Did an Exec of WP really say this?

[Barry Santini]

+1

We're simply seeing the free market economy in action. We have set prices for our products and services which some consumers have decided are too high. We have a decision to make: Do we want to continue targeting these consumers? If so, then we must either make price adjustments, or offer additional products which can compete with online.

Way too simplistic, IMHO.

B

[idispense]

My Ah-ha so far from this discussion:

WP's comment about us being "greedy middlemen" takes us and puts us on their playing field.
To counter this, I suggest we ECPs remind people that WP DOES NOT EVER say they are "eye care professionals"

I think it's time for us to bring them back on our playing field.

An important distinction, yes?

Discussion.

B

Their playing field is a location. What you are talking about is a strategy.

The location of that playing field is the customers computer search engine results as displayed on their monitor.

Thats where your strategy has to be delivered. Thats where the ball game is being played.

Thats where the customer is at the point of dollar diversion and thats where WP is too .

Its easy to deliver your strategy there too especially if your Association agrees to help which most will not do, therefore why pay them ?

The best would be for like minded opticians to share the expense of a unified strategy, as you suggest Barry, to be delivered on the customer's playing field.

[Chris Ryser]

+1

We're simply seeing the free market economy in action. We have set prices for our products and services which some consumers have decided are too high. We have a decision to make: Do we want to continue targeting these consumers? If so, then we must either make price adjustments, or offer additional products which can compete with online.

1) Frames:
Prices have been set according to mark up which has not changed in 75 years. However the purchase price by optical retailers has changed drastially since 1981 when the first optical frame wholesalers started to offer opticians consignments.

Opticians who in the old days used to order fair quantities of frame models they liked and could sell well, used to order from a dozen to a few hundred frames of the same model. With the introduction of consignments they re-ordered one by one.

Then came the warranty of 1 year to two years and more. A warranty is never free. It is an insurance and if there is one it has been calulated into selling prices. Frames have been warranteed against manufacturing defects forever, but a full no questions asked warranty for 2 years as seems to be standard these days will just about double the cost price to the retailer.

2) Lenses
Many optical retailers order finished jobs at a lab and pay the full price and resell at their standard markup, while others do their own edging, mounting and tinting and purchase their lenses uncut, stock or surfaced. Their cost is labour and depreciation of eqiupment, but their material cost of material is definitely much less.

Maybe retailers should make price adjustments or chnge purchasing habits and cost.

[optimensch]

WP is just another web play, along with thousands of other etailers, that are leveraging the internet to eat b/m retailer's lunch.
Not just in optical, this is going on in many retail specialties.
The pure etailers are doing a great job of coding a nice-looking site,marketing and delivering a product to consumers- delivering a web experience that the public seems to want.
Very very few b/m retailers are doing the same on the web, to complement their real b/m stores. How is your website looking? are you offering ANYTHING on the web or do even have an updated site? If your site is dusty and stale, your storefront sign might as well be too, with lights burnt out, dirty windows and so on.
It is way past due for retailers, and opticals in particular, to start to figure out a REAL and meaningful web strategy in their local markets.
I'll let you know how mine goes, major revamp happening. A whole new web plan in the works.

[Chris Ryser]

The best would be for like minded opticians to share the expense of a unified strategy, as you suggest Barry, to be delivered on the customer's playing field.

Perfect strategy .........................that will never work, because:

you are asking other anonymous OB posters also under an other pseudo name, to share the cost of fighting a tsunami that has already made landfall.

All you can do under such circumstances make good recommendations which then might be applied by one or the other anonymous OB member if he/she agrees, is a decision make and has the funds to do it.

To get an instant internet presence needs tons of money, or years of work to reach it and keep it there. I see for years stagnant websites, going close to the top in popularity within month's or even weeks, after getting a heavily indicated cash injection to boost popularity and when the money is used up they settle, and drop back close to where they were before.

[optimensch]

Perfect strategy .........................that will never work, because:

you are asking other anonymous OB posters also under an other pseudo name, to share the cost of fighting a tsunami that has already made landfall.

All you can do under such circumstances make good recommendations which then might be applied by one or the other anonymous OB member if he/she agrees, is a decision make and has the funds to do it.

