Lenskart to open 400 stores with an investment of INR100 crore

Lenskart, the online eyewear fashion retailer, is planning to invest INR100 crore to open to expand its business presence offline. The startup eyes 400 new brick and mortar stores in the next two years to take the total number of stores under firm’s umbrella to be 700 by March’19. It has been operating its other stores under a franchise model. Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart, said that “As of now we have 300 stores across India and in the next two years we plan to open another 400 stores. For us the total investment would run to around Rs100 crore primarily to build supply chain, to be able to service all our stores and train staff”.

As a collaborative effort, the startup will be putting in capital primarily around building back-end supply chain, while franchises would invest in opening stores. Lenskart has been focusing on Tier II and III cities for its growth, and a good number of the targeted 400 stores will be in such cities only. Additionally, to create awareness, the company will be spending significant amount on branding activities. Elaborating further, the CEO commented that “We would be spending close to Rs140 crore in brand marketing and advertising over the next two years, apart from the back-end expenditure”.