An Interview with Bhavik Gopal Kumar of R. Kumar Opticians

Bhavik Gopal Kumar: We often wondered why people chose to shop abroad despite the products being available in our own country. We found that with most of our buyers, price or availability wasn’t the issue.

The biggest challenge was that our showroom staff wasn’t fully aware of the brands, products & trends that most of our audiences were following.

Due to insufficient training on the brands, the maisons & the current collection on display caused a lot of gaps in communication with our customers.

Hence, we ensure that we regularly train our employees on the brands and the collections we carry, along with the latest & seasonal trends like Summer Collection 2025. 

We put the same emphasis on the technical aspect of the business – optometry & dispensing. We ensure that we incorporate the best clinical practices and invest in the most modern equipment.

Moreover, we work hard to keep our optometrist & sales staff up to date with their knowledge on the lenses we dispense.

We also discuss & train them on the latest effective solutions to manage the changing lifestyles of the modern-day urban consumer.

We are hyper-focused on ensuring that our inventory stays fresh, always having the best products in stock & great merchandising at our showrooms so that customers enjoy a great buying experience.

With our e-commerce website, we help our clients to explore beyond what they see at the physical locations.

Bhavik Gopal Kumar: At R Kumar, we host several innovative services that we provide through our lens & frame offerings, which gives us the edge against other players in our line of business.

Most noteworthy being – customised lenses to offer tailor-made solutions to our clients at different ages & stages of their lives.

1. We were among the early adaptors of the anti-fatigue lenses, which have been designed to reduce eye strains, especially for those who work on digital devices for a long number of hours.

2. Similarly, we have been at the forefront of promoting myopia control lenses. Our lenses promise to manage myopia and help restrict the growth of myopia in kids.

3. In addition, we work very closely with our labs to help our clients achieve crystal clear vision with the best anti-reflection coatings designed to boost absolute transparency & resistance to wear and tear due to cleaning.

4. Coming to frames, we introduced clip-on eyewear quite early in 2019-2020 where a magnetic clip on would merge with the frame front and convert your glasses into powered sunglasses through the dark lenses fitted on the clip on.

The innovation & the investments we made in the inventory really brought tremendous value to our consumers. Clip-ons have now become a major category in the eyewear prescription business.

In recognition of our unwavering efforts toward raising the level of optical business space, we were awarded the ⁠Gen X award at the You & Eye awards in the year 2023.

5. Moreover, we recently invested in 3D printed eyewear and curated 3D printed eyewear from not only European but also indian brands to promote a more eco-friendly, sustainable yet extremely comfortable & low-maintenance eyewear alternative.

Bhavik Gopal Kumar: I  believe the future of the optical industry is headed towards a time where tech will have a major role to play.

With Meta all set to launch in the country later this year, we will have a rising demand from our pair of glasses to serve more than one purpose.

As much as style, brands & luxury cannot be replaced, there will be a new category of electronics that will coexist with the conventional pair of glasses.

There is already a considerable shift from a number of manufacturers to work on more sustainable materials like bio-acetate, 3d prints and the like to reduce the carbon impact of manufacturing eyewear.

Since the onset of AI & its rapid development at the speed of light, we could well be looking at a scenario where clients will inform a machine about their specific requirements & the machine will curate eyewear from our collections that would match those exact specifications. 

We are also seeing a small but possible growth sector in the custom-made frame space – at the moment, it is pretty nascent in India. We will see the rise of people asking for a statement product rather than just flashing a brand label for any sort of validation.

Sunglasses, on the other hand, I think will continue to keep growing as a category, consistently compelling people to sport different pairs for different occasions & outfits.

The times ahead are clearly very exciting and will bring forth new challenges, which I am sure will create new opportunities as well.

Bhavik Gopal Kumar: Every individual carries a different misconception about glasses. The ones who have been wearing glasses have their own, the ones who don’t wear any have theirs.

I come across common queries like can lenses can be scratch-proof and blue light filters – how they work. Some believe “if you have power & wear your glasses, your eyes become dependent & weak”, to which I often feel speechless.

Most of these “myths” floating around glasses aren’t completely the fault of the layman. It often occurs because businesses in Optical space lack enough information & well-trained proffesionals who can answer all queries matter-of-factly.

As the times are changing and tech/AI is playing a big part in educating clients & evolving our business practices, I believe we are in a better position to service our clients better – both in terms of informing them of all the available choices and then ensuring that they have access to those.

Bhavik Gopal Kumar: My simple advice for any aspiring entrepreneur would be to first understand the nuances of the business, find the zone in which you can operate profitably & then go on an expansion trail.

As much as the lakhs of consumers within reach, the opportunity to provide great eyewear solutions is equally tremendous. Thus, we need to ensure that we dispense glasses & not merely offload inventory that we couldn’t sell due to overstocking.

Tip 1: “Avoid using generic lenses that aren’t backed by a great lab or tech to ensure we don’t make matters worse for a client by providing something that may fit the budget but not their actual requirements.”

Tip 2: “Invest heavily into delivering a great shopping experience- inventory, staff & the science behind good glasses. A great showroom serves like the icing on the cake.”

Tip 3: “Try to create a hybrid online-offline model in which the customer’s expectations are better managed & there’s more transparency with each purchase.”

There’s always a 360-degree approach for each project we undertake at R Kumar by keeping our customers’ expectations as the guiding force. I hope you do too.

And like any business guru will tell you – Run a marathon, not a sprint!

In conclusion, Kumar’s passion for excellence and dedication to customer satisfaction continue to drive R. Kumar Opticians forward, ensuring that the brand remains a leader in the luxury eyewear market.