sams club & comforts

[eyeballs]

I was at a sams club and they had comforts. why dose essilor under cut us like that? :angry:

[Grubendol]

but to be fair, the comfort is like 10 year old technology. Essilor is pushing the PHysio's these days, and I doubt you'll find them at Sam's Club

(though I will admit to thrashing my step-mother in law over getting her glasses through there just over christmas)

[Jacqui]

I was at a sams club and they had comforts. why dose essilor under cut us like that? :angry:

Because they want to control us. :mad: :mad:

[LKahn]

More likely the W optical buyer asked about the item. Or Essilor recognizing a product was long established made a proposal to sell the product. If you were the Essilor product manager, would you want a large customer to buy a large quantity of an established product? Of course, you are in business to sell product.

[Barry Santini]

but to be fair, the comfort is like 10 year old technology. Essilor is pushing the PHysio's these days, and I doubt you'll find them at Sam's Club

No Physios, But despite it being 10 years old technology, Varilux Comfort is still one of the best, most forgiving progressives out there.

Technology doesn't always march-on!

Barry

[gemstone]

I was at a sams club and they had comforts. why dose essilor under cut us like that? :angry:

Rodenstock and Sola have been doing this forever and that does not anger you as well.

[eyeballs]

yea sola is in sams culb and i too can by sola but the comfort i cant buy for my one hour lab thats why iam :angry:

ps. Rodenstock pulled all there lens out on jan 1 2007 so iam told.

[MarcE]

The only point that needs to be addressed in this thread is DOES ESSILOR LIE!. I don't care how good a comfort is or how old it is or who else is doing it. These are the facts as we know them:

1. Essilor rep comes into my office (and every other office in the solar system) and says that the 1-hrs and big boxes and discounters can't get Varilux; that is why you should dispense them.
2. Big-box dispenses Varilux Comfort.

Verdict: Essilor lied or big-box got them on "grey-market"

Maybe Pete will comment?

[Happylady]

Are you sure they are Comforts and not Naturals? I've had several people tell me they had Varilux Comforts and when I checked they were wearing the Natural. They were told they were getting the Comfort by the optician at Walmart.

[EyeFitWell]

No Physios, But despite it being 10 years old technology, Varilux Comfort is still one of the best, most forgiving progressives out there.

Technology doesn't always march-on!

Barry
1. I agree with Barry. In fact, I have a handful of patients who went from the Physio back into the Comfort b/c they didn't like the new lens. Besides, if you compare contour charts, you'd see that the Physio's corridor is actually narrower than Comfort; however, the new surfacing technology does offset that, giving the perception of more room to some wearers.

2. LC has been selling the Comfort for years. The big boys having Comforts is old news.

[Bill West]

I would say very few if any of my customers know what brand progressive they are wearing and I doubt they care as long as they are happy. I would say since the Ultra-vue came out in the 70's I have fit sucessfully as many progressives as anyone on here. We make a mistake when we try to sell them based on brand in order to get more for them. That is exactly what the lens makers are doing to you.DUH! Frames also, jeans, shirts,shoes,jackets does it really matter,I don't think it does. I believe I could open beside any upscale optical store and put them out of business.

[Chris Ryser]

I would say very few if any of my customers know what brand progressive they are wearing and I doubt they care as long as they are happy.


I believe that this is just about the best post dealing with progressive lenses I have seen on the Optiboard.

That is the right attitude to work the optical retail. It should not be the advertising hype and the brand name that defines a happy customer.

The best lens is always the one the patient is satisfied with and which has been properly fitted at a decent price.

After all they are all based on the same technology with very minor differences................lets be honest about it.

[LKahn]

Chris

The best product at a fair price should win. But, the consumer is very much attracted to advertising and a brand name. How many will turn down a sale of an item the consumer asks for by name? Very few.

