. Having said that, dealing in eyewear is a mammoth task. The eyewear lens may have a scratch, one may have a problem with the thickness of the cut lens in relation to the frame and related issues with the product finish. We have a three-step quality check process to ensure that customers do not face any of these problems.
How big is the problem of returns in your space? It seems to be a big issue for lifestyle products as a category.
At 4 per cent of overall shipments, Lenskart has one of the lowest return rates in the industry today. The real return is even lesser as this includes failed deliveries when the customer is unavailable at the given address. We have achieved this with more than 50 per cent of cash on delivery orders. As our business grew, we made significant changes on the operations front to ensure that consumer delight does not go for a toss. While we are delivering on our own in Delhi, which is our base, there are tie-ups with third party logistics partners like Javas, Blue Dart, Delhivery, among others, to deliver in various cities across India.
We deploy our own resources to manage returns because, if not managed well, it can impact consumer experience. In fact, in cases where a customer is not satisfied with the power of her corrected lens, we organise an optometrist's visit to look into the matter. Even for our home trials, we just send the courier guy to the shopper's doorstep with five frames and a mirror. Later we catch hold of the shopper to understand how she would like to take things forward. It is juvenile to expect third party courier partner to do more than what's necessary.
What steps have you taken to make ordering eyewear online simple and fun?
We are leveraging virtual technology to give a sense of the right eyewear to shoppers. All one has to do is upload a photograph and try various frames available on our website. This photograph can be shared on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to get feedback from friends and significant others. This is important in our category. We have also simplified the communication between us and the consumer. For instance, at a nominal cost of Rs 100, shoppers can ask for a home check-up for power assessment. Alternatively, they can take a picture of the doctor's prescription and send it across on Whatsapp.
To bring the best assortment to shoppers, e-commerce portals like Myntra, Flipkart and Jabong are adding more small manufacturers to their merchant base. What's your sourcing strategy?
We follow an inventory-led business model. Currently India and China are our two main sourcing hubs with a sourcing ratio of 50:50. Just a year ago, India contributed only 10 per cent of our overall product requirement. We also source some high-end frames from Italy. Baroda is the manufacturing hub for eyewear in India. While getting a standard product from Indian manufacturers is a challenge for eyewear players, China's manufacturing is superior even for base-level products. Then you have to work doubly hard to get superior quality out of Indian manufacturers. Our in-house team of stylists and designers keep a tab on latest trends in eyewear. These designs are then passed on to the manufacturers who are expected to match our quality expectations.
Today many established brands like Apple, Blackberry and Ray Ban are sourcing products from China. All one has to do is define the quality expectations because Chinese manufacturers fix rates according to that. Even with the same raw material, different factories charge a premium for their reputation. Working with grade A factories may seem expensive initially, but it will be viable in the long run because these factories have the lowest rejection rate.
In China we source from different places. For instance, Shenzhen specialises in manufacturing acetate (a handmade material) eyewear. To get titanium frames, which are lightweight and corrosion-free, one can go to other parts of China. We also work closely with manufacturers to control the quality of raw materials used in manufacturing our eyewear. We also share some of the best Chinese manufacturing systems and processes with our Indian vendors.
Eyewear is still considered a niche category in the online shopping space. Have you managed to change this perception?
Let us look at some facts. A third of India's total population needs spectacles today. By using the word 'need,' I am referring to people who have some or the other eye-related problem and not those who use eyewear only as a fashion accessory. Only 25 per cent of these people actually wear spectacles. Need I say more about the kind of volumes this category can bring? The second part of this story is about people who want to use eyewear as an accessory. After launching Lenskart's 'first frame free' offer we have seen a significant rise in the number of people sampling our products. This has the potential of expanding the market for the second set of fashion-conscious buyers who are evolving fast. They are interested in owning multiple eyewears to go with a variety of looks.
With Flipkart taking over Myntra, consolidation in the e-commerce space has gained momentum. What are your plans going forward?
We are fully aware of the potential of the eyewear category in this country. At the same time we are yet to find answers for some big questions. For example, why are people who wear spectacles not coming online to shop? With two rounds of funding so far, we are growing consistently. So there are no talks of a buyout with big daddies of e-commerce, especially Flipkart. We have a long way to go before that happens.
MEET THE 'VISION'ARY
- Prior to co-founding Lenskart, Peyush Bansal had started a campus classifieds portal named SearchMyCampus in 2007. The objective behind setting up the portal was to enable college students solve problems related to their basic needs like part-time jobs, accommodation, coaching, books, transportation, internship opportunities etc
- Bansal has also done a one-year stint with Microsoft as a programme manager. His interest in selling products lead to the birth of Lenskart in 2010
- Bansal holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering - IT, Control and Automation from McGill University, Canada
