Looking better online and offline

Karol Wilczko, board member, managing director, Szkla.com: I’ve been working at Szkla.com for just over a year, but the company started in 2004. It’s beginnings were modest – as its founders, Jacek Młodawski and Mateusz Matula, were initially focused on online commerce. However, producers and distributors were not too keen to sell contact lenses online at that time. They didn’t want to set themselves against brick-and-mortar retail, competing against optician stores. Contact lenses were expensive at the time, and, as you know, everything is cheaper on the internet. Nevertheless, the founders of the brand believed that the business model would succeed, that there would be interest from customers and lens producers. When was the product range expanded? It is hard to point to a specific moment. The first few attempts to go beyond on-line retail took place in 2011. At the moment, the company is based on three pillars. We are one of the few to be switching from on