[k12311997]

Chris

The best product at a fair price should win. But, the consumer is very much attracted to advertising and a brand name. How many will turn down a sale of an item the consumer asks for by name? Very few.

I wouldn't turn down a sale but when a patient asks for a varilux I make sure that is really what they want. Essilor has done such a successful job of marketing that to the average consumer varilux = progressive, much the same way klenex = facial tissue

[Johns]

Chris

The best product at a fair price should win. But, the consumer is very much attracted to advertising and a brand name. .


That is the exact reason why you should advertise YOUR office, and make YOU the brand name !!!!!!

Don't give the credit to some brand name!!

[MarcE]

I agree with Bill and Johns. I said this before: I was taught in a previous career that the only way to make money is to: Buy low, Add value and Sell high.
Selling Varilux doesn't allow me to buy low
I add the value, I don't allow Varilux to add it for me.

Think about it, following these 3 steps is how Essilor makes obsene amounts of money. I'm not saying that they don't have good products, but they are selling high. Which means that you must buy high.

We don't mention Varilux or any other brand. Every Rx in my shop gets MY "performance package".

[Johns]

MarcE

Can you go into a little more detail on how you market/present the "preformance" package ?

Thanks

[Jimsbiz]

The only point that needs to be addressed in this thread is DOES ESSILOR LIE!. I don't care how good a comfort is or how old it is or who else is doing it. These are the facts as we know them:

1. Essilor rep comes into my office (and every other office in the solar system) and says that the 1-hrs and big boxes and discounters can't get Varilux; that is why you should dispense them.
2. Big-box dispenses Varilux Comfort.

Verdict: Essilor lied or big-box got them on "grey-market"

Maybe Pete will comment?

Any Sam's Club, WalMart, etc will always prefer to dispense lenses where they get the maximum volume discount (and profits). However, if a patient is a current Varilux wearer, and they don't want to change, any local or national wholesale lab will and CAN sell Varilux to these chains. Essilor, or any manufacturer, can't prohibit labs from doing this. And of course there is the "grey market" to consider. But my understanding is that Essilor does not sell their Varilux branded products, even older ones like Comfort, to these big-box chains.

[Jimsbiz]

Surely you are not saying that you don't take advantage of known brands in your office? Transitions, Varilux, Teflon, Kodak, and every designer known to mankind whose name is on a frame? Donald Trump??

[Bill West]

.... start you a chart and keep track of which progressives you are asked to fit. I can tell you I can count on less than 2 hands every time a customer has ask to be fit in a certain lens. In the last 2 years I have had 5 people ask for Definity, one was a lady whose daughter had recently bought a pair. That does'nt leave many fingers for everyone else. Try this for yourself you will be amazed. By the way, I have fit thousands of progressives since the Ultra-vue in the 70's. 263 non-adapts and 42 were in the first year they came out, 1971 I think.


Chris

The best product at a fair price should win. But, the consumer is very much attracted to advertising and a brand name. How many will turn down a sale of an item the consumer asks for by name? Very few.

[Bill West]

....you got to be kidding.:hammer:

Surely you are not saying that you don't take advantage of known brands in your office? Transitions, Varilux, Teflon, Kodak, and every designer known to mankind whose name is on a frame? Donald Trump??

[cocoisland58]

We make a mistake when we try to sell them based on brand in order to get more for them. That is exactly what the lens makers are doing to you.DUH! Frames also, jeans, shirts,shoes,jackets does it really matter,I don't think it does.

If you know your clothing brands and you have been to Costco you realize that what they are selling is not the same quality though the brand is. By feeling the material and checking out the construction I know that what they are offering for half the price is not what I have on. So, they are manufacturing lesser quality but look alike products specifically for Costco. Are the lens manufacturers doing the same? I know their frames, though still current are about a year behind.

[m0002a]

Since Walmart/Sams owns its own lab, I don't know how Essilor can withhold products from them without violating anti-trust laws. Essilor is not obligated to give them a better price, but I suspect that Walmart/Sams does infact get a hefty quantity discount.

