After a short stint at Specsmakers, S. Shriram, Vice President – Sales & Marketing has announced that he is moving on from his current role with immediate effect. Reasons for his departure was not disclosed to the media. Shriram joined the eyewear retailer in Q2 FY 21-22 during the tumultuous second wave of Covid-19 which had disrupted every sphere of retail & consumer business in India due to prolonged lockdowns.
There are an estimated 42,000 optical retail stores in India and Specsmakers runs over 260+ outlets in 46 cities being the third largest chain in the country. During his tenure, Shriram is said to have turned around the business with a hefty, healthy double digit growth from the time he joined till his exit, though exact numbers were not shared. The company is said to have done it’s highest turnover in FY 21-22 in its existence for one and a half decades.
“It has been a wonderful stint in Specsmakers and I learned a lot working very closely with our Founder & CEO Mr. Pratik Shah, a self-made businessman. I cherish the camaraderie I shared with my Marketing & Sales team and all other colleagues”, said Shriram in a note shared with the media.
Under his leadership, the brand underwent a complete transformation with regards to MarCom. There was a 360* approach by including Television, Radio, Print, OOH, BTL Marketing as well as Digital, thereby combining all possible ways to target the audience with regards to the brand’s philosophy. During his time, Shriram was responsible for conceptualizing and taking on Air 6 new TVCs including the most recent one, which is Sunglasses with eye power, a category first. Specsmakers was the “Vision Partner” for MediaNews4u’s flagship annual event as well as RAI’s Chennai Retail Summit in 2021 and has recently partnered with AAI for a Free Eye Camp to it’s employees & airport travelers.
Shriram is a Retail veteran and is celebrating his Silver Jubilee year in Retail in 2022.
“Retailer by Profession and Choice, since 1997” as he likes to address himself, he was earlier responsible for turning around “Levista Coffee” during the peak pandemic period by almost doubling the business of the packaged coffee brand and making it people’s preferred choice in TN & KA. He had earlier held senior management roles at Royal Enfield and Café Coffee Day and has worked with The Future Group and RPG Retail. He was responsible for setting up India’s first Travel Retail opportunity at Bangalore International Airport in 2006.
