Sunglass Hut Overview
We are talking about American retailers in the business of sunglasses and sunglasses accessories.
The company is now the part of the international eyewear giant, Luxottica Group and employees around 9,200.
They are among the leading destinations for the most sought-after high quality and performance sunglass brands.
How it got started?
This brand of sunglasses got founded in 1971 with their first store opened in Miami’s Dadeland Mall by Sanford L. Ziff as a freestanding Kiosk.
The success encouraged Ziff to add up the brand in more locations of the United States thus earning the sales of $24 million a year from its 100 Sunglass Hut outlets in 1986.
Soon its 75% shares were acquired by Connecticut investment firm Kidd, Kamm & Co. whereas the other 25% was left for Ziff’s family which were also later sold out in 1991.
The business was then made public and they expanded their part in adding up watches to their collections under the name Watch Station further entering into eCommerce in 1998.
In 2001, Luxottica Group acquired the firm and managed to reposition its brand identity in 2003.
Now it is operating around 2,000 retail outlets in 20 countries which include Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Ireland, India, and the Middle East.
What makes them special?
Apart from their best quality glasses, they have introduced an interesting feature to add up more customers which were started in 2009 as an in-store photo booth called Social Sun.
Under which they allowed their users to take pictures of them wearing different glasses and send them to friend circle by mobile phone.
They in-short have offered a consistent and connected experience across all customers' touch-points including in-store, social, mobile, online and other digital tools having full access to every store locations.
What’s new?
They added them into an agreement in May 2018 to show their products in Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s stores plus on e-commerce platforms specially designed for outdoor sports.
Its current status
As per a report on 31st December 2017, Sunglass Hut is operating 3,213 stores worldwide out of which they include 3,059 corporate stores and 154 franchised ones.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunglass_Hut
https://in.sunglasshut.com/