O PodiCasti
Whoever innovates gets it wrong. Inside Brazil's optical retail market
Gustavo Freitas took over Mercadão dos Óculos in 2014, when the chain had 10 stores. Ten years later it has 750, its own lens factory producing a million lenses a year, and a target of a thousand stores by 2027. The conversation centres on the culture he calls making new mistakes, and on what low-cost optical retail teaches about disciplined expansion.
What the episode covers
- From 10 to 750 stores in a decade, and what sustained the pace
- Making new mistakes: how the innovation culture was designed
- Why the pandemic did not stop store openings
- In-house lens manufacturing: one million a year
- Instituto Olhares do Bem: 10,000 pairs donated
- Expansion into Portugal and Argentina
- In-store technology: tablets and digital face-shape fitting
- The target of a thousand stores by 2027
Chapters
- 00:00How Gustavo Freitas turned a small franchise into an optical empire
- 07:10First ventures and the move into optical franchising
- 13:00Setting up the franchise and the first results
- 18:00Making new mistakes: the philosophy that reshaped the chain
- 24:45The pandemic did not stop the expansion
- 30:00Instituto Olhares do Bem: 10,000 pairs donated
- 34:00Technology in store: tablets and digital fitting
- 50:00International expansion: Portugal and Argentina
- 54:00Target 2027: reaching a thousand stores