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A brief history of the enterprise
Lawrence & Mayo (L&M) was established by two Jewish families in 1877 who set up operations in London, Cairo, Spain, Portugal, Indian subcontinent, Colombo, Rangoon (now Yangon) and Singapore. L&M opened its first Indian office and showroom in Kolkata in 1877. Taken over by L H Aliston, a Britisher, L&M was incorporated under the Indian Companies Act (1913) as a private limited company in 1938.
Isidore C Mendonsa took over the company from Aliston after which Mendonsa's eldest son Robert consolidated the business. The company went through a difficult time especially during the Partition period and subsequently India's Independence when L&M had lost several key patrons - the British customers besides several royal and aristocratic families in the country.
When and how the idea of evolving into a chain developed
When our family took over the firm, L&M already had outlets in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore. The first store that we opened was in Secunderabad in 1979 given that many of our patrons, we realised, were travelling from Hyderabad to Mumbai. Unlike today, where a new store can be opened in 45 days flat, back then it took roughly six months to launch stores. In 1984, we launched another store in Mumbai. Today we have 96 stores in 36 cities.
Things to keep in mind while venturing beyond home market
It is LUCK: Location, Understanding of the market, Concept or value proposition and Knowledge to execute. At L&M, India, we venture into local territories where the population is roughly 10 lakh or more. Our stores are preferably located in areas that are high street and marquee properties.
Strategy/business model adopted for the expansion
The expansion of L&M in India has taken place over the last 34 years. We have grown purely through internal accruals. We have not franchised our business. Franchisees may not take the requisite care to ensure that brands stay undiluted. More than 25 per cent of our assets are owned by L&M. Here is how it works for us: each 'mother' branch gives birth to a new 'baby' branch, which starts paying back to the mother branch in the next three-five years. Once these become profitable units, they become mother branches in subsequent rounds of expansion.
We continue staying a family-operated firm with the fourth generation now getting involved in the operations. Though we have 40 professional managers and 1,200-plus employees, the family understands the business best.
Maintaining quality and consistent service across locations
We have nine training centres across the country. All our team members are put through annual training programmes that are between three-six months. This allows them to understand clients better.
Challenges faced and lessons learnt
It takes a lot of brand building and application of local tactics to get established in markets where there are already strong local players - Gangar Eye Nation, or Phiroze M. Dastoor & CO, and Balliwala & Homi in Mumbai and Pune; Sidharth Opticals and Dayal Optical in Delhi.
The other challenge is the acute shortage of manpower. We have around 35,000 optical stores in the country but only 14,500 qualified optometrists. We are consistently investing in training our manpower.
If you were to start again, would you do anything differently?
If we were to start again, we would invest in manpower, have more optometry colleges, glamorise the industry. After all, 44 per cent of the population requires spectacles or vision aid.
Vivek Mendonsa
Director, Lawrence & Mayo
