Page 59 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition March-April 2021

TIO: According to you, what is
the future of offline trade?
MS: An actual retail location is
better than any advertising, for
sure. It is still the most supportive
channel for any company in India.
There are over 30K independent
optical stores in India which in
itself is a big market.
TIO: Do you think that a local
optical conference and trade
show is still a viable option?
MS: Even though I am rooting
for it to be true, unfortunately,
sometimes conferences witness
an extremely poor attendance
of eye care professionals. This
affects the high costs that go into
planning and executing such
conferences and trade shows.
The only way this scenario
can change is if the eye care
professionals in India stand
together and make an effort
to attend these events.
At the end of the day, it
comes down to numbers
and if there are not enough
attendees, such events
are not good ventures or
economically viable from a
wholesaler’s perspective.

TIO: Do you plan on
including a distribution team to
your company?
MS: Yes, a strong team will
make the company stronger. The
biggest mistake people make is
that they end up hiring people
who aren’t a cultural fit. We
recently hired a person who had a
really strong CV but just wasn’t a
good fit, personality-wise, thus it
went sideways. We have definitely
learnt from that experience and
plan to carefully find the right MUKESH
people to join us. SHARMA

| MAR-APR 2021 | 55 REEBOK

Mar-Apr 2021 SK.indd 15 26-04-2021 12:48