A New Step In The On-Line Optical Tsunami...................................

[Chris Ryser]

When I posted a while ago that some on line opticals were doing 5,000 pair of glasses a day I thought that was huge..............................

I just posted a new press release by Coastal Contacts of Vancouver in the Canadian Forum, that they now reached a volume of 10,000 pairs of glasses a day.

We believe this order volume equals the daily sales volume of up to a thousand traditional optical stores and approximately 30% of the eyeglasses market in Canada on a typical day, a significant milestone for any company as it endeavors to reach critical mass in a market.

I know from over the last 10 years of posting on OB that notices like this one falls on deaf ears and the thread dyes off in a day or two. There will soon be no more time to find alternate ways of saving your food source in this profession, when business takes another route to expand.

[MikeAurelius]

And it is BULL. A claim with nothing to back it up.

[Chris Ryser]

And it is BULL. A claim with nothing to back it up.

It is very easy to call somebody elses's statement BULL when one is not informed or does not want to be, on the particular subject.

For a on line company in the optical coastal has their own lab in Vancouver, employs over 300 people and is run by a former Essilor executive on the technical side.
Their shares are traded on the stock market.
I have been following their development for the last few years.

[MikeAurelius]

LMAO...and very easy to dismiss someone else's comments, I see.

Why not go visit this operation and see if they are CAPABLE of running 10K jobs PER DAY. Find out if they are importing 10K pairs of lenses and frames PER DAY.

[MichaelP]

10,000 pairs of FREE glasses =/= 10,000 pairs sold. Not even close. If we gave away free glasses I'm sure our "sales" volume would be 20x or 30x, same as anyone else. How many people would show up do you think if you offered free glasses for a day and ran a big ad in your local newspaper? Those aren't sales - those are marketing expenses. Plus, what percent of those free pairs were fashion pairs? It's not even clear that they were all rx pairs. Or second pairs for someone who would never consider buying a second pair in the first place?

Their campaign is smart, to introduce people to the idea of buying glasses online. But even by their *own* estimations given to investors, they expect the online eyeglasses market to reach 10% to 15% of the overall eyeglasses market by 2020 (up from the ~ 1% it is is currently).

[braheem24]

Here's a few facts, Followed by a few hypotheses

Population of Canada is 33Mil

10K per days is 365,000 pairs a year

365,000 pairs a year is over 10% of the total Canadian population per year....

Add a few probables to the equation

1. Probably, Only 1/3 people in Canada wears eyeglasses, Which in turn converts the 10% into 33% of the eyewearing Canadian population.

2. Probably, each person buys a pair every other year, Translates to 66% of the eyewearing Canadian population.

3. Most B&M opticals operate on a 20% profit margin, IF 66% of the population is buying at CC.com how are the B&M opticals still in business?

[idispense]

answer to # 3 : The cash flow, not the current sales revenue. When the current sales income decrease further and depletes the expectation of a reversal and the capital is used up then the accounts payable can not be met .

[Chris Ryser]

10,000 pairs of FREE glasses =/= 10,000 pairs sold. Not even close. If we gave away free glasses I'm sure our "sales" volume would be 20x or 30x, same as anyone else. How many people would show up do you think if you offered free glasses for a day and ran a big ad in your local newspaper? Those aren't sales - those are marketing expenses.

Where do you get this idea of giving away 10,000 pairs of Rx glasses and then send out press releases on the sales you made. Above arguments does not seem to be valid and there is no support in the website of coastal at: http://www.coastalcontacts.com/glasses

[MichaelP]

They're doing it again this month in the U.S and Canada:

http://www.thethriftymama.com/2010/1...ts-friday.html

Their press release says "...Coastal generated orders for more than ten thousand pairs of eyeglasses from new customers." Note, not "...Coastal sold more than ten thousand pairs of eyeglasses from new customers."

Look at all the give aways they're doing (Coastal Contacts is Clearly Contacts in Canada):

http://www.facebook.com/ClearlyConta...app_2344061033

You can find the October ones on there.

[Firmoo]

No, they are not reaching 10,000 pairs a day. Only possibility is that in one particular day in Oct, they "added" 10,000 new customers by giving away free rx glasses. These customers are supposed to come back later to buy from CC.com

This year in the 2nd quarter, they shipped 60,000 pairs in total, daily order was around 667 pairs, total sales volume is 4.7 million, and the average price per pair was $78.33, which is fair based on the prices shown on the webpage. These numbers can be found in their financial report. CC is a public listed company.

No company can jump from 667 per day to 10,000 per day in 4 months (June to Oct).

