TN Consulting / Direct Optic

On May 30th we had two guests:

Mr. Thierry Nannette from TN Consulting and Mr. Karim Khouider from Direct Optic.

Mr. Nannette explained us the different fields of his work and of his company.

The range of areas of expertise covered by the term "consultant" is wide. One of the more common types is the management consultant. Consulting and the means by which the (external) consultant is engaged vary according to industry and local practice. However the principal difference between a consultant and a temp is generally one of direction. A consultant or temp is engaged to fulfill a brief in terms of helping to find solutions to specific issues but the ways in which that is to be done generally falls to the consultant to decide. An information systems or project management consultant is also referred as just a consultant who manages constraints such as budget and resources agreed with the client.

Mr. Karim Khouider, the CEO of Direct Optic visited us to deliver a presentation about his company and its strategy. As an exchange student, he got his first opportunity to come to Korea. When he was a student, he tried to figure out what he should do after he graduates. Then he found out that the price of the glasses in Korea is much cheaper than in France. So, he decided to start an optic business to export glasses of Korea to the customers who are in abroad.

Direct Optic was founded in 2008 in Seoul and it is the first company where French people can buy their glasses online. Therefore, Direct Optic’s main markets are France & French territory, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, and Germany. The reason why he opened an online shop is that it was easy to start and cheaper than offline shop.

Mr. Khoider also mentioned their marketing strategy, which let the customers get their glasses quickly at lower price comparing to other companies. To make this successful, Direct Optic has been in partnership with Korean optician and simplified the production procedure, which he made the lenses and the frames delivered directly from manufacturer to the Direct Optic.

He said it is hard to bring new customers, but if people used once their product, they reorder again and again because of their price and easiness. With this plenty of experience and skill, Direct Optic has their own strength, ‘know-how to attract people.’

From 2013, their strategy became 'only one brand(Direct Optic), one concept, one price'. They opened offline shops which is very similar to online shops to make customers feel that they are in the real stores.

Mr. Khoider told the history of Direct Optic. He started his business with “big investments”; One desk, two chairs and one printer. It’s very inspiring to see how he achieved and developed Direct Optic like now. I think it was very meaningful presentation to all us.