walmart custom progressive
Anyone know what new custom progressive Walmart is selling. Had a patient take prescription to local walmart said she had to look in a machine to take exact measurements and the lenses were several hundred dollars. She stated it wasn't any deal in all her glasses were 600.00 but she says she can see better then any pair of PAL's she has had.
It sounds like the IZON progressive lens once you mentioned the patient had to look into a machine to take exact measurements.Originally Posted by bmm
Doc
IZON=WALMART:bbg: :hammer:
probly XL they got a good bulk deal on a bunch of sola surplus. The machine is just smoke and mirrors.
Do they break out the head calibers to see what size frame you need too?
Oh Magoo(Walmart),..you've done it again.
It's the Wong Kan Tse Progressive!
Wally World is getting everything from China.
Do you think only Wally World is getting everything from China? Read through all the other threads and you will see alot of Safilo, Marchon and Lux product is being manufactured in China too as well as famous lens manufacturers. SOLA has a 5000 job per day surface lens factory in China for the sole purpose of export.
Doc
XL is cheap for the last few years!
Must be some new dump!
Everyone seems to assume Walmart is only offering leftovers, overstocks or some sub standard made in China product.
I am not a Walmart fan, just realistic about their position in the market place. They have tremendous buying power and I know they were offering an Essilor freeform product via Walmart with a PAL suggested retail price higher than most independants sell PAL lenses.
The device the patient is refering to maybe a pupilometer for checking PD.
I think their current limitation for Walmart with such a product is that Individualized freeform lenses require excellent product knowledge to be able to convince the patient why they should pay more.
ooooOOOH
;-) Smoke & mirrors, head calipers, mystery machines...
ever hear of a pupilometer?
I'd say the optician did a great job educating the patient!
Exact measurements,
Better optics;
the real tragedy is that no one had ever offered a superior product and explained the importance of accurate measurements to her before!
Maybe some of you should visit your local Wal-Mart Vision Center and check out the lens mat on the tables...while you're there, check out the frame selection. There are many frames by the same manufacturers that you sell at half the price!
Oh, by the way, the most that lady paid for that pair of glasses was $503. That includes a top brand titanium 3-pc mount frame with high-end lens material and premium ARC. Wal-Mart wrote the book on power buying.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em
No more production here.........................
Doc you are right..........
Nobody has any production here anymore in lenses, with the exception of poly, which is an automatic molding process.
The only difference is that the brand name products high end or low end have never been sold for LESS, even that the production cost are a fraction of before. :finger:
Ask her to look at the lenses and check the laser marks. It may be an Ipseo, Izon, or smoke and mirrors. The type of PAL will let you know for sure.
Or go in to Walmart and act dumb, talking about these great lenses your friend received. They may show you the machine they used.
Let's see . . . As far as I know Essilor doesn't offer a freeform product under the Essilor brand name. And according to my friendly Essilor rep, the retail establishments "can't get the Varilux brand from Essilor". So what is the specific lens that they are selling? Is it branded Essilor or Varilux or Zeiss or SOLA? Maybe sillygoat knows.
This is what I think I know:
It's not an Ipseo.
The 'machine' was a vision tester or a pupilometer.
WM calls this upscale lens a "custom-Vue" or something like it and it's about $100 more than the reqular PAL (normally Ovation).
btw, It looks like the retail outlets will soon be able to get the Physio branded as an Essilor Accolade. Again, it's what I think I know.
I have to go to WM today for non-premium-branded diapers so I will ask about the upscale PAL and report back to you tonight.
I think the Accolade is just a lens for the far east. Probably renaming the Physio due to product positioning and such with different markets. Similar to how the Crizal Sun is call the Xelios in Canada.
Nope. It's Coming to an ELOA (and Wal-Mart) near you next month. There was a four page fold-out in Eyecare Business this month (US version).
I went to my local WM vision center and this is now what I know that I know. The premium PAL is called "Nikon Eyes". They claim that it is customized for your vision with a 20% wider clear field of vision. It only comes in 1.67 with "AST" AR included for $389. That is $114 more than the regular PAL in 1.67 w/ normal AR (which is a Seiko Proceed). MFH is 15mm. Soon to be available in Poly. There is no special machine that the tech knew about, so it must have been a pupilometer or vision screener. The tech also said that it hasn't been taking any longer than regular lenses to get back from the lab. They didn't have a lens available so I didn't get to look at any markings.
What do you think the lens is?
Does WM have their own freeform generator at their lab?
Is is freeform generated by ELOA?
Is it a freeform at all or is it a Physio/GT2 type product
I sure am glad that the "Premium" Essilor products are only available to us independents. (In case you can't see my face, that was a sarcastic remark)
I am so glad that you guy's still believe in Santa Claus.
