Lenskart.com-the next flipkart of eyecare?

I ordered my new pair of spectacles online from www.lenskart.com after the old one broke. It had lived its life of 3yrs and getting a new one is difficult logistically since I get only weekends free and hardly any opticians shop near where I stay, so finally decided to give online shopping a try, and I was not disappointed. My review below of lenskart, but this post is more on the business model,
http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Lenskart-com-review-tulortuqrr

What do I mean by 'flipkart of eyecare'? Well, flipkart to me means speed, reliability(no cancelled orders), polite and prompt customer service and (till recently) deeply discounted rates passing on cost savings. All these seem true for lenskart.com as well. 

For some background, I read articles about them and founder Peeyish Bansal in Business Today and Economic Times. He is not a first time entrepreneur, in fact he had set up e-commerce ventures earlier in the USA and India in education and eyewear i.e searchmycampus.com) and Flyrr.com. However, due to logistics issues and economic conditions, his focus shifted away from them to Lenskart.In November 2010, he set up Lenskart.com, starting with contact lenses. In February 2011, he included eye-glasses and in March, sunglasses as well.  As per an Apr12 article in Business Today, Lenskart now gets about 45,000 visitors every day, of whom about 400-500 spend an average Rs 1,200 on ordering contact lenses, spectacles and eye accessories, and an expected FY12 topline of Rs 15-20 crore.

Lessons I could glean for this success[I call it success from the customer front, not so sure about the profitability but considering this is his 2nd venture, it should be profitable]

1. Second time venture, so lessons learnt:-Logistics/customer service probably excellent due to this. Advertising on Facebook is also a good way to tap customers. 
2. Tapping into an imperfect unorganized sector:-Like how www.redbus.com found its niche in bus travel, they found theirs in eyewear, which saw entry of retail chains like Reliance and Titan only recently. As per ET article, optical shops typically sell frames even at 100-200% margins and an average person has no idea what a frame actually costs. “A frame that’s priced at Rs 5,000-6,000 in a store actually costs only Rs 2,000. Also, rates vary as per area, unlike e-commerce, so thats a perfect way to make the market efficient.
3. Huge scope yet information asymmetry:- Almost one-third of our population has a vision correction problem and off these, only 25% use any kind of eyewear. The market in India is worth around $2 billion, growing at 25-30%. People usually trust their optician to prescribe something within their budget, but that is far from ideal. Online purchasing makes it transparent with his buying guide, risk free returns, and 'Try on your face'. Also, with use of smartphones and laptops increasing eye-strain, the market potential only goes up
4. Savvy HR policy:- As per Business Today article. LensKart, for instance, has strict rules against poaching. Candidates are employed only if they have not changed jobs frequently in the recent past, and are not offered more than a 15 to 20 per cent hike over their existing salary. This ensures they do not pay too much for talent which quits soon. 
5. Excellent customer service:-Be it instant chat on website, SMS asking whether satisfied or not, prepaid returns label for BlueDart and returns form, procedures are very streamlined.
6. Great logistics They handle it in-house via EComExpress, which is quite responsive too, they accepted my request to deliver at residence quite easily, and followed up professionally. 
7. Great offline ideas like 'Home Try-On', tieup with opticians etc, so they do not ignore the offline sector as well or the importance of physical customer connect.
8. Spreading common costs like logistics across multiple verticials:- Bansal has launched three more websites, each of which, like Lenskart, aims to become the category leader on the net. While Watchkart and Bagskart were launched last year, Jewelskart went online in January. Valyoo’s investor seems to approve of the strategy. IDG Ventures MD TC Meenakshisundaram says that Valyoo focuses on creating category leaders in product segments where supply chain inefficiencies lead to high costs. Also, synergies arise from giving customers a coupon book to use for the other websites as well, I got coupons 'worth' Rs 2,000 with my eyeglasses.
9. Getting domain names efficiently:-LensKart/WatchKart/BagsKart/JewelKart all convey their name at a glance, and probably save plenty of advertising dollars. 

Will be interesting to see how they progress. 

A few great e-commerce sites

I blogged earlier about how I love Redbus(http://andy161.blogspot.com/2012/03/10-reasons-why-i-book-bus-tickets.html) but there are other sites out there, which are superb in execution, customer service yet value for money(managing all 3 is unusual and hard)

1. Myntra.com:- Funded by Accel Partners among others, they are quickly becoming the gold standard in apparel, with their very fast shipping, easy returns policy(they even send a returns-bag and feedback form!) with a no-fault policy(even if you return it for non quality defects, they either collect it free or give you a Rs 100 credit towards shipping) that I'm yet to see elsewhere. By far the best customer service I've seen(I had to return a product once so I speak from firsthand experience). They give a Rs 500coupon on purchases above Rs 1250 for new users, so make hay while the sun shines and buy something from there
2. Flipkart.com:-Again a Accel funded venture. Great choice of books, quick delivery, impeccable and polite customer service. They do not do much price discounting, but you know that what you see is what you get.
3. Dropbox:-A very good way to share files easily without the risk of putting them on filesharing sites. Best for sharing with a limited group.
4. Whassup:-The new craze, excellent to send messages, files and MMS to friends. For smartphone users looking to save on data charges, seems a great way to go ahead
5. Minus.it and ifileit:-Very clean interface, free, and fast. In the era of fast vanishing file sharing sites(that are converting into file storage sites), very good
6. Stayzilla.com:- They are focusing ONLY on 'affordable' hotel booking, and focussed like Redbus on one segment. Should be interesting to see what happens next(I've not used them yet though, this is only from their site and googling for reviews)
7. Ixigo and isbn.net.in:- Price comparison sites for travel, and books respectively. Both have saved me tons of money, and seem quite neutral and accurate. 
8. Bookmyshow.com:- As the name indicates, focussed on movie tickets but more recently branched off into cultural, sports and other events as well. Their convenience fee is a slight turnoff but then the ease of booking and comparison is unparalled. 
9. Google Transit: Like the site gothere.sg, this gives multiple paths(bus,train, car) for reaching from point A to point B. Great for metros(especially Bangalore) but still evolving in cities. Not exactly e-commerce, but facilitates public transport in a great way..

