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Thread: Luxottica responds to 60 minutes segment

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    Master OptiBoarder opty4062's Avatar
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    Luxottica responds to 60 minutes segment

    Did anyone else receive the two page response form Luxottica re: the 60 minutes segment? I found it amusing that they felt the need to defend themselves to their "valued customer" as the letter is addressed.

    This part at the end was interesting:
    "Who really benefits from a story like this that is edited down to a few sound bites and portrays our industry and the optometric community at large in an unfavorable light? This time it is not just about Luxottica, it is about all of us and the future of our industry."

    Interesting because my personal take-away from the segment was exactly the three points they refute in this letter. 1. They are a monopoly or well on their way to being one. 2. Their glasses are overpriced. 3. They leverage their position to the detriment of the consumer.

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    Redhot Jumper A competitor also responds....................................

    An independent alternative to Luxottica: Kaenon’s reaction to 60 Minutes

    Posted on 10/18/2012 by admin

    From Kaenon:

    On October 7, 2012, the CBS News program 60 Minutes reported on the eyewear industry and, more specifically, the immense concentration of power accumulated by one of Italy’s largest companies – Luxottica. 60 Minutes revealed some startling facts about the breadth and depth of Luxottica’s vertical integration virtually unknown to consumers outside the eyewear industry, namely:

    - Luxottica owns well-known eyewear brands including Ray Ban, Oakley, Revo, Persol, Oliver Peoples,
    Mosley Tribes, Arnette, and others;

    - Under license, Luxottica designs, manufactures, and sells a multitude of fashion/designer brand eyewear for Prada, Chanel, Coach,
    Burberry, Bvlgari, Polo Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany, Versace, Tory Burch, Miu Miu, and others;

    - Luxottica owns many of the largest optical retail stores including Sunglass Hut, Lens Crafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical,
    Target Optical, OPSM, Grand Optical, Optical Shop of Aspen, ICON, ILORI, and others;

    - Luxottica even owns EyeMed Vision Care, a vision insurance company.

    Following the 60 Minutes report consumers spoke out against Luxottica and expressed their frustration toward what they now know to be the truth about many of the eyewear brands under the control of a single multinational conglomerate.........................

    see all of it ---------------------------> http://www.anglingtrade.com/2012/10/...to-60-minutes/

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    OptiBoardaholic kentmitchell1961's Avatar
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    And Marchon is owned by VSP, a much bigger insurance co. And almost all of the Lux owned business are based in the US/Canada, only Sunglass hut is elsewhere. Meanwhile there are much bigger chains than Lenscrafters et al, such as Specsavers........ It's called business....

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    OptiBoardaholic kentmitchell1961's Avatar
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    Ever buy a silhouette? Pennies to make, retailing at $312 in the private optical I work for. Tell me that is not a total rip off, and they have nothing to do with Lux. Or maui Jim, best sunglasses currently made, not owned by Lux, they have tried and failed. Good for a small shop to grow that big..... 30% does not a dominent make.

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    Master OptiBoarder mdeimler's Avatar
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    Thanks, Chris. Good link.

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    The wonderful thing about a free market is that we can choose whom we want to do business with. In our practice we have extremely affordable (and decent quality) frames by R&R imports. We also have $700 Diors. Neither are from Luxottica. We have Vogue (Luxottica) priced at a happy medium. Some people might complain about the cheap labor utilized by the Chinese mass-importers. Some might complain about the expensive Italian products. The point is that there is an amazing array of choice in the United States of America. Think about it. You can even go to Lenscrafters (owned buy Luxottica), and purchase a Flexon frame (manufactured by Marchon, Luxottica's chief competitor). If you don't want to buy Luxottica, don't buy Luxottica. Buy Maui Jim. Buy Dior. Buy Flexon. By Avalon. Buy Wiley-X. Buy Smith. Buy Laura Ashley. Buy L'Amay. But don't accuse any of them of monopoly (or even "near-monopoly"). It simply isn't true.

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    Oh, and the value of a product is often NOT a mere multiple of the cost to make it. It isn't even necessarily a direct result of the product's function. Take Picasso: http://abstractart.20m.com/Pablo_Picasso.html The paint is cheap, the canvas is cheap, and the paintings don't look remotely (in some cases) like the subjects they are intended to represent. But they sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why? Somebody sees value where I do not see value, and that is OK. That is freedom.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kentmitchell1961 View Post
    Ever buy a silhouette? Pennies to make, retailing at $312 in the private optical I work for. Tell me that is not a total rip off, and they have nothing to do with Lux. Or maui Jim, best sunglasses currently made, not owned by Lux, they have tried and failed. Good for a small shop to grow that big..... 30% does not a dominent make.
    I am guessing you haven't seen many sunglasses as you said Maui Jim is the best sunglasses currently made. Maybe you should try attending Silmo and see what else is out there.

