While you may have never heard of Luxottica, you have definitely heard of, and might even own a pair, of their sunglasses. Luxottica Group, S.p.A. is the world’s largest eyewear company and controls approximately 80% of the major eyewear brands sold globally. Some of their most famous brands include Oakley, Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples and Mosley Tribes to name just a few. Beyond its proprietary brands, Luxottica has exclusive license agreements to build frames and lenses for some of the most desirable, high fashion names in the business; Versace, Chanel, Prada, D&G, Armani, Paul Smith, Burberry…The list is quite impressive.

In a bold and exciting move, Milan-Based Luxottica recently announced a $250 million dollar investment to expand it’s already substantial presence in the North American market.  As it stands, Luxottica operates 4,800 stores, made up of Lenscrafters, Pearl Vision, Sears Optical, Sunglass Hut and Target Optical. A large chunk of the $250 million will go towards opening 69 additional Target Optical branches, 400 new Lenscrafters locations and a heavy remodel of the over 700 Sunglass Huts located in Macys. It’s pretty awe-inspiring to think about just how much ownership Luxottica has over eyewear/eye-care industry.

Having such a massive marketshare across so many product lines and vendors puts Luxottica in a really unique standing to capitalize on all of the best perks that omnichannel has to offer. According to Luxottica Retail Optical North America Group (RONA) president and general manager, Mark Weikel, the optical industry is “ripe for change with omni-channel’s increasing popularity and the increasing purchasing frequency among consumers who are engaging with companies both in-store and online.” Weikel also states another key goal of the $250 million investment is to help define “the digital journey and some of the capabilities we want to develop like customer relationship management, mobile, Rx e-commerce, and imaging to elevate the game and enhance our relationships with customers to infuse the optical category with new experiences.” At CloudTags, news like this is truly exciting. Luxottica has demonstrated that they’re seeing the future of retail with perfect 20/20 vision. I can’t wait to see what other brands follow suit!