LOTUS OPTİK
In Pursuit of Quality
Silmo Istanbul inspires us by bringing together innovations in the sector and guides us to provide a better service to customers.
Hello… Could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers and tell us about how your path met with the sector?
Tuğba Doğan: Hello, I was born in Tokat in 1985. My husband and I graduated from Ege University Opticianry Department with a degree. Immediately after our graduation, I started working in a retail optical store in Şişli district of Istanbul in 2005. After 6 years of gaining a good professional experience in Istanbul, we got married and I changed cities. I continued my professional life in the city where I settled. After I had twin children, I quit my job. In 2019, we opened our first store in Antalya and immediately after that we opened our second branch in Edirne in the same year. In 2021, we opened our third branch in Istanbul and we aim to grow even more over the years with our boutique retailing system.
Onur Doğan: Hello, I was born in Artvin in 1984. As my wife mentioned, we graduated from Ege University Opticianry Department. I started my retailing life in Antalya.
What is the foundation story of Lotus Optik?
Shortly after opening our first store with my wife in Antalya in 2019, we brought our second store to our customers in Edirne. In 2021, we opened our third store in Istanbul Kanyon Shopping Mall. We have a boutique retail approach from the very beginning and we aim to grow even more with this approach. Our store was specially designed by successful interior architects and furniture decoration companies. We have created a valuable boutique product portfolio by realizing our desire to work with the world’s leading optical and sunglasses brands. We accept our customers as members of our own family with our goal of preserving the sincere and artisanal understanding that is disappearing in our country.
We understand that you open your stores in different cities. What were the factors you considered while choosing these locations?
When choosing the location of our stores, of course, we pay attention to being a lively place. We differentiate ourselves from the nearby chain stores by displaying different brands and offering a superior service to our customers. We think that being a company that does its job properly, attaches importance to store decoration, and can provide good service to its customers with its knowledge should always be your most basic value.
What are the most sold optical and sunglasses brands in your stores?
We can say that brands such as Tavat, Mykita, L.G.R, Saint Laurent, Prada, Miu Miu, Tom Ford in sunglasses, and Lunor, Tom Ford, Linderberg and Silhouette in optical glasses stand out in our sales.
We know that you pay attention to product diversity in your stores. How does having different product segments affect your sales?
As you said, we take the utmost care to include products from every segment. For this reason, you can easily come across every segment product in our stores. Because as Lotus Optik, we are aware that appealing to different customer needs by offering a wide range of products has important advantages in terms of both gaining customer satisfaction and positive reflections on our sales.
What are your after sales services?
After-sales service is as important as sales for us. We continue to support our customers after sales as well. In addition to our spare parts support, we also offer services for the repair and maintenance of broken eyeglass frames, even if they did not buy them from us.
How do you inform your customers about the changes and campaigns in your stores?
As Lotus Optik, we mainly announce the changes and campaigns in our store to our customers via social media. Because with the transition to the digital age, we are aware that social media is a powerful and effective communication platform when used correctly.
As someone who does not avoid investing in the aesthetic and stylish appearance of your stores, what do you think the interior and exterior design of an optical store contributes to your business?
We try to display every product that is wanted, desired to be seen, and wondered. We organize our shelves in such a way that our guests can easily try and leave them. Thus, we ensure that they can easily access the products they like and make comfortable and enjoyable shopping. Since we have this understanding, we believe that in order to offer all these elements to our customers, it is necessary to use aesthetic, highly visible and at the same time functional design elements in the store.
As a retailer, what are your views on the price competition between you and your colleagues?
Considering the sales prices recommended by the companies, we are in favor of providing quality service without reducing the value of the products in market conditions. We see that the prices of glasses offered for sale especially on the internet are quite different. We believe that a product should be sold according to its value. The factor that distinguishes us from our competitors is our service quality.
Is the sales and training information provided within the sector sufficient? How do you improve yourself and your employees about sectoral innovations?
We actively use various online resources and industry information to understand the developments in the sector. We also ask our authorized friends from optical glass companies to visit our store periodically and make presentations about glass technologies. In this way, we keep our knowledge fresh and acquire new technological information.
At this point, do you also follow the optical fairs held abroad in order to be informed about sectoral developments?
We participate in almost all fairs. We closely follow every new development. We see sectoral developments, technological innovations, trends, the latest collections of world brands and all innovations through these fairs and we get excited about our profession.
How would you evaluate Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair, which will be held for the 11th time with its new and larger service area?
Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair is growing with more and more exhibitors every year. The fair inspires us by bringing together the innovations in the sector and guides us to provide a better service to our customers. When we look at the path Silmo Istanbul has traveled in the last 10 years, we are even more excited for the upcoming fairs.
Thank you very much for this exclusive interview. Finally, could we learn your comments on the transition of our magazine 4 your eyes to digital publishing?
As Lotus Optik, we would like to thank you for featuring us in 4 your eyes. Digital media has become a part of our lives regardless of age. For this reason, we support your digital presence in order to reach faster and wider audiences and wish you continued success.
October 2024