 These are all great sites I've used(except stayzilla and Whassup of which I've no personal experience), and are making things really easier. Will add to this list when I see more, as we really need more of such

10 reasons why I book bus tickets through Redbus

I admit it! The title was my feeble attempt at SEO optimization, but I do really love Redbus. Their customer service and sleek web interface rivals my other favorite e-commerce portal(Flipkart). 

1. Easy refund-the acid test of any merchant is the ease with which they process your refund/chargeback requests. I had cancelled tickets thrice by Redbus, twice through email and once through phone, and the service was efficient, polite and prompt on all occasions.
2. 100% effort to get passenger ratings:-I get an emailed survey around 1hr after the scheduled arrival of the bus, requesting for feedback on the operator and Redbus itself. This also leads to ratings you can trust, that will be uncensored, genuine and somewhat exhaustive.
3. M-tickets:-This is a new innovation, which they did not have to do, but very convenient. It also had the boarding point contact numbers, which can be directly dialled from the message itself.
4. SMS before bus timing:-I was quite wowed to get a SMS at 3:45pm before my 4:15pm bus, reminding me of the bus, 'from your friends at Redbus' with a smiley! Though probably not needed, it is a good way to reach out!
5. Sleek website interface:-Loads quite fast, and very user friendly. One can finish a booking in as less as 3min! No unnecessary junk/logins needed.
6. Periodic offers:-Mostly small amounts(Rs 50/100) but amounts to about 10% of the fare at times on using HDFC/ICICI debit/credit cards.
7. Bridge to the unorganized bus sector-Do not wish to critique agents, but there is a world of difference between educated young people and the bus agents, and Redbus helps bridge the gap.
8. Handle refund of differential fare if bus type changes:-Doing this on the bus/even from the boarding point would be inconvenient physically, but Redbus can credit the amount online
9. Focused and loyal promoters-A venture capitalist who had funded them early on, gave a talk at IIM-A recently, and mentioned that they(Redbus promoters) resisted the temptation to get into ancillary streams like travel packages, hotel bookings etc, and instead are building the bus bookings business. Also, though they now account for a significant share of revenue for many operators especially on 'non popular' routes, they have not hiked the commission upwards.
10. Prompt and Friendly Customer Service:-I have spoken with their customer service at both Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and have got through quite fast on both occassions in evening peak time. Whether this means lack of complaints/phone service or just awesome Operations Management(remember these guys are from IIM Indore..) is something I do not know.

 Keep up the good work, guys(and gals!)

ICICI and Uninor-the tale of 2 contrasting customer service organizations

Below is the email I sent to my mobile service operator Uninor last Sunday on why I would be shifting from them after Mar-12.

1. Customer calls getting transferred repeatedly to Hindi speaking operators although I select the right option 'English'
2. VAS being wrongly charged to my account in May, and reversed after lots of hassle
3. Website among the worst in the industry-details of add on/top ups not available online
4. IVRS very unfriendly, almost impossible to get thorough to customer care executive
5. And to top it all, tariffs among the highest-local/SMS now 60paise for me without any intimation-even Vodafone(best quality network) is much cheaper and user friendly.

Even after a week, I did not get any response(not that I was expecting one after the hassle I had in getting a Rs 30 VAS charge reverse). Contrast that to ICICI's customer service. They are impeccable in the call centre wait times/service, have a great site, awesome technology and polite personnel. And when I blogged day before yesterday(http://andy161.blogspot.in/2012/02/icicis-incredible-customer-analytics.html) about their incredible analytics, imagine my surprise when the Blogger Dashboard showed 4 visits from ICICI Social media console, within a period of 24hrs. Obviously, someone is tracking the mention of ICICI on a third party social media forum like this blog!

In the era of customer choice, the person who is most attuned to customers wins. While ICICI is no saint(sometimes accused of sharp practices/not having the benevolent image of PSU banks), it is living its motto 'khayal aapka' by keeping its ear to the ground and being responsive to customer issues/feedback not only that given directly but also elsewhere. It is such organizations which would win in the long run.

Balaji Wafers-David vs Goliath turned on its head

I recently read on Gaurang Kapupara's blog(http://gaurangkapupara.blogspot.com/2010/05/wafer-sultan-mr-chandubhai-virani.html) about the success story of Balaji Wafers. It did not strike me with much surprise, because I've witnessed this phenomenon during my travels in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. While its competitors(Pepsi/ITC) own the distribution relationship, with Haldiram having the premium branding, Balaji Wafers has carved out a value positioning('cheap at its price' in MBA jargon). And now, others struggle to match it despite their fully depreciated machinery and existing relationships, or maybe because of it.

Another player(Samrat Namkeen) has taken the chips market by storm. While others offer a measly airfilled 35gm potato chips pack, it gives 60gms pack for Rs 10, that too masala flavoured chips. No wonder then, that its stocks run off the few shelfs they are kept on('few' because the price differential is so much that retailers know they will not be able to easily sell the other stock if they keep Samrat).

So what do these teach us? It is essentially conventional marketing turned on its head. These players do not spend(waste?) money on branding, and instead let quality and price do the talking. This was the earlier(non American) way of doing business before the marketing/advertising craze caught on. So will these players remain or be brought out/turn into contract manufacturers? There is plenty of material for a MBA case here, if only people will bother to step out of their ivory towers and smell the roses.