Making waves beyond Malaysia

Maxvue Vision Sdn Bhd may be headed for the big leagues, as it is in the midst of talks with a large optical chain store operator for a deal that could potentially bring its fashion contact lenses onto the shelves of the operator’s outlets across Europe.

Its founder and chief executive officer Selvam Kanniah said that the discussions have been ongoing for more than six months and Maxvue has already sent a trial order with its full range of products for the European operator to stock in certain outlets to test the waters.

Currently, the range of its 200-strong product portfolio includes various brands for coloured lenses, costume lenses or clear corrective lenses with prescription power.

While these discussions are still ongoing, Maxvue is also focusing on extending its market reach and branding through digital means, in order to sustain its pace of growth.

The homegrown contact lens manufacturer is seeing steady progress in the digital side of its expansion drive, as its products have just been made available in the United Kingdom and Spain via Amazon. This is in addition to its earlier debut on Amazon Germany.

By working directly with Amazon’s global e-commerce platform, Maxvue is looking to tap into the markets of Japan, Singapore and South America. For the first two countries, the company will only be selling its cosmetic fashion lenses owing to regulatory restrictions on selling contact lenses with prescription power online.

An industry newcomer

Established in October 2004, Maxvue had a strong start in trading branded contact lenses, as it quickly built up a substantial list of buyers from Europe and the United States.

Two years later, however, it ran into difficulties when it was unable to bring in the required supply to meet the buyers’ demands.

“We had the buyers, but we didn’t have the supply. When we found out it was a business that could not be done for the long term, we started our own brand and tried to convince our existing buyer network to buy our products. It was an uphill task to convince them because of the lack of brand recognition, ” he said. Determined to find a breakthrough, the company dove into research to find the blue ocean niche in the industry to find that the lion’s share of the colour contact lens market at the time was dominated by a single brand.

“Colour lenses are fashion and not optical products requiring prescriptions from opticians.

“There was a lack of competition and competency in the market, so we came up with different colours and flavours.

“So while we weren’t branded, buyers realised it was time to introduce something new to the market. It was our breakthrough point into the industry, ” said co-founder and business director Viji Ramasamy Pillai (Vincy).

The first country it entered was Poland in mid-2006 with the launch of three collections and 15 colours under the ColourVue brand, BigEyes, 3 Tones and Fusion. It was the 15mm diameter BigEyes that boosted its sales, as existing brands owned by bigger players in the market did not offer such options.

It was only after it gained international traction in 2007 that the company launched its range in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries.

At the time, it sought its supply by outsourcing the manufacturing of its lenses, but maintained the licenses and designs, but in 2016 brought manufacturing back inhouse by opening a 50,000sqft factory in Seremban, which also does original equipment manufacturing to utilise excess capacity.

Europe remains its largest market, contributing 40% to its sales, followed by the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The company typically distributes its products through country-exclusive distribution deals by seeking strong partners to go to market. Today, the company hires close to 60 staff and continually innovates on its product ranges and customer experience, especially with the introduction of its mobile app that enables customers to virtually try on its lenses by snapping a photo.

Boosting brand image

When it comes to The Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA), Selvam said that the company’s wins in the awards for the past three years since 2016 has helped boost the brand image for the company itself.

He noted: “It’s a big help in boosting the brand image. Our own customers, even the local ones, didn’t know who we were. Now we don’t need an introduction, so the recognition has helped a lot. When our salespeople approach optical shops these days, they see us as a company with high standards.”

Maxvue’s most recent win in SOBA was Vincy’s personal achievement last year, as she won the Outstanding Achievement Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year (up to RM25mil turnover).

In 2016, it took home the coveted Malaysian Business of the Year Award (up to RM25mil turnover), in addition to winning Platinum Awards for Best Brand and Best Global Market and the Gold Award for Best in Marketing under the same category.

A year later, Maxvue clinched the SOBA Gold Award for Best in CSR (up to RM25mil turnover) and two Silver Awards for Best in Marketing and Best in Innovation.

In addition, it has also helped attract interest from Singaporean investors and investment companies keen to offer new opportunities.

“We’re not ready at the moment, since we’re laying the groundwork so that we can grow bigger than we are now. When we feel like we’re better positioned, maybe in the next three to five years, we’ll look at approaching them then, ” he said.

Source: TheStar