When Specscart started almost 5 years ago, it only had one mission and that is to disrupt the eyewear market.
The founder of Specscart, Siddharth Sethi was still a student at Manchester University when he came up with a simple yet brilliant idea: selling fashionable glasses at affordable prices.
Now with two big stores in Manchester (one opened recently) and future expansion plans, the company is looking forward to taking its mission to the next level.
If you’re today years old when you found out about Specscart, let me tell you a little backstory.
Specscart didn’t come to Sid in his sleep. An incident happened just a couple of days before his semester exam. He broke his glasses and needed new ones.
So he rushed to a nearby optical store and picked out a simple glasses frame only to be surprised by the high price tag. But since it was more of an urgency, he bought the pair on credit.
You would think that the problem was solved there and then except it didn’t. The glasses took too long to be made and he had to give the exam without his glasses. He did pass the exam though if that’s what you were thinking.
But since Siddharth has always been about solving problems, he decided to do something about the expensive and time-taking glasses. That’s how the idea of Specscart came to be. The name signifies a cart full of specs as with the affordable price range of Specscart, people can buy more than a single pair.
But it wasn’t all so easy. He invested a little capital into the business and formed his own eyewear brand ‘Tom Archer’. He used to carry a few samples in a briefcase and visit different opticians in his locality trying to convince them to sell the brand in their stores. It took him almost a month to approach all of the opticians in Manchester.
Siddharth was willing to put as much effort as needed to disperse the brand all over the city. Starting the business from his one-room apartment to owning a big store in the most crowded and posh area of Walkden Town Centre, Specscart has indeed come a long way.
The growth wouldn’t have been possible if Specscart didn’t manage to win a few awards in its journey. The company won the Albert Gubay Enterprise award 2017 and got a small retail space in Walkden. Not long after, Specscart also bagged the Venture Further award 2018 and won £10,000 as a cash prize. Siddharth invested the money in eye test equipment and machines to offer free eye tests to everyone in the UK.
When the customers are at the centre of your business model, you have to constantly listen to what the customers need. And Specscart did just that – it listened and delivered.
By launching the 24-hour dispatch service, Specscart made it possible to get prescription glasses or gaming glasses within a business day in the UK.
If you happen to visit the new Walkden store, you’ll see how different it is from other eyewear stores. It doesn’t feel clinical at all and has enough open space to help you feel at ease. It also has a pool table so you can entertain yourself cuz we all know how long finding the right frame style can take. It looks just like a high-end designer shop with 4 eye test labs.
If you can’t visit the store, you’ll find thousands of designer frames at affordable prices on Specscart’s official website. The delivery is free all across the UK and if you need to try the frames first, you can also leverage the free home trial service.
Along with affordability, you also get free add-ons for your glasses. All the specs at Specscart have preloaded anti-UV and anti-glare filters which are not included in the cost. And going by the online reviews of Specscart, it looks like the company is going in the right direction.
In the words of Siddharth Sethi, “we aim to bring innovation in the eyewear industry and make glasses accessible to all. We want to improve how glasses are made and distributed to the customers. We’ll be investing our time and money into that as we plan to expand globally”.
