Titan Eyeplus looks to increase penetration of sunglasses in fashion market

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Apr 19, 2019

Titan’s eyewear brand Titan Eyeplus is pursuing new ways to increase sunglasses purchases in India to increase the category’s penetration rate.

Titan Company, owned by Tata Group, is unhappy with the performance of its eyewear brand’s sunglasses, Titan Eyeplus’ marketing head Shalini Gupta told ET Retail. The brand is looking for ways to get India’s shoppers invested in sunglasses.

“Sunglasses form one-third of our sales,” said Gupta. “Our country is hot and humid but the penetration of sunglasses is still low. The year-on-year growth is a high single digit. There is still snob value attached to wearing a sunglass.”

One ways the brand has been working to engage shoppers is by running a number of competitions on its social media with prizes. The brand is also running educational promotions at its brick-and-mortar stores to educate shoppers on the benefits of wearing sunglasses. 

“Sunglass is a category which needs a lot more visibility and round-the-year input,” said Gupta. “We are adding sunglass trials for our customers at our stores. The idea is to remove hesitation for the first attempt.” Gupta did note that sunglasses designed for riding motorbikes have seen increased sales and that millennial customers are the most interested in sunglasses. 

Titan Eyeplus has over 550 stores across India and retails international eyewear brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Vogue as well as Titan and Fastrack brands. Titan first forayed into eyewear in 2007 and opened 74th brick-and-mortar stores for the brand in the 2019 financial year.