In this second post, I will talk about a successful
company that in just 6 years has grown remarkably, making a dent in its sector
and competing against major brands such as Oakley or Ray-Ban.
Hawkers is one of the leading startups in Spain, after
achieving a turnover of 60 million euros last year, in its fifth year, in
addition to having raised a round of financing of 50 million.
It is a company that sells sunglasses. This company
was founded by four friends who met in a course a few years before. After
having failed with another company due to lack of money, they decided to create
branded glasses but at a cheaper price. And so Hawkers was founded with an idea
similar to that of ZARA, but with sunglasses.
Says one of the founders. "The business was
getting better, everything they entered reinvested it in online advertising to
grow." summer of 2016”.
Another of the keys to its success was to combine
models of modern and fashionable glasses with colored crystals, with models
that triumphed years ago and have already lost the patent.
According to the book written by one of them, they
just needed to create brand value, what they call “prestige transfer”. For this
they decided to choose Jorge Lorenzo, a professional motorcycle rider, as the
image of the brand, giving him 50% of the company.
Once consolidated their success, they have opted for an international expansion. Currently, Hawkers glasses can be purchased in 140 countries, following a different commercial strategy in each destination. Currently, only 35% of sales are produced within Spain, and the founders say they want this percentage to be lower in the future.