Lenskart’s Scale Meets Profits

Lenskart’s recent results for the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2026-27 (FY27) suggest the company is entering a new phase. For years, the listed eyewear brand’s strategy revolved around opening more stores, building its brands and bringing more Indians into organised eyewear. Now, after years of investing in stores, manufacturing, technology and acquisitions, Lenskart wants a bang for its buck.

Its Q1 numbers testify to this shift.

The listed eyewear brand’s revenue rose 34% year-on-year (YoY) in the June quarter, while net profit jumped 182% to ₹228 Cr. EBITDA grew 61%, and the consolidated product margin exceeded 70% for the first time. India remained the core growth driver, with revenue up 30.7% and same-store sales growth of 18.3%, while international revenue rose 38%.

The margin improvement suggests that Lenskart has begun to get more out of the infrastructure it has built over the past few years. However, as Lenskart gets bigger, maintaining same-store growth, customer satisfaction and returns on the capital invested in stores, technology and manufacturing will become more important than simply adding locations.

Lenskart Wants To Own Both Ends Of Eyewear Market

Lenskart estimates that 78 Cr Indians currently need vision correction, a number that could rise to 94 Cr by FY30. The company has spent years building a business around affordable, mass-market eyewear, but management now says it underestimated how quickly its existing customers would premiumise.

The opportunity is visible in the products Lenskart is adding at the upper end. The company defines premium lenses broadly as products above roughly ₹3,500. On frames, it considers products above ₹5,000 to be premium. Brands such as John Jacobs, Meller and newer partnerships are intended to give Lenskart greater exposure to this segment.

At the other end, Lenskart has finally cracked a ₹500 eyewear proposition through its Hustlr Plus offering.

This may sound like a contradiction: why pursue both premiumisation and ultra-low pricing? Because the company is attempting to turn its retail network into a house of brands rather than a single-price-point retailer.

The ₹500 offering is designed to bring new consumers into the market, while premium brands allow existing customers to trade up. Management says it spent years working on the economics of the ₹500 product, with manufacturing scale, logistics optimisation and an omnichannel customer-acquisition model making the proposition viable.

Brokerages also seem bullish. Jefferies sees the ₹500 offering as evidence that Lenskart can move further down the price curve without giving up its premiumisation story. Similarly, Macquarie flagged the combination of “strong volume growth”, premiumisation and the ₹500 entry point as key positives.

International Moving From Experiment To Growth Engine

For years, Lenskart’s international business was one of the biggest questions looming over the company. That equation has begun to change. International revenue increased 38% in Q1, or about 29% on a constant-currency basis. The segment’s product margin reached 77.1%, while eyewear units rose 37.6% and transacting customers increased 27.8%. Importantly, this growth came with only 16 net new stores.

That combination suggests that Lenskart is not yet dependent on aggressive international store additions to grow. The company is applying the same basic playbook it developed in India: increase eye tests, improve store productivity, integrate the supply chain, raise product margins and then accelerate store expansion once the operating model is sufficiently mature.

The company said in the earnings call that different countries are at different points on that curve. Thailand and the Middle East are still closer to the early stages of the India model, while mature markets such as Singapore and Japan are showing stronger economics.

Japan is particularly interesting. Lenskart says the market has high eyewear penetration, but consumers are increasingly moving from traditional opticians toward consumer brands. That gives the company an opportunity even where there is little scope to create demand through first-time eyewear adoption.

The acquisition strategy is also becoming more important. Meller, which Lenskart acquired at roughly $35 Mn, is now tracking toward $170 Mn+ in revenue, according to management. The company also highlighted Owndays as an important Asian eyewear brand and is integrating its supply chain more deeply with brands such as Owndays and Meller.

But international expansion will require more than transplanting the Indian formula. Lenskart needs to manage different consumer preferences, competitive structures, labour markets and brand identities.

The company is therefore investing in GeoIQ and advancing geoanalytics capabilities to replicate the data-driven store-selection model it uses in India.

The Next Phase Of Lenskart’s Growth

Lenskart’s next challenge is not finding demand. It is scaling the operating model without compromising customer experience or store economics. The company is adding stores rapidly, increasing eye tests and expanding internationally, but each of these moves puts more pressure on optometry, logistics, technology and talent.

Lenskart is also increasing in-house production to improve supply-chain control and reduce import and currency exposure. That investment can strengthen margins, but it also raises the importance of generating adequate returns on the capital being deployed.

The same tension applies internationally. Lenskart is preparing to accelerate store additions in markets where technology integration and unit economics have matured, but the company has been clear that expansion will follow operational readiness.

The ultimate test for Lenskart’s next phase is not whether it can open more stores, but whether it can make a much larger network more productive. Its investments in AI eye testing, remote optometry, manufacturing and data-led store selection are designed to do exactly that.

MARKETS WATCH: NEW ISSUES, POST-IPO JOURNEY & MORE

Shiprocket IPO Gets 99X Subscription: The ecommerce enablement platform’s ₹1,617.5 Cr IPO closed with a 99.38X subscription, led by strong institutional demand. QIBs subscribed 122.8X, while retail and NII categories were subscribed 46.42X and 88.99X, respectively.

PhysicsWallah Revenue Crosses ₹1,000 Cr: The edtech crossed ₹1,000 Cr in quarterly revenue as its online business drove growth and profitability improved, but offline operations remained loss-making and delayed NEET enrolments weighed on near-term collections.

Turtlemint Narrows Q1 Loss: Recently listed insurtech company narrowed its Q1 FY27 net loss 19% to ₹37.8 Cr from a loss of ₹46.7 Cr in the same quarter last year. Sequentially, the company slipped into the red from a net profit of ₹3.1 Cr.

Zetwerk Files Updated IPO Papers: The B2B manufacturing startup has filed its updated IPO papers with SEBI, proposing a ₹2,600 Cr fresh issue and an OFS, as the manufacturing unicorn looks to pare debt and fund acquisitions.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post Lenskart’s Scale Meets Profits appeared first on Inc42 Media.