    As Silhouette, it doesn't cost pennies to make that product as they don't manufacture it in China like Luxottica does their product. They are made in Austria which mean they have to give their employees a better pay than what Chinese manufacturers do ;)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jarhead Daddy View Post
    If you don't want to buy Luxottica, don't buy Luxottica. Buy Maui Jim. Buy Dior. Buy Flexon. By Avalon. Buy Wiley-X. Buy Smith. Buy Laura Ashley. Buy L'Amay. But don't accuse any of them of monopoly (or even "near-monopoly"). It simply isn't true.
    $700 for a crap from Dior? You must be out of your mind. I am looking all the brands you mentioned here and realize they are all piece of crap and I would rather quit this business than selling them to my valued customers.
    Next time you go to Vision Expo if you do check out:
    Barton Perreira, Orgreen, Bevel, Salt, Sama, Anne et Valentin, Theo, Alain Mikli, Entourage of 7, Mykita, ic! Berlin, Face a Face, Lafont, Dita, Lindberg, Activist Eyewear, Alexander Daas, Cutler&Gross, Gold&Wood, Leisure Society, and Starck Eyes.
    So you can really see who is really out there as high-end frame manufacturer.

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    OptiBoardaholic kentmitchell1961's Avatar
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    Well, according to most of the idustry mag's Maui is #1, they have now introduced an rx'able gradient polarized lens...... Did not know Italy was in China.... A company contracts Lux or Marchon or Eastern or Safilo or or or and dicates what the price point is, at that point the manufacturer, to come in on budget, makes the product where ever it is appropriate. All companies do this. Silhouettes are made in Austria, lovely country, great people, but it is still very inexpensive to manufature them due to the small amout of materials and almost total aoutomation. Love many of the brands you mentioned, and several do use materials sources from the big C, from parts to raw metals and plastics. No one is immune from the realities of having to survive in todays internet fuel'd market.

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    Quote Originally Posted by GokhanSF View Post
    $700 for a crap from Dior? You must be out of your mind. I am looking all the brands you mentioned here and realize they are all piece of crap and I would rather quit this business than selling them to my valued customers.
    Next time you go to Vision Expo if you do check out:
    Barton Perreira, Orgreen, Bevel, Salt, Sama, Anne et Valentin, Theo, Alain Mikli, Entourage of 7, Mykita, ic! Berlin, Face a Face, Lafont, Dita, Lindberg, Activist Eyewear, Alexander Daas, Cutler&Gross, Gold&Wood, Leisure Society, and Starck Eyes.
    So you can really see who is really out there as high-end frame manufacturer.
    Even more proof of how much selection is out there! My point is well made. One man's "crap" is another man's "high end". I'll take a look at some of the manufacturers you have mentioned. Thanks for the referrals. I wish you well in your high-end business, and I will continue to sludge around with waders and a gas mask in mine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kentmitchell1961 View Post
    Well, according to most of the idustry mag's Maui is #1, they have now introduced an rx'able gradient polarized lens...... Did not know Italy was in China....
    1- Rx'ed gradient polarized lens with AR and mirror coating has been around for a while and done by other companies.
    2- Italy is not in China but a lot of products stamped as "Made in Italy" is actually made in China and just gets assembled in Italy for the "Made in Italy" stamp. This is not same as buying the raw material from China.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jarhead Daddy View Post
    Even more proof of how much selection is out there! My point is well made. One man's "crap" is another man's "high end". I'll take a look at some of the manufacturers you have mentioned. Thanks for the referrals. I wish you well in your high-end business, and I will continue to sludge around with waders and a gas mask in mine.
    If you are not education your customers about what is really a high-end and letting them believe Dior is high-end than you should change your occupation to salesman instead of dispensing optician. If you are not providing any better service than your competitor by providing quality product, patient education, and personal service than good luck to you.

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    Master OptiBoarder MakeOptics's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GokhanSF View Post
    If you are not education your customers about what is really a high-end and letting them believe Dior is high-end than you should change your occupation to salesman instead of dispensing optician. If you are not providing any better service than your competitor by providing quality product, patient education, and personal service than good luck to you.
    Somebody say salesman? I wear that title proudly.