On Nov 12, Friday, they will give away anther 10,000 pair for free in US, we will another press release say that CC is adding another 10,000 new customers in US in one single day in US only.

The biggest daily order number still belongs to Zenni, I went to their lab in China recently, it is definitely true. Their number is around 3000 pairs.

[Chris Ryser]

Thank you Firmoo for a nice way of correcting the figures. Firmoo is the owner of Firmoo Optical one of the larger on-line opticals.

I always appreciate your straight forward explanations on the matter.

How much would you suggest that the 10 first opn-line opticals are doing on a daily or monthly basis in pieces ? A valid answer to that question could maybe convince many of the OptiBoard members and the guest's of the reality. Firmoo has posted on OptiBoard periodically over the last few years.

[MikeAurelius]

Now, Chris, how about an apology?

[Mike Fretto]

I played with their site briefly, selected a frame, and tried unsuccessfully to pick a Transitions high index progressive. After watching a short video teaching me how to measure pd with what appeared to be a yard stick LOL I had to wonder. There is no provision for monocular PD's and never a mention of vertical placement. Although the numbers thrown around on this thread are impressive I'd love to see what percent are SATISFIED customers. We may loose some patients to online ordering but we have to believe they'll be back.

[Firmoo]

Based on the info I mastered, the top ones are as follows:
1. Zenni, 2000-3000 pairs, sure
2. Coastal and Clearly contacts, 700 pairs, sure
3. FramesDirect, also 700-800 pairs, not sure, based on the info on BBS,
4. EyeBuyDirect, 200-300 pairs, almost sure
5. 39dollarglasses, goggles4u, optical4less, around 100 pairs, not so sure
6. Lack info for eyeglasses.com, globaleyeglasses.com, bestpriceeyeglasses.com etc, but daily sales are trivial mostly.
7. And many other websites launched from China, not good so far.

Most of the online optical stores are still on the way of expanding, it is very tough, but the future seems promising.

[Chris Ryser]

Now, Chris, how about an apology?

No need for my apology......................

I only report the facts, which is the Coasta Press Release as I did. As far as I know I am not a on-line seller as you seem to be:

Glass lenses, made entirely in the United States. Why buy from a lab in China?
http://www.glassesfromglass.com/

also run across some forum on on-line glasses with the same physical address as your Auralens site..

[Chris Ryser]

Most of the online optical stores are still on the way of expanding, it is very tough, but the future seems promising.

Thank you Firmoo

[MikeAurelius]

No need for my apology......................

I only report the facts, which is the Coasta Press Release as I did. As far as I know I am not a on-line seller as you seem to be:

Glass lenses, made entirely in the United States. Why buy from a lab in China?
http://www.glassesfromglass.com/

also run across some forum on on-line glasses with the same physical address as your Auralens site..

LOL!! It's a "sister" company, for whom I do all the production work, but none of the sales. A forum for on-line glasses? I think you must be confused. I know there is a blog for GFG, but I know of no forum. What is the URL?

[Chris Ryser]

Based on the info I mastered, the top ones are as follows:
1. Zenni, 2000-3000 pairs, sure
2. Coastal and Clearly contacts, 700 pairs, sure
3. FramesDirect, also 700-800 pairs, not sure, based on the info on BBS,
4. EyeBuyDirect, 200-300 pairs, almost sure
5. 39dollarglasses, goggles4u, optical4less, around 100 pairs, not so sure
6. Lack info for eyeglasses.com, globaleyeglasses.com, bestpriceeyeglasses.com etc, but daily sales are trivial mostly.
7. And many other websites launched from China, not good so far.

Most of the online optical stores are still on the way of expanding, it is very tough, but the future seems promising.

Thanks again for the clarification. It is very interesting how this whole thing is progressing and what the optical retail professions are going to do in the near future.

[Chris Ryser]

Sorry, wrong. I do the lab work for that company, nothing more, nothing less. Point all the fingers you want, try to make me feel bad about it, won't work Harry.

Mike...................maybe Harry is not so far off in his assumptions. While checking out your several websites on the 'Who is Who" system it came up that you are the owner of Aura Lens and therfeore are also the owner of several websites registered to that company.

Administrative Contact :


Aura Visual Concepts, Inc.



Technical Contact :


Aura Visual Concepts, Inc.



Registrant:


Aura Visual Concepts, Inc.

ATTN GLASSESFROMGLASS.COM

care of Network Solutions

PO Box 459

Drums, PA 18222

US
1. Mike Aurelius
Mike Aurelius

Others named Michael Aurelius:
o Mike Aurelius, Owner, Aura Lens Products, Inc.

