Bausch + Lomb eyeing expansion to 800 towns

Vision care company Bausch + Lomb, a part of the health and wellness firm, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is looking to expand its presence to nearly 800 tier III and tier IV cities. "We are present in all the tier I and tier II cities, and are now looking to expand our reach further to cover up to 800 smaller towns," MD India and SAARC, Bausch + Lomb, Sanjay Bhutani told PTI. "We are looking at increasing our distribution reach by at least 40 per cent this year," he added.

Bausch + Lomb products are currently available in 10,000 optical retail stores, and it is targeting to reach 15,000 stores over the next two years, he added. The company, which test marketed its coloured lenses last year in the market, is launching 36 colour variants under the Lacelle brand, which will be available in stores by November, he said. Bausch + Lomb which enjoys a market share of 60 percent in India, is looking at increasing market penetration with several India-specific products in the pipeline.

The launch is part of Bausch + Lomb's strategy to grow the cosmetic contact lens market, which is currently 12 per cent of the overall contact lens market and registered a compounded annual growth of 17 percent between 2012-14, the company said. "We have many new products in the pipeline that are market appropriate, to increase market penetration," Commercial Director-Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb, Indranil Chakravarty said. "We are also launching a coloured lens solution going forward," he added.

The company, which launched iConnect, an affordable contact lens three years ago targeting the youth, said the ramped up distribution will further help in the growth of the category. It also launched two new products in its surgical opthalmology last year, and entered the professional skincare segment with its brand Obagi last month. While two-thirds of the company's business comes from vision care, the balance comes from surgical opthalmology and aesthetic products.

Bausch + Lomb said it will spend about 10 percent of its income on promoting its newly launched products, and will make phased investments to help its new categories grow.