They have so many different versions of the same thing that they can cofuse all of you. What is premium here may well be low class in Hong Kong and middle class in Europe. The more versions they have the more they can play around and give specials at rock bottom prices to large customers. (also sarcastic remark and I agree with Marc)
:D
Should we tell em where Essilor gets some of its lens designs? As far as I can tell from "sources" (actually a relative I never knew I had) who also flies around shooting at Hezbalah dudes in his free time, it ain't all French!
Well, my dad (who is an OD) just left Walmart to go BACK out into private practice and I think it is safe to say it depends on the Walmart as to how educated the staff is. He called me to ask what progressives they dispensed because no one in the Vision Center who was an employee could answer him when he asked.
Here's the thing guys, it doesn't really matter so much whose lens it is or where they are getting it from. Accolade, Ovation, Symphony, MVP, Cucaracha, whatever....what matters is that it is fit well and is a decent design. If those things are true then we have nothing to do but make sure we are doing that at least as well as they are at WM. They are more retail minded-it does not offend then to sell. In all fairness they may sell something the patient doesn't need but when the industry average of AR is 20% and they sell 70% I think it is fair to say that there is something to learn from that. I would be interested to know how many folks who left WM felt they got something they didn't need. It is our professional resposibility to educate the patient on all the options. They can chose whether they want to invest in them or not but offer it for goodness sake, what have you got to lose? If you don't tell them about hi index, transitions, AR and the like I can PROMISE you the people at Walmart, Sams Club, Lenscrafters etc will...they get spiffed on it. If you think about it the PD is pretty dang improtant, guess that optician made that pupilometer sound like a miracle machine.
If those places are outselling us it is only because we are letting them.
Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others. -H. Jackson Brown Jr.
If the only tool you have is a hammer you will approach every problem as though it were a nail
There is usually only one knowledgeable optician at a given Walmat, and they are not always on-duty. The other people who work there are basically sales clerks. Not much different than other chain stores, and better than many (many chains don't have any knowledgeable opticians).
As it's been said before, depends on where you are. Our WM has NO knowledgable sales clerks. And no opticians at all. Yea for us!
http://www.nikoneyes.com/frames.htm
Does the info on this "Nikon Eyes" website square with what is known about this Walmart lens?
I don't think that is accurate. I think that every Walmart store has at least one reasonably knowledgeable optician, but they are not on-duty at all times.
So how can Wal-Mart call a lens "customized", when nothing at all has been measured from the patient, that isnt already measured on regular PALs?? (I dont think taking a Mono PD makes your lenses custom!)
I guess thats why when our office sells the Ipseo lens, we often say personalized... no other lens we sell requires this extra measurement that is used to "customize" your very own lenses.
And even if Wal-Mart is at 70% AR sell through, I dont think it's right to sell anyone who's willing a product thats not even good quality. I bet their AR cracks, crazes and scratches long before my Alize. I havent had any glasses from Wal-Mart myself, but I've had plenty of patients tell me they'll never return there after their glasses fell apart & their lenses were crap.
If it is the new Nikon PAL made at the Essilor Avista lab then it's nothing more than a Definity that's been tweaked to be more knuckhead-fitter friendly (just like the Panamic was modified to the Ovation for mass-market and the Physio/Physio360 has been modified to the Accolade/Accolade Freedom).
Agreed. My mom's first hand experience with their AR is that is sucks. I'm not saying their product is better (I don't think it is) but I am also of the opinion that most everybody could benefit from AR and it seems that lots of folk in the independent private side of Optometry are either still not being offered it or don't understand the benefits, hence the about 23% number. Rumor has it that they merely ask "would you like your lenses with or without glare" over there at WM. Now that opens up a whole separate can of worms because there are several types of glare and that is obviously not the most educated way to present the product but I think more than 23% could benefit from AR. Maybe not 70%..although honestly unless they are sandblasters or painting houses in high wind (and they still need it on their "dress up" pair) why not??
I guess for me what it really boils down to is we can sit around and talk smack about WM and the like or we can try to be better educated, outservice and outperform them and then they can whine about how we are stealing their patients and making more money in the process with better lenses, frames and coatings. See, the next time a patient walks in and says "they have this customized progressive at WM" we can dazzle them with the options that we have that are TRULY customized. In a current frame with an exceptionally high quality AR. Fitted by a licensed dispensing optician that doesn't have to go out and restock the detergent aisles when it gets slow. We should know what they have and what we have that is better. Or if it isn't better than be better at taking care of them and making sure their visual needs are met.
jumping down of my soapbox now....
Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others. -H. Jackson Brown Jr.
If the only tool you have is a hammer you will approach every problem as though it were a nail
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