Hopi, the Dubai-based online start-up offering a direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription model for contact lens.
The company is built on the premise that an optical brand doesn’t necessarily have to be without a personality. It doesn’t have to be boring; it can have fun and lifestyle elements. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. Hopi’s subscription model ensures that consumers can receive high-quality prescription lens to their doorstep, at a fraction of the cost of branded retail lenses, claim Co-Founders Charles Wright and Kristian Stinson.
Before launching officially in December 2019, Hopi had closed an initial seed-funding round from Dubai-based investment and technology firm Esanjo Ventures. The start-up ran a lead generation campaign in March 2019 to gauge market demand for a concept like Hopi. The campaign offered consumers a discounted supply of lens in exchange for their early sign-up and helped Hopi secure more than 19,000 subscribers in less than two weeks.
“We haven’t done anything drastically different from what we had set out to achieve in the first place,” Wright pointed out. “We have always been transparent about pricing, and as such, we didn’t engage in any mass sales to move products. Early into the pandemic, we realised that there would be a change in consumer behaviour, and we accommodated such changes, be that contactless payments or change of address. What’s important to us is not only the sale but also the post-sale experience, which resulted in an even stronger relationship with our customer base.”