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    Gokhan, iff I get any patients who look down on Prada and Dior, I'll send them your way. Haven't come accross any yet. I think our market is a bit different than San Francisco.

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    The only thing that should concern all of you is:
    (1) not to bash our own industry
    (2) remember that there will always be Cadillacs and Chevettes in all products
    (3) remember that the purpose of all business is to grow profits
    (4) figure out why we are being targeted as bad guys and figure out what started it and how the real bad guys are getting this manipulted so they look good with free press in their favor.
    (5) stop this self destruction

    You are all sidetracked with the wrong issue !


    The last time I visited a COACH purse store it was filled with customers and they were lined up by the busload outside being contained by rope barriers in single file with security letting them in the store as others left with their purchases ... I did not see anyone holding a gun to the customers heads and forcing them to open their wallets . COACH purses are big bucks.


    The last time I visited an APPLE store it was also filled with hundreds of customers buying expensive cell phones and Ipads and no one was holding a gun to their heads either as they purchased the latest brand name gadgets .


    The only issues to concern yourselves with is how did COACH and APPLE achive this and why are we not achieving it and why are we under attack by the media and why is the media promoting non-licensed on liners .
    Last edited by idispense; 10-28-2012 at 09:36 PM.

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    OptiBoardaholic kentmitchell1961's Avatar
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    Totally agree with idispense!! The single goal of business is to stay in business...... Good job Lux and Apple and Coach and the rest....

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    Quote Originally Posted by kentmitchell1961 View Post
    Totally agree with idispense!! The single goal of business is to stay in business...... Good job Lux and Apple and Coach and the rest....
    I got to agree - these companies regardless of size and market share are extremely successful, so how is that a bad thing? It seems the only people complaining are those that continue to decline due to their own lack of action to adjust to market changes.

    Pass the tissue Tido.

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    If consumers are angry about Lux, just think how angry they would be about Essilor...

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    Quote Originally Posted by idispense View Post

    The only issues to concern yourselves with is how did COACH and APPLE achive this and why are we not achieving it and why are we under attack by the media and why is the media promoting non-licensed on liners.

    Because they have their own oragization with real people behind them while most of us on OptiBoard hide behind an anonimous front that means nothing in this world. We mean good, but do not want to stand behind of what we say.

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    why is the media promoting non-licensed on liners .
    For starters, in the states where they are located, licensing IS NOT REQUIRED. Furthermore, shipping to a license-required state really isn't against the law. Interstate commerce and all that. I seriously doubt that a state would chose to pick a licensing fight over shipping eyewear across its borders, and if they did, they would lose.

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    Quote Originally Posted by MikeAurelius View Post
    ... Furthermore, shipping to a license-required state really isn't against the law. Interstate commerce and all that. I seriously doubt that a state would chose to pick a licensing fight over shipping eyewear across its borders, and if they did, they would lose.
    Exactly. That's the position the SC Board took.
    Wesley S. Scott, MBA, MIS, ABOM, NCLE-AC, LDO - SC & GA

    “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.” -Albert Einstein

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    Quote Originally Posted by kentmitchell1961 View Post
    Totally agree with idispense!! The single goal of business is to stay in business...... Good job Lux and Apple and Coach and the rest....
    Jarhead and Kenstmitchell1961 you guys both realize that Lux is in business to put you out of business right? I worked for Lux as a manager for 9 years and that was the only game plan we got.... Sell you all of our products and kill your business relations with others than monitor your sales to see if it is worth opening a Lencrafters next to you than stop selling you all the product once we open the LC. You already trained your customers to buy Prada and if you can't sell it to them anymore new LC store will.

    Keep selling their product and remember what I just wrote here when you got LC next door. Good luck to you because luck is all you got at this point.

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    OptiBoardaholic kentmitchell1961's Avatar
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    All business is in business to put the competition under. Both Walmart and Wholefoods Market have this strategy in their bylaws. I work for a private optical and have worked for LC and they are not in competition at all. Do you own a cell phone? Apple tried hard to put samsung under, while samsung are trying to do the same to apple and sony. Chevy does not want you to buy a ford, Obama does not want you to vote for Romney. The perch does not want to be eaten by the bass who does not want to be eaten by the pike. If you work for Lux you sell their product, as is the fact in all business. Our job is to be the best we can be and that will keep our people coming back...... And if we do that they will... Our worst enemy is the online stuff and the amazon.com's who openly state they want all brick and mortor shops to vanish.

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