Lawrence & Mayo in its journey of 138 years has developed a stellar reputation for the service it provides, standardised across all of its 105 outlets spread across 41 cities. Presently, the brand is on a major retail expansion spree and Suman Anjoy, Zonal Head-North & East, Lawrence & Mayo in conversation with Nabamita Chatterjee from Point-of-Purchase shares about their current retailing and shopper marketing initiatives.

Maintaining a Legacy
 
In India, the first branch of Lawrence & Mayo was opened in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in the year 1877 . We slowly opened five branches in India alone, including Shimla and Nagpur, where ever the Viceroy and British establishment had its base. We made handmade frames of gold, studded with jewellery and precious stones, we crafted eyewear for Maharajas in Ivory, rubies and gems which has significance to the symbols, coat of arms. We made monocles, for the Chief of Army, Navy, Generals etc. Slowly branches were opened in Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, Madras, and Bangalore. Gradually from our patrons we got several request to extend our wings to new and upcoming cities.

Unique Selling Proposition

Our USP is that we do not outsource anything, we have 14 High Precision labs that process our own lenses, and we have our own range of frames, sunglasses. We are pioneers in several techniques and best practices in the industry. We have earned the name 'Masters in Eye Care' and 'Masters in Eyewear'. Any complicated case is blindly referred by Ophthalmologists, General Practitioners, other opticians and optical chains to Lawrence & Mayo. Over 20 percent of the cases are referred to us from the optical fraternity. We were the first to introduce Computerised Eye - Testing, Contact Lenses, Coloured Contact lenses, Progressive Lenses in 1976, Prescription Swimming Goggles.
 
Catering to personalised ophthalmic needs

Lawrence & Mayo always believes in providing a certain range of brands across the country, that is 60%, the balance is personalised for the region, the demographic and catchment area.

Deep study about the people, the type of frames, the age categorisation, the habits, cultural practices like women clients preferring to be attended by women are essential part of our R&D team. For instance, in Punjab people prefer thin sides or temples. People in North East prefer nose bridge etc. Thus, choice and preference of customers vary from region to region. Our typical customers are the one who has an enriched zeal for fashion and lifestyle with rich sense of quality. We have a healthy mix of returning & loyal clients and attracting new and aspiring clients.
 
In-store initiatives

Most of our stores now have I- Pads with plenty of software to demonstrate complicated lenses, properties, Refractive Index ( RI ), weight and thickness . We train our Optical Dispensers through 6-8 programs a year and the features, advantages & benefits of each type of lens.

Today, there are between 450 - 600 different types of lenses, many occupational lenses with 7 different types of unique and high technology coating like Anti-Smudge , Non-Static, Anti-Glare, Hydrophobic, Night Driving Lenses, Lenses for Sport, etc.  Thus, we try to highlight these propositions in our stores through different visual imageries or display pictures to connect with the TG and it helps us to educate them.

Retail expansion
 
We are launching a new mobile van fully equipped for the first time in Kolkata. India has 450 towns & cities, wherever there is a million population, we will be there. We primarily cater to the Tier 1 and 2 cities where our footprint is more in demand. We want to strengthen our expansion drive across the entire eastern and northern part of India - where there is a huge need of our kind of organised retailer. There is a huge requirement to correct the uncorrected refractive errors so that blindness can be prevented and eradicated in these parts of India. So, we always believe in business with care for the society. To have the above stated mission of Lawrence & Mayo fulfilled, we want to cover 200 outlets rapidly in next 3-4 years. Of this, 50–60 will be coming by 2021 in Eastern and Northern India.
 
Turnover & Target

We are a 2 billion INR company and expected to grow at a steady rate of 12-14 % per annum and targeting to become a 3 billion INR company in the next few years with a steady and planned expansion drive. We always focus on organic growth by developing new verticals of business and by expanding our footprint wisely. Many new business initiatives are in primitive board level discussions, which can add to another 4-5% growth to our current growth rate.

Encouraging market opportunities
 
We get 4-5 franchise requests every month, not only in India but abroad as well and it's really encouraging. We have been getting great results in all newer areas as well.  Lawrence and Mayo has now become a brand with highest level of recall value among all genre of customers due to its highest level of quality assurance, impeccable product line and wide pan India network. So in terms of category growth or overall market growth, it was never a challenge for us. Due to the fast increasing brand conscious youth population with disposable incomes, we see ourselves positioned nicely in the coming years. However, in current times, a growth rate of 11% to 12% is very handy.