The reason the big chains usually don't carry premium brands/models has nothing to do with whether the chains are able to purchase them from the manufacturer.

[sharon m./ aboc]

They do sell varilux comfort at Sam's. I used to work there. I read today that the comfort lens was introduced in 1993 so it is rather old technology as mentioned previously. And Sam's Club wants their opticians to sell the "rodenstock package" that's were they make the biggest profit. It is probably a pretty good lens but their selection in frames was minimal and I never wanted to sell a drilled rimless to a young mother. Those kids just love to rip those glasses right off of your head and tear 'em up.

[sharon m./ aboc]

If you know your clothing brands and you have been to Costco you realize that what they are selling is not the same quality though the brand is. By feeling the material and checking out the construction I know that what they are offering for half the price is not what I have on. So, they are manufacturing lesser quality but look alike products specifically for Costco. Are the lens manufacturers doing the same? I know their frames, though still current are about a year behind.
You are mistaken.....Costco doesn't sell knock-offs. They sell real Coach handbags at my store. Although the sun glasses are not new they might be last year's models but they're not fakes!!!

[cocoisland58]

You are mistaken.....Costco doesn't sell knock-offs. They sell real Coach handbags at my store. Although the sun glasses are not new they might be last year's models but they're not fakes!!!

I never said their products were fakes at all. I just said that the quality of the clothing was different. Same brand I was wearing and seemingly the same style jeans but definitely thinner material, one less belt loop, and different stitching. I assume they come from the same label but under different manufacturing terms.

[sharon m./ aboc]

Those would be what they call "seconds" (defective in some way). That is what Ross Stores sell,but not Costco. Anything that has a brand name...Ralph Lauren, etc. is really that brand name. If it is a Kirkland item (Costco's brand name) I don't know where it comes from....But.....most of the Kirkland eyeglass frames are made in France or Italy as opposed to the NAME BRANDS that are usually manufactured in Japan or China.

[Jubilee]

The idea isn't that it is a factory seconds, factory seconds are usually items that didn't meet ths manufacturer's quality standards.

Levi Strauss brand that is sold in Walmart isn't the same as the Levi brand sold in the higher end stores. Made by the same parent company, has the Levi name.. not the same quailty in materials and workmanship.

They could be using a "special" version of their designs for the warehouses where a thinner (thus cheaper) cloth is used along with a few less details to make it viable to produce the clothing at a price that one of these type stores. Many people will still perceive it as a value.

[cocoisland58]

Those would be what they call "seconds" (defective in some way). That is what Ross Stores sell,but not Costco. Anything that has a brand name...Ralph Lauren, etc. is really that brand name. If it is a Kirkland item (Costco's brand name) I don't know where it comes from....But.....most of the Kirkland eyeglass frames are made in France or Italy as opposed to the NAME BRANDS that are usually manufactured in Japan or China.

I've never heard of Ross stores but I know what "seconds" are and these jeans were not. They were a cheaper made version of the original design and distributed by the original designer but most definitely not the same quality. It doesn't matter other than some people may buy these thinking they are getting a great deal and they are not.

[peadee]

They do sell varilux comfort at Sam's. I used to work there. I read today that the comfort lens was introduced in 1993 so it is rather old technology as mentioned previously. And Sam's Club wants their opticians to sell the "rodenstock package" that's were they make the biggest profit. It is probably a pretty good lens but their selection in frames was minimal and I never wanted to sell a drilled rimless to a young mother. Those kids just love to rip those glasses right off of your head and tear 'em up.
The Wal-Marts do sell the varilux and the nikon and the seiko

[Chris Ryser]

I was at a sams club and they had comforts. why dose essilor under cut us like that? :angry:


A couple of years ago all major manufacturers shifted manufacturing to the far east were labor cost do not count. Lenses are manufactured at a fraction of the cost, when they still were made in Europe and the USA.

