Lenskart is today re-imagining eyewear as a lifestyle choice: Aanchal Jain

Over the last couple of years, Design has become an integral element of Lenskart’s DNA. As a leading player in eyewear retail, the brand has been consistently challenging itself and delivering customer driven results. Lenskart has one of the highest new product introduction rates globally. They are extremely sensitive to launching the latest eyewear fashion in Lenskart, before it is launched anywhere else. There is a dedicated trend research team that works on understanding the latest fashion trends in not just eyewear, but overall fashion categories like apparel, footwear, beauty, etc.

The new fashion collections that Lenskart designs and launches for its consumers uses fashion forecasting intelligence and ensures that the consumers are flaunting only the latest.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully as part of the Marketing Minds column, Aanchal Jain, Head of Brand & Consumer Experience, Lenskart Solutions, speaks at length about the setting up of the Lenskart Global Design Studio, evolution of eyewear as a fashion statement, converting Lenskart into an omni-experience brand, and more.

Wearing a stylish eyewear design is a fashion statement. What role is Lenskart’s Global Design studio going to play to uplift the customer experience to meet the global experience both in services and its product offerings?

Lenskart has four different Design Studios, which bring alive the fashion experience in eyewear for the consumers.

Eyewear Design Studio - Lenskart has one of the best eyewear design studios globally. The studio designs bespoke collections in different materials, detailing and colors.
Brand and communication Design Studio - This studio has multidisciplinary designers who design the entire fashion experience for every new collection launch across consumer interfaces - online, store, packaging, media etc.
Fashion Studio - This is a team of highly skilled fashion art directors, photographers and producers who produce new collection campaigns.
Editorial design - This is a team of fashion writers and editors who craft the story of each collection to bring alive its inspiration and fashion impact.

All four Design Studios collaborate and bring alive over 50 unique eyewear collections annually for consumers globally to enjoy the best of eyewear fashion.

There is a different experience when you shop for your eyewear offline. In your new design thinking, how are you planning to deliver that unique experience to your customers while buying a pair of spectacles?

Lenskart is an omnichannel experience brand, and executing an omnichannel strategy to the T blurs the lines that differentiate the physical from the digital operations. We collect permissible data at different touchpoints, analyse them and leverage the gathered insights for offering a superior consumer experience.

At all our stores, we provide our customers with information on our latest collections through curated videos. We also make sure that the newest products are called out in the store visual merchandising and the staff is equipped with all the necessary info to help our consumers make the final choice.

Another fascinating feature is our AR ‘3D Try On’, which detects the user’s face shape and suggests a range of specially selected frames, sunglasses or spectacles. By capturing the consumer’s face from multiple angles, the suggested range of frames are aligned impeccably and give a real time experience before the final purchase.

So, while we keep innovating to deliver better results, we ensure that each feature complements the other to make the consumer’s journey smoother.

What kind of technology do you plan to introduce for customers to navigate through your platform easily and will have a great shopping and satisfying experience?

Lenskart has always introduced breakthrough technologies to ensure eyewear consumers globally enjoy eyewear in newer and more meaningful ways.

The brand has recently introduced AR (Augmented Reality) – both online and offline. It is a fantastic recommendation engine which shows both, best looking and best fitting frames on your face.

The platforms also curate stylised experiences where on-trend collections are introduced continually.

Overarchingly, we are making the entire web experience design first in the following ways:

Constantly engaging with design and editorial teams to create new experiences
Ensuring great creative and editorial experience for each and every aspect of the consumer experience in app and desktop
Collaborating with the online business teams and UI/UX teams to meet the experience goals measured through metrics like CTR, Conversion, Time Spent etc.
Collaborate with UI/UX team to launch complex interfaces
Plan and implement promo campaigns with the design and editorial team
Work closely with external partners to deliver on prompt and time sensitive project / campaign requirements

When Lenskart was launched, it was seen as a convenient e-commerce platform for eyewear purchasing at affordable pricing. With the focus now on creating an experience through design, how do you plan to add value to your brand for people to keep visiting you?

When we launched in the market, eyewear was widely recognised as a practical essential. But Lenskart is today re-imagining eyewear as a lifestyle choice. In a world where expression is hyper-linked with how you present yourself, what you wear, eyewear becomes a tool to explore many versions of yourself.

Lenskart envisions to be a fashion-forward brand, supporting everybody’s style explorations. With constantly analyzing trends, demand and evolving motivators of the audience, we deliver on a holistic approach to a fashion brand experience. Then may it be launching collections in eyewear or sister brand collabs, we are always a step ahead.

Another important factor for us is the access to eyewear. People trust us for the convenience of getting quality eyewear in unimagined ways. We started off as a digital first e-commerce platform, but we have expanded to an omnichannel experience, where at no point of time does one feel limited by price, style or ways to get the perfect pair at their doorstep. We are constantly bettering our app and AR experience for any customer to try more than 10,000+ styles from the comfort of their home. Services like Home Try On and Full Service Optometry at stores have been introduced to enhance the experience every step of the way.

As a brand, what is going to be your next big milestone for Lenskart? How do you plan to evolve yourself as a brand in a category where fashion and lifestyle trends keep changing rapidly?

Lenskart has one of the highest new product introduction rates globally. We are extremely sensitive to launching the latest eyewear fashion in Lenskart, before it’s launched anywhere else. There is a dedicated trend research team that works on understanding the latest fashion trends in not just eyewear, but overall fashion categories like apparel, footwear, beauty, etc. There is a dedicated consumer insights team which studies the larger socio cultural changes that will impact fashion.

The new fashion collections that Lenskart designs and launches for its consumers uses fashion forecasting intelligence and ensures that the consumers are flaunting only the latest.

How do you plan to blend your online and offline experience for customers and bring in that synergy when people shop at Lenskart and go back with one great feeling?

Lenskart is an omni-experience brand, and we are working towards making each consumer touchpoint as standardised as possible. We want eyewear consumers to globally enjoy seamless shopping experiences, no matter where and when they interact with our brand.

There are several privileges that Lenskart consumers enjoy, each of which is designed to make their experience smooth.

All the vision records for our consumers are accessible to them for themselves, as well as their family members. This ensures that there is always a centralized system to track, compare and customise their shopping experience.
A large number of people still prefer a ‘touch & feel’ shopping experience, and choose to place their order offline. However, they see the second trip to the store to collect their order as a time consuming activity and that’s where we step in to smoothen the experience with our direct to home delivery. This also works the other way around where consumers can make their selection online and buy offline.
Today’s fashion forward youth consists of tight knit communities that communicate and exchange ideas openly. People love riding on the latest trends and experimenting with styles to find their unique expression through fashion. We at Lenskart have a social sharing feature that enables anyone on the platform to share their looks with their friends and fellow fashionistas.