Silmo Istanbul offers an ideal opportunity to see many brands and products together. It also gives us the chance to meet and chat with our colleagues again.

Hello Mr. Tarık. First of all, could you introduce yourself a little and tell us about how your path crossed with the optical sector?
Hello, I was born in Istanbul in 1980. In 2006, I graduated from Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Opticianry Department and received my optician license. My uncle İbrahim İnanç was instrumental in me starting my profession and getting interested in this profession. He is the first eyeglass case manufacturer in Turkey. It was thanks to him that I first saw the production of eyeglass cases and their stages during the school holidays. I also had the chance to get to know different optical stores while delivering the glasses cases to the these stores. Therefore, during the summer vacation of 1995, I wanted to work at Karizma Optik and Saat store in Nişantaşı. Although this store sells both optics and watches, I was more interested in the optical aspect. I think this first official step into the profession contributed greatly to my self-confidence and experience.

How did you decide to open your store? How many stores do you have? Could you tell us about the vision and goals with which you opened your store?
We opened our first store in 2000 with my brothers who entered the optical sector before me. We expanded this store with two branches we opened in 2002. However, in 2004, we came to a turning point and parted our commercial ways as brothers. I took over a well-established optical store in the historical Galata district of Istanbul in the same year and laid the foundations of our current store Dita Optik. Then I opened our second branch named Dita Gözlük Aşkı. The second branch was followed by the store named Dita Optik Pera, which we opened this year. Although our stores are located in historical and close neighborhoods of Istanbul, we wanted to give our branches different names because they have different concepts. While opening our stores with my wife Dilek Taşgın, who is also an optician, our main mission was to offer the most accurate and most suitable products for our customers without compromising the ethical rules in sales. With this goal in mind, we continue to offer quality products and quality lenses to our customers.

Your newly opened store is located in a place frequented by tourists. Could you tell us about the advantages and disadvantages of serving tourists?
Our newly opened store is located in a location frequented by local and foreign tourists. However, I would like to state here that all our customers are very valuable to us, regardless of whether they are local or foreign. We have the chance to meet with people from all over the world in our stores.

Do you have products from every group in your store? How do you choose the optical and sunglasses brands you will sell?
We have products from every group in our store. Especially in the optical service, we advise our customers to take their time, see the options and make a decision by getting the right information from us. We are also selective when choosing products for our store. We try to choose quality, proper and long-lasting products. When we sell glasses, we are not only selling glasses, we are also selling an important accessory. When we show the right options, the happiness of our customers makes us even happier.

What are the most sold optical and sunglasses brands in your store?
In our store, we bring together the products of Doğan Optik, Atölye Optik, Safilo, Derigo, Luxottica, Ata Optik, Elite Optik and many distributors with our customers. Our customers can access countless brands and models from our store.

Designer brands are very popular in recent years. Do you also receive requests from your customers in this direction?
The fact that our stores are located in museums, historical palaces and architectural monuments, where art is prominent and art events are organized, guides our product choices. Most of our customers are people who know what to buy and come with brand and model information. Recently, we have been observing a trend towards designer brands. Based on this, we also include designer brands in our stores.

How do you inform your customers about changes and campaigns in your store?
Today, people prefer to access information about your store via the internet and social media. We think that advertising and correct expression are important in these channels and we attach importance to this issue. We also inform our customers from time to time with the optical program we use and SMS.

As a retailer, what are your views on the price competition between you and your colleagues?
When you value your customers and find the right product with a proper explanation, your customers will not look for other places. Eyewear business is a business of trust. People should trust you. The customer can catch this with your stance, your expression and the atmosphere of your store. I am always busy with the question of how I can make my store better. I do not follow the price policy of the stores near me. When you do your job right, people do not look for other places.

As someone who serves the sector, what do you think about the rate and awareness of eyeglass use in our country? What can be done to increase the use of eyeglasses and who has a duty?
Although eye surgeries have increased with the developing technology, I think that the use of prescription glasses will continue regardless. Today, sales of sunglasses have increased with laser surgeries and this is a positive development for us. However, if we make people love glasses by giving them beautiful glasses and aesthetic designs, we can turn them away from the desire to have laser surgery. I think that if we adopt the view that glasses are not only a means of vision but also an accessory as all colleagues, we can sell more than one pair of glasses to our customers with this awareness. Lens companies should organize seminars in hospitals and eye polyclinics to inform ophthalmologists about the developing technology. I believe this will make a positive contribution to our profession.

Do you follow international optical fairs and sectoral developments abroad?
We had the chance to visit the Mido fair in Milan among the fairs abroad. We will participate in fairs abroad again. Silmo Paris visit is also in our plans. I think fairs are very useful to see sectoral developments closely. I especially recommend every colleague to visit all the fairs.

What are your opinions and evaluations about Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair held between December 17-20, 2022?
This valuable fair held in our country took place with a nice intensity. The sector came together for four days with the fair atmosphere that everyone missed. Silmo Istanbul offers an ideal opportunity to see many brands and products together. It also offers the chance to meet and chat with our colleagues and many professionals again. We look forward to coming together again at Silmo Istanbul 2023.

Could we learn your views on 4 your eyes, which started to be published digitally as of 2023?
Although we are a little sad that we cannot bring 4 your eyes magazine, which we have been looking forward to coming to our stores every month for years, together with our customers during their shopping, it is very important and pleasing for us that your magazine reaches a wider audience thanks to digital publication. Thank you for your quality news, efforts and this interview.

September 2023