Wholesaler Interview

Arıkan Saat and Optik

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Arıkan saat ve OPTİK

Always Moving Forward

 

With the Silmo Istanbul, Turkey became a powerful supplier for its geography. For seeing the latest trends in the industry, getting to know the sub-sectors that support the industry and finding new customers, Silmo Istanbul is the right address.

You have several companies and activities under one roof. Which groups do you work with and when did your path cross with the optics industry?
Thank you for your interest. Our company started its activities in Tahtakale in 1985 with the watch trade. After working only in the watch industry for many years, we entered the eyewear industry with the production and sale of licensed children’s eyeglasses in 2005. Then we obtained the production and sales licenses of the world-famous sports brand Slazenger and the fashion brand Lee Cooper, and expanded our eyewear portfolio with our own brands Belmond and Quantum. We have currently reached a considerable size in the market with our four brands. We took our first step in the retail sector in 2013, and we continue to grow steadily since our incorporation of the Konyalı Saat store chain in 2019.

It is a very rational approach to work in both the optics and watch sectors. What are the differences of the two sectors and what do the companies contribute to each other?
Since both product groups fall into the accessory category, our activities have always supported and contributed to one another. Our operating in two sectors has also always had a positive impact on international brands for which we have obtained the license rights. Additionally, since the brand investments we make support both product groups, their returns are higher than in a single category. They are detailed industries with their own dynamics, requiring expertise in two categories, although they have similarities. That is why we manage our business with different teams specialized in their own fields. Although sunglasses are similar to a watch in terms of being an accessory, optical glasses are a very different product group as they are health products, sold in specialized optical stores and have different regulations.

Let’s talk a bit about brands. With which brands do you operate in the optics industry and how do you create the collections of these brands?
We have 4 different eyewear brands that appeal to different lifestyles, tastes and ages. Lee Cooper and Slazenger brands, for which we have the license rights, are prestigious brands with a history of more than 100 years, known worldwide. Quantum and Belmond are our own brands. While creating the collections of all of our brands, we take great care to ensure that the collection is suitable for its target audience, image and competition. We carry out a careful and meticulous work with our design, supply and product management team, each of whom is specialized in their own fields. We produce our collections with different suppliers located in the Far East, which stand out with their production quality, and we import them to Turkey.

Do you also produce in Turkey? What are your thoughts on the development of domestic production?
We do not currently do domestic production. In the recent years, our domestic producers have increased their quality and capacity considerably. We follow all of them closely and I congratulate them for their success. In the coming years, we may work with our domestic producers within our scope of needs.

Do you plan to invest in new brands, new projects or even new sectors?
At the moment, we are focusing on our existing sectors and brands. In these sectors, we are focused on increasing our domestic and international market share, making our work even better, and improving the quality of the service we provide to our business partners.

Your launch with the famous singer Teoman for the promotion of the Quantum brand made a lot of noise last year. Is your 2023 agreement still ongoing?
Our brand Quantum and Teoman suit each other very well. He liked Quantum glasses so much that he prefers our brand’s products also in his daily life, apart from advertising shoots. These communication efforts accelerated our sales. In 2023, we decided to continue our collaborative work with Teoman. We will continue our efforts to increase the awareness of our brand and the sales of our retailers with an enjoyable communication campaign.

In the recent years, the conditions of competition have become quite difficult. Which communication tools do you find more effective for marketing and sales?
The breakthroughs we made in the field of communication especially got a lot of attention this year. We can give the example of our Teoman X Quantum cooperation, which we talked about a little while ago. Digital, TV and outdoor advertisements were also very effective for our brands in the 2022 solar season. Digital and social media communication is indispensable in today’s conditions, as such our communication in these channels continues throughout the year. We also highly value our commercial marketing efforts for our retailers. Visual applications and promotional materials that will highlight our brands, especially in their stores, our retailer meeting where we explain our brands and present our new products, our participation in the organizations of cooperatives and Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair have all become the traditional elements of our retailer communication.

You were elected as the Chairman of the Opticians and Watchmaking Professional Committee in the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce elections held last year. We wholeheartedly congratulate and support you. What are the issues that you see as a problem in the sector that need to be fixed? What should we do or not do for the future of our industry?
First of all, I would like to thank all our industry stakeholders for their support to me and the committee members. Our domestic production companies and importing companies, such as ourselves, have different problems. As such, our aim is to address all the problems of the sector, to develop our sector with all stakeholders and to increase the competitiveness of our companies, especially in international markets. The biggest problem of importing companies is the additional taxes on imports, these taxes unfortunately increase our costs severely. Additional taxes make European brands much more advantageous in competition and make it very difficult for us to offer quality products to our citizens at reasonable prices. In the past days, we held separate meetings with importers and domestic producers, and we came to a joint decision to reduce the additional taxes to a level that would satisfy both the importers and producers. We conveyed this joint decision to the ITO management with a petition to be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce. I would also like to briefly mention other sector problems that we conveyed to the ITO and the Ministry of Trade. Tests applied at customs; TAREKS, reducing the 10% customs tax paid by exporters for spare parts is also our priority. In addition, organizing national participation under the roof of our chamber in Silmo and Mido Fairs, in which at least 30-35 domestic optical manufacturers participate individually, is another issue we are working on.