Have you seen any price reduction or anything resembling it? Of course not.
The policy of the lens manufacturers has been to continue selling at the same price as they did before their manufacturing cost dropped to the bottom of the barrel.

This policy allows them to be able to sell at about just any price possible and still make money.

However the independent optical retailer has not realized the facts and is being taken for the high prices and gets upset when the WalMarts purchase at a fraction of their cost and undersells them.


but to be fair, the comfort is like 10 year old technology. Essilor is pushing the PHysio's these days, and I doubt you'll find them at Sam's Club


There bis nothing to be fair about..............all the PAL's are of the same technology, just a bit altered in size or segment or height. Also the manufacturing is the same..........as soon a the mold is made the cost of making the lens becomes the same.

It is the public being blinded by the advertsing hype to purchase expensive lenses that do not even conform to a basic law in optics:

The Abbe sine condition is a condition that must be fulfilled by a lens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_%28optics%29) or other optical system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_system) in order for it to produce sharp images of off-axis as well as on-axis objects. It was formulated by Ernst Abbe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Abbe) in the context of microscopes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscope).

[Barry Santini]

...as I tell my clients...

two real estate lots
two houses
same architectural plans
The exact same building *materials* are dropped at each site

...Two *different* crews to build them...

Two *different* houses (quality, etc.) result.

ITS NOT THE LENSES....ITS THE PEOPLE MAKIN' AND FITTIN' 'EM.

Otherwise, why would do many of my clients who have glasses made elsewhere (with Rxs from the same Dr.'s offices), return to me and say they have a bad/unsatisfactory experience?

With optics, its the people doin' it...not the lenses or the frames.

I would have been run over by LC, Costco, et.al, a long time ago if the opposite were true

My two cents...what's yours?

Barry

[peadee]

...as I tell my clients...

two real estate lots
two houses
same architectural plans
The exact same building *materials* are dropped at each site

...Two *different* crews to build them...

Two *different* houses (quality, etc.) result.

ITS NOT THE LENSES....ITS THE PEOPLE MAKIN' AND FITTIN' 'EM.

Otherwise, why would do many of my clients who have glasses made elsewhere (with Rxs from the same Dr.'s offices), return to me and say they have a bad/unsatisfactory experience?

With optics, its the people doin' it...not the lenses or the frames.

I would have been run over by LC, Costco, et.al, a long time ago if the opposite were true

My two cents...what's yours?

Barry
got a nickle. YOU are What YOU are. Confidence is a key issue to the clients you talk to. You talk crap they believe you you talk a o k they will beleive you. you talk the talk you walk you walk the talk what is new . If it is right let is be so.

[optical24/7]

Comforts are a great lens for our location when it comes to price shoppers. I think I've posted in another thread what kind of competition we have here...3 Walmarts, several Eyemasters, several LensCrafters, a Sam's and a Costco all within 5 miles or less (most are less), not to mention all the independents. Comforts are not 1st choice lenses at any of the "box" or chain stores. They all price them here at premium prices ( I suppose to discourage their purchase and push their more profitable lenses).

I gladly write down the walkout price of Comforts to patients. All I ask them is to compare apples to apples. Get the walkout price on these exact lenses at my competitors. Virtually every patient returns to have their Rx filled by us. Throw in Crizal and they come running back. I even have an employee of Walmart that rutinely returns to purchase from us.

This isn't the only lens you can do this with. All the big boys have specific lenses they prefer to sell, anything outside that norm is ripe for exploitation by us independents. Know thy enemy and what they charge for specific products. You CAN compete!

Now, bash away!:cheers:

[cocoisland58]

got a nickle. YOU are What YOU are. Confidence is a key issue to the clients you talk to. You talk crap they believe you you talk a o k they will beleive you. you talk the talk you walk you walk the talk what is new . If it is right let is be so.


What the.....?