PRINCIPLES

OF RETAILING

ASSIGNMENT-2

SUBMITTED BY:
SUBMITTED TO: MEHAK GOYAL
MRS. POONAM MALHOTRA MBA-II
Case Study: How Lenskart raised its online sales by 25%
using email campaign and How Lenskart.com plans to scale
up with these six strategies?

Lenskart founded in 2010, is a leading online optical store that offers prescription based
and fashion eyewear. With its operations across India, Lenskart also operates in
countries like Australia, UK, US and the rest of the world.
“Do you know that 75% of Indians who need specs don’t wear glasses?” asks Peyush
Bansal, chief executive and a co-founder of eyewear online portal Lenskart.com.

Bansal started his career in 2007, founding online campus classified

Searchmycampus.com for college students that later laid the foundation of
Lenskart.com. The company claims to offer more than 10,000 frames on its portal at up
to 70% cheaper prices.

When most of India’s e-commerce players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Myntra and
Jabong were betting big on fashion and consumer electronics marketplace model,
Bansal and his core team chose to enter the niche category of eyewear e-tailing. Not
only was the category unique, it also required personalised service to reach consumers
at their doorsteps.

“We knew that we were challenging the local opticians and reaching out to customers
directly by creating trust,” said Bansal.

Customer service, price points, quality, accessibility and eye check-up were some initial
difficulties that the start-up turned into opportunities. “Nobody was working towards
consumer satisfaction while we wanted to bring that change by connecting directly with
the customers,” said Bansal.

The other two founders include Amit Choudhary and Sumeet Kapahi, who met through
LinkedIn. Together, the three founders devised the following strategies to make a
success of their venture.

CHALLENGES IN FRONT OF LENSKART:

The biggest challenge that Lenskart faced was to persuade the customers to rely on
online store as an alternative way of purchasing. The company needed to change the
pre-set traditional mindset of people and instill confidence in them that they sell quality
eyewear products at prices better than their brick-and-mortar counterparts.
In spite of the shortcomings and apprehensions, the eyewear market in India has
showcased several emerging trends over the past few years.
The changing economic growth and demographics have resulted in a steady growth in
the online eyewear portals in India. Latest technology and variety of products
augmented the revenues in the eyewear market to 15.3% compared to FY’2012. As
Lenskart prepares to provide a unique value proposition for the online retailer, it needs
to stay head of the competition to profit from India’s potential market.

OBJECTIVE
Main objective of Lenskart was to change people’s mind-set and get them to accept
online store as an alternative way of purchasing.

STRATEGY
Increase customer engagement and gain their trust and confidence

TARGET AUDIENCE
The brand targeted those people who had subscribed with Lenskart.com but had not
transacted. These subscribers had shown interest in the product, but lacked trust in the
brand to step forward to purchase.

KEY FACTORS TO ADOPT

• Identifying and solving customer pain point to get sales: By studying the market, it was
found that there wasa sound of uncertainty concerning with safety while ordering
sensitive products online. To address this concern, an email campaign was launched to
make customer aware about the safety measures taken by Lenskart.com while
processing orders for eyeglasses.
• Capitalizing on Opportunity gap and building trust: Online purchase of eyewear was
fairly new for the generation and customer wanted to know about the steps involved in
placing an order starting from selecting to delivery so as to gain trust on the brand. By
identifying the opportunity gaps in the business, the campaign was created to have a
powerful competitive edge by highlighting certain desirable features and functions.The
email campaign shared the entire process that goes into making that perfect eyewear in
4 easy steps as shown in the picture.
In this way, the brand reinforced its quality check and processed excellence.
• Brand communication: The Company adopted an innovative approach to take
customers in conversation with Lenskart via emails throughout the buying cycle. Unlike
the traditional way of communication where customers were just informed about the
status of their order, the company adopted the base of full duplex model where
customers were able to share views, express their thoughts on the process and be
virtually engaged. By giving importance to customer experiences and engaging in open
communication, the brand becomes more human and builds trust.
IMPLEMENTATION
The company implemented the email campaign with the best possible way and the
email was designed to build trust through transparency. The following are the notable
features of the email design:
• Use of actual images of oculist thoroughly following the entire process carefully
adhering to quality checks to create transparency.
• To keep customers engaged and include an element of curiosity, GIF was used to
depict the 4 steps. Each step gave crisp information on the process followed,
accompanied by an image. The 4 steps were demonstrated in an easy flow showing
that purchasing eye wear online is smooth and hassle free.
Features to build trust
i) Awards & accolades
ii) Address the security aspect by giving information on Payment gateway
• Key features and USP shown in easy to read icons to highlight transparency (Free
Delivery, 24*7 customer support, 14-days return).

Free eye check-up and trials of frames at home: Lenskart started with a unique
service to make consumers aware of their need for spectacles. “We send our
employees through two-wheelers to connect with a lot of consumers who were either
hesitant to meet doctors or were lazy to go for eye check-up or were senior citizens who
needed help,” said Bansal. This initiative has a high conversion rate as one in two visits
yields a sale for the portal.

Trying frames online: The portal introduced this technology to allow customers to
check frames online, making it easier to turn curious online shoppers into buyers.

Partnering with non-optical people in tier 2 and tier 3 cities: In order to scale up
business, Lenskart selected people from different tier 2 and tier 3 cities to promote free
check-ups. This extended to visiting companies and giving free-check up to employees.
Today, the company targets 90 companies every month to spread awareness on eye
care.

Partnering with doctors: The company is working closely with doctors to include eye
specialists in its mission.

Micro precision zero-error manufacturing: Lenskart uses robotic technique with laser
precision machines to shape the lenses, beating the local optician with zero-error
customisation process that is first of its kind in the country.

Devices to check eyesight of kids aged three-six months: Lenskart has made
accessible devices which can check the eyesight of even a three-month old baby.
Around 100 such latest machines are imported from a US-based company Welch Allyn.

Acquiring the best talent: The company has partnered with E Dean Butler, founder of
Vision Express and LensCrafters in the US. Butler is in Delhi to discuss with the
Lenskart team solutions to vision problems at a large scale.

“The process is slow, but opportunity is huge. We are trying to make Lenskart a fashion-
driven model where people feel free to try out new frames, get check-ups done at home
and bring awareness about eye care. Creating an ecosystem of best talent, technology
and initiative taken together would be propelling the exponential growth in the long run,”
said Bansal.

The company has grown 200% over the past two years. It sold products worth Rs 35
crore in 2013-14 and is aiming to clock Rs 100 crore this fiscal. It has received funds
from three venture capitalists – IDG Ventures ($4 million in October 2011), Ronnie
Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures ($10 million in February 2013) and TPG Growth & TR
Capital ($22 million in January 2015).

RESULTS
The email campaign received a prodigious response and was successful in establishing
trust in the minds of the subscribers encouraging them to transact.
• An extraordinary increase in transactions was cited from these subscribers by 25%.
• Open rate jumped to 20% from the average 7%.
• 5,000 customers were virtually engaged with Lenskart.