You will attend Mido Fair, which will be held between 4-6 February. This will be your first foreign fair experience. How did you decide to participate in a fair held abroad and what are your expectations? (You can add if you are going to also attend other fairs.)
First of all, I would like to state that we are very excited about our global adventure, which we will start with Mido Fair. We have been attending Mido Fair as visitors for many years to follow the trends and meet new manufacturers. We export to 60 countries in our watch business. It was time to combine the export success and experience we achieved in watches with our claim in the eyewear industry. This year, we will exhibit the collection of our Lee Cooper brand, for which we have obtained the license rights for only about 40 countries, at the Mido Fair, and our focus will be Lee Cooper. Our aim is to open our other brands to international markets in the coming years. This year, we will also continue to participate in Silmo Paris and, as with every year, Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair.

You have been participating as an exhibitor in Silmo Istanbul, which has been held since 2013. Can you evaluate the development of Silmo Istanbul and the sector in the last 10 years?
While Silmo Istanbul Fair was a local fair both in terms of visitors and exhibitors in the first years, it has reached the international fair category in recent years now. For the last few years, we have been hosting many visitors from both the Balkan countries and the Middle East at our stand. This is the most concrete proof that Turkey has become a powerful supplier for its geography. In addition, the experience of both participating companies and you as the organizer has increased in the last 10 years. Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair is an organization that has proven itself, one that gives a strong momentum to the sector. It is an indispensable organization for us to see the latest trends in the industry, to get to know the sub-sectors that support the industry, and to find new customers.

4 Your Eyes Optical Magazine will continue with “Digital Publication” as of 2023. Can we get your thoughts on this radical innovation?
As with everything else, the publishing industry is adapting to the times. I think it is a great advantage for subscribers to have access to the magazine digitally from anywhere. At the same time, reducing paper consumption is definitely an environmentally friendly approach. As Arıkan, we support this change made for these reasons. As in the past, we will continue to follow and take place in the magazine with our news and advertisements.

February 2023

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Sales Point

Etiler Optik

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ETİLER OPTİK

40 years of heritage…

 

We support people to integrate their style with the glasses they wear. We provide eyewear consultancy like a personal style consultant.

Hello, as we all know, opticianry is a profession that you inherited from your family. Can we talk about your first entry into the profession and your journey so far?
Ufuk: As you have said, Etiler Optik is a family company. It was founded in 2007 by and under the leadership of my late uncle, Mr. Arif, the father of Ms. Seda. As a result of my uncle’s 30 years of experience, after Etiler Optik was opened in 2007, we have realized our sales and targets every year and we have come to these days.

Seda: My father has been in this business for many years and when he decided to establish this business, he prepared me for it until he got to that stage. I first started working in the sector in a lens company and then I continued in a frame company. Then my father said, “OK, you’re ready” and we opened this place in 2007. After that, he said, “You can’t do it here alone. You need some support,” and we started working together, as Ufuk told us.

Etiler Optik is a legacy of 40 years of experience for you. It is a great achievement to continue this, and also, to move forward by adding more to it every year. What has this journey been like for you and what are your plans for the future?
Ufuk: It was a very challenging process. You know as is an idiom: “fighting tooth and nail” Especially after the death of my uncle, we worked from 07:00 in the morning until late in the evening so that the customers would not feel his absence and continue to come here. We are glad that we did so, because we continue to grow with the number of customers increasing every year.

In 2022, you had your store redecorated. Let’s talk about the inspiration for your new concept and its reflection on customers.
Ufuk: To be honest, after 15 years, the store needed to be renovated and updated. We worked with a very successful architect who is an expert in his field. Together, we analyzed the decorations of some boutique eyewear stores in Italy and America and designed and built a store that would appeal to Etiler Optik customers and this location. The feedback from customers has been very good. We are enjoying the new store.

