Viu Eyewear: Management Challenges in the Business of a Multichannel Optician

This case portrays the Swiss eyewear start-up VIU and its co-founder Kilian Wagner. He started the company in 2013 to disrupt the market for glasses by owning the entire value chain with an online, direct to customer approach. However, VIU soon adapted its distribution strategy to become a multi-channel optician. Today, the company is present in five European markets with its online shop and around 50 physical stores. The case study presents managerial challenges of a fast-growing company that integrates on- and offline and pursues both optimization and renewal at the same time.