St. Cloud, Minnesota Area
Phone #'s:
Telephone: 320/253-0919
Toll Free: 800/281-2872
FAX: 320/253-1239

Your selling 1950's technology through 2010 channels by offering glass online. Many offices sell glass they just don't push it like you would like. You make it seem like surfacing and edging glass is the most difficult task a lab can accomplish, it's actually an easier process and requires less attention to detail that plastic processing. Yes I know because I have surfaced, edged, heat treated, and chem tempered them too.

So here we go futher proof you sell eyewear online:
Lens Replacement - http://www.glassesfromglas.com

and what comes up ??????????


[C ENTER]
[/CENTER]

Glass lenses, made entirely in the United States. Why buy from a lab in China?

Send us your frame and SAVE!! Single Vision lenses starting at $ 29.95,
bifocals starting at $ 39.95, progressives starting at $ 79.95!!

And, yes, we make sunglasses too!



and here is Mike's full fledgid optical on line website.

[MikeAurelius]

Yeah? So? I registered the company name for my associate when I did the renewal for AVC. Big deal. I also did some of the programming on the GFG website. Again, so what?

You are trying to make a big deal of this and I certainly don't understand why.

[Chris Ryser]

Yeah? So? I registered the company name for my associate when I did the renewal for AVC. Big deal. I also did some of the programming on the GFG website. Again, so what?

You are trying to make a big deal of this and I certainly don't understand why.

New and improved!

Posted by mikeaurelius on September 4, 2010

August was a very interesting month for us at Aura Visual Concepts. First, we got rid of some very old equipment that we no longer used, which freed up a lot of floor space which allowed us to restructure the work flow in the factory. Then we acquired a new optical curve generator (the machine that grinds the lenses to make a prescription lens) – it is a computer controlled 3 axis CNC machine that cuts extremely accurate curves. This machine has already allowed us to make lenses that before were way out of our capability with the existing equipment we had.
And now, we are pleased to announce that we are now providing regular prescription eyewear, made of glass. Many people have told us that it is getting increasingly difficult to find a source for glass prescription lenses, so, with our new equipment, we made the decision to open up our product line and offer full prescription services.

Chaotic Glass by Mike Aurelius

http://mikeaurelius.wordpress.com

Safety for the glassworker, and random thoughts and opinions on the state of the glassworking world



Our new website: http://www.glassesfromglass.com offers the visitor the option of putting glass lenses in their own frames or in a frame that we supply (and at last count, the number of frames we offer is well over 100). Over the next couple of weeks, we will be expanding the product line to offer sunglasses and safety eyewear as well, all with glass lenses.
___________________________________________

I don't think we need any more details to be able to declare you an imposter and full fledged optical on line retailer.

[idispense]

OK I am curious and have the same question for all on line vendors of eyeglasses, so would you mind my asking how GFG gets the seg height for bifocals and in particular how do you do it for Progressives. Mike? I don't see that information on the GFG ordering form and also I am curious as to how the prism works if you can enter prism woithout a base direction ?

[MikeAurelius]

Again, So what? You haven't proved a single thing! Of course I'm going to write about it to my glass-working customers! None of this makes any sense at all.

What is your goal here, Chris? If it is to get me to admit that I sell retail, as I wrote earlier, I did that a looooong time ago, shortly after I started posting here, but I sell retail ONLY SPECIALIZED FILTER EYEWEAR. If you are trying to make a case for something else, I'm not seeing it.

GFG is a sister company, owned by one of the investor participants in AVC. We do the surfacing and edging work. We use the same frame lines. Now, if you want to play consipracy theories, be my guest. But you will have better luck with the 9/11 commission report than this.

I do find it interesting that (especially in light of other comments about "dinosaur products") someone feels like GFG is somehow a threat. You are going to great lengths to expose something or other (I'm still not quite sure what). What, pray tell, are you afraid of? That glass is all of a sudden going to come back and take 85% of the market??? I should be so lucky!!

[MikeAurelius]

OK I am curious and have the same question for all on line vendors of eyeglasses, so would you mind my asking how GFG gets the seg height for bifocals and in particular how do you do it for Progressives. Mike? I don't see that information on the GFG ordering form and also I am curious as to how the prism works if you can enter prism woithout a base direction ?

As far as prism is concerned, the order process is set up for only simple prism correction, in, out, up, down. For complex prism requirements, the order is requested back to the patient to have their ECP order from us (and yes, we work direct with a LOT of ECP's and in fact is our preferred way of doing business). Since the GFG website started about 6 weeks ago, we receive approximately 15 orders per week of glass orders from ECP's based on recommendations by patients.

[idispense]

But how do you get the seg heights and the vertical refernce fit points for Progressives ?