Etiler and its surroundings have always been a favorite neighborhood for big brands, companies and businesses. What kind of responsibilities does owning a store here and being in the middle of this competition bring?
Seda: We are aware of the location and our customer base. The people who prefer us do not prefer products that they can find elsewhere, on the contrary, they prefer products that are never seen and no one has. You can find fashion brands and collections of boutique brands in all the stores around us. We make choices that will suit our customer base and offer them what they want rather than the best-selling eyewear. We buy products knowing what we can sell to whom. In fact, we help people integrate their style with the eyewear they wear. We provide eyewear consultancy like a style consultant, not to meet needs. Here, the customer’s submission to us is a very nice feeling. They respect our ideas and suggestions, the choices we deem appropriate for them and they trust us very much. When our customers come here, they say, “There are very different designer eyewear, I have never seen them before, they are exactly what I am looking for”. This is a proof of how much we know each other.

Where and how do you source these different and special eyewear for your customers?
Ufuk: We go to all the fairs abroad as visitors. Before going to the fair, we spend hours in front of the computer and examine their collections. We see the products before we go to the fair. When we get there, we can say, “This is very nice, this is suitable for our customer profile. We travel all over the world to bring different products to our customers. That’s why, as Seda said, they say “We have never seen these products anywhere”. Our first goal is to make our customers feel that their eyewear is being looked at when they walk outside, if we can make a friend say how beautiful your eyewear is, where did you buy them and if our customers are satisfied with the product, we have done our job properly. 

Which has higher sales? Sun or optical?
Seda: We can separate this as branch and location. For this store, we can say that optical and sun sales are more or less equal. This is a 15-year-old store, so we have a long-term and loyal relationship with our customers. They have been buying eyewear here for years and they trust us. We can say that almost all of the store in Bebek is sun-oriented. As you know, it is not as old as this store. Therefore, when that place also establishes its own customer profile, if it wants to buy optical glasses, so to speak, regulars will be formed.

Do you plan to branch out elsewhere?
Ufuk: We also divide the work between Seda and me. Since Seda is in charge of the financial management of the business, she always takes more cautious and solid steps. I want it so much, and if it wasn’t for Seda’s brakes, we would have opened it already. Of course, we never have a goal of becoming a chain store with many branches. We do not want to lose the boutique store concept.

What do you think is the most important problem of the sector and what are your ideas for solving it?
Seda: There is something that we believe is very real and we are talking about it together. Not only for us but also for our other colleagues, there is the biggest problem in the competencies of our colleagues serving in the optical sector throughout Turkey. We are also included in this situation. There is no optometry in Turkey. It is actually a very good thing that the patient’s eye measurement is done and everything comes out of a single hand in a compact way. He goes to the doctor and gets a prescription. He comes here to buy glasses. Sometimes, due to economic reasons, he buys the lens from another place and the frame from another place. However, if we had Optometry, we would have the chance to follow up patients more compactly and accurately.

Ufuk: We go to the workshop, we cut the lens, we assemble it in the most suitable frame, we provide all the comfort of the customer. If I can do all this, why can’t I determine the eye number of my customer? That’s why the arrival of optometry in Turkey is what Seda and I both see as the biggest deficiency.

You have created a design brand that can compete with international brands. How is the Sauren brand progressing, how does it feel to be far above the targets?
Ufuk: Actually, neither of us expected that things would come to this. In 2017, when we received an award in the luxury segment category at the Silmo Paris Fair in France, everything changed in an instant. It was the first time a Turkish brand received such an award, which gave us a much bigger responsibility.  Of course, we are working hard to maintain this and we are improving every day.

Seda: The most important reason why Sauren Eyewear is designed by Etiler Optik and used in the world and in Turkey and why brand awareness is increasing so much is our location and customer profile. When opinion leaders, celebrities and our customer base with high quality tastes come to our store, really like the products, buy and start using them, it is the best promotion. Promotion born out of customer satisfaction is the most reliable and fastest.

You were both an exhibitor and a visitor at Silmo Istanbul. We would like to hear your opinions about Silmo Istanbul from both perspectives.
Seda: As a visitor, it is a very nice and precious feeling to come together with many colleagues from Turkey and many parts of the world. As a visitor, I am happy to come and visit, stop at every booth and hug each of my friends. It is a very valuable organization where you really bring everyone together.  You have 4 days to master everything at once. What’s new? Who brought what? As an exhibitor, it is much different. You guide us and make us feel at home every time. You take the burden off our backs. Thanks to you, we don’t have to travel around Turkey. At the same time, sharing these experiences with you is very sincere, real and warm.

Ufuk: I can say that Silmo Istanbul is a place of ‘Feast’ for our sector. It ensures that human relations are always vivid.

4 your eyes optical magazine will now continue as a Digital Publication. How do you evaluate this change and innovation as a storekeeper?
Ufuk: Technology is one of the things you cannot say no to in the world. If you are aware, you don’t see many people reading newspapers anymore. We even read newspapers on our cell phones. This is something that the new world offers us. We can’t go against it. If we can access everything digitally, there is no need for the magazine to be live in front of us. We can access it digitally anytime and anywhere.

Seda: It’s very innovative. We are not lagging behind the times. Thanks to you. You advertise our brands in the magazine every month. Thanks to you, we make our advertisements, and when we go digital, everyone will be able to access these interviews, even those who don’t have a magazine in their hands. One does not necessarily have to be where the magazine is located to access the magazine.

February 2023

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Interview

Minamoto

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MINAMOTO

Zen & Craftsmanship

Minamoto, firmly rooted in Japan’s traditional eyewear craftsmanship, continues to launch its collections with modern touches to Western audiences.

The Japanese brand Minamoto was founded three years ago with the aim of bringing the highest quality Japanese craftsmanship and craft traditions to Western customers. Minamoto eyewear not only follows the traditions of Japanese craftsmanship, but the passion for precision and quality of the Japanese eyewear industry is evident throughout its collections. Minamoto continues its journey with a unique dedication to craftsmanship in Sabae, the eyewear center in Japan’s Fukui Prefecture. Minamoto, who is a firm believer in the traditions of its country, has entrusted even its logo, which is prepared using traditional methods, to a master calligrapher. The brand, which does not neglect to add modern touches to traditional methods in the production process, aims to bring its unique eyewear collections to a wider audience.

Minamoto’s commitment to authenticity is not limited to eyewear designs. The brand also carefully handcrafts its eyeglass cases from a decorative paper called washi, which is unique to Japan. Thus, when Minamoto’s original eyewear come together with the original eyeglass cases, the authenticity that defines the brand’s Dna is ideally revealed. Another value element that defines Minamoto’s Dna is its inspiration from Zen philosophy. In its eyewear collections, the Japanese brand liberates itself from unnecessary details in order to focus on the essence of the product. Comfort, high quality, refinement, unparalleled attention to special details and meticulousness become Minamoto’s true values. Capturing the spirit of Zen, Minamoto designs follow the path of simplicity and minimalism and promise comfort and convenience to their wearers as they are made of titanium. Here is an interview with Product Manager Hajime Hori about Minamoto and its philosophy.

Hello Hajime, when and where did Minamoto’s journey begin?
It all started at the end of 2019, with a conversation with EU management about how we could improve market recognition for our company. When I was working in Europe, I heard some comments from our customers—that they weren’t aware that our company is Japanese. So, our initial discussion was to bring that “Sense of Japan” into the product for European people.

What is the brand name all about? Does the term have a deeper meaning?
Minamoto means “Origin”. Our team chose Minamoto as our brand name because we wanted more people to know about the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship and the roots of our company.

This meaning is also evident in your calligraphic logo…
Yes, our logo is expressed in a single Kanji character referring to the source, the origin of water. The logo represents our hope that our Japanese products will be accepted and loved by Europeans, just as a small spring becomes a river and, after a long distance, eventually pours into the sea and mixes with it.

Could you tell us about Minamoto’s Dna and philosophy?
It can be described with two words: Zen and Craftsmanship. The word Zen has a broad meaning, but in terms of what Zen means to Minamoto, it’s about eliminating what is unnecessary and maximizing its value. To express what Zen means in Minamoto’s designs, we can give the example of a single flower vase. The eye should be focused on that single flower, which is selected with the utmost care so the viewer can experience the beauty of the flower to its fullest extent. Craftsmanship isn’t just about the technical aspect of manufacturing eyewear, but also to the attitude of the person—approaching manufacturing critically to make things better. Craftsmanship is therefore one of the core principles of our brand.

Japanese brands are known for their attention to detail. Is meticulous attention to detail a priority for you as Minamoto?
At Minamoto, we are strongly committed to the traditional Japanese way of making eyewear, so we pay close attention to every detail in the creation process. We focus on the longevity of our products and try not to overlook any detail. We avoid showing hinges and screws clearly and avoid using plastic nose pads and temple tips.

It’s not surprising that you specialize in titanium. What speaks for this material?
Light, Durable, Hypoallergenic, chemically stable titanium is the best material for eyewear. And titanium is also a part of our origin, so it is a perfect match to our brand.

Could you tell us about your future goals as Minamoto?
I would like to increase the number of Minamoto fans even more. I will continue to work hard to showcase our craftsmanship to make the brand better, because craftsmanship is a journey that requires constant learning.

Source: Spectr

February 2023

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