To get an instant internet presence needs tons of money, or years of work to reach it and keep it there. I see for years stagnant websites, going close to the top in popularity within month's or even weeks, after getting a heavily indicated cash injection to boost popularity and when the money is used up they settle, and drop back close to where they were before.

I think the mistake some make in a web strategy is thinking globally and too big. I see the web opportunity as local. An extension of your real-world presence, where your client base can more easily browse and shop your showroom, from their homes. Maybe not a lot of pure ecommerce, but a tool to drive them to your place. Advertising/ppc in your LOCAL only market is not outrageously expensive. But give them an experience that is more WP-like, with galleries of product and some pricing specials. Totally doable, and does NOT require boatloads of $. Look at shopify.com. Its all out there .

[idispense]

Edison had many failures before making the light bulb.
He knew a lot of ways that didn't work.
As you sit and read in what would otherwise be darkness, what advice would you would have offered him?

[Joe Zewe]

I think the mistake some make in a web strategy is thinking globally and too big. I see the web opportunity as local. An extension of your real-world presence, where your client base can more easily browse and shop your showroom, from their homes. Maybe not a lot of pure ecommerce, but a tool to drive them to your place. Advertising/ppc in your LOCAL only market is not outrageously expensive. But give them an experience that is more WP-like, with galleries of product and some pricing specials. Totally doable, and does NOT require boatloads of $. Look at shopify.com. Its all out there .

I agree. This can certainly be done on a localized level if you are willing to put the time in. You do not necessarily have to be on page one of a global organic google search for "eyewear". Advertise your website in your shop window. Prominently display it on your cards. Get your customers email address and set up a database to send out updates and discount coupons. With an inexpensive light booth and a digital camera and you can photograph your products. There are website templates that make setting up a site showcasing your products much easier than you may think. Set up a facebook page and get your customers to like your page. You can also pay to get "likes" through very inexpensive facebook advertising. Link your page to other sites and vendors of interest to your customers. You can hire graphic design students and free lancers to create content as well at very reasonable prices. It all needs to be part of your routine as you cannot let your site get stale.

[Barry Santini]

Edison had many failures before making the light bulb.
He knew a lot of ways that didn't work.
As you sit and read in what would otherwise be darkness, what advice would you would have offered him?

For B&M optical, the ONLY thing that counts is LOCAL customer traffic.

Uber alles.

B

[batmannorm]

What I find insulting as a licensed optician is that WP would recommend that their purchasers go to any optical store where their glasses can be adjusted for free or have a pd taken for free. Do you buy new spark plugs and put them in your car and ask the mechanic to tune your car up for free. Try taking a hearing aid to a place where you did not purchase it and see if they will adjust it for free. Really, what is going on out there. Isn't anyone's time worth anything anymore. Are we going to be slaves to the potential of offending someone by asking them to pay for our time and risk losing them as a potential patient? Were they or are they really a patient anyway. They did purchase their glasses on line rather than a professional dispensary.

[optimensch]

batmannorm - I hear what youre saying. I think I would tell clients who come in with WP frames which need adjusting that you would like either Mr. Warby or Mr. Parker to call you - that you will gladly adjust the glasses when you get authorization from WP that they will pay to you directly a fitting fee. I would NOT accept money from the client. I would explain to Warby or Parker that my adjusting fee is $50, and you take paypal.

[jefe]

batmannorm - I hear what youre saying. I think I would tell clients who come in with WP frames which need adjusting that you would like either Mr. Warby or Mr. Parker to call you - that you will gladly adjust the glasses when you get authorization from WP that they will pay to you directly a fitting fee. I would NOT accept money from the client. I would explain to Warby or Parker that my adjusting fee is $50, and you take paypal.

Love it.

[jefe]

A woman came in recently and asked me for a pd measurement for glasses she wanted to buy from WP. I nicely asked her if she would go into a restaurant and ask them if they would let her use their kitchen. She ended up getting her glasses from me.

[optimensch]

A woman came in recently and asked me for a pd measurement for glasses she wanted to buy from WP. I nicely asked her if she would go into a restaurant and ask them if they would let her use their kitchen. She ended up getting her glasses from me.

or a sign in the window like "toilets and pd measurements for customers only". Because, I get about the same number of people coming in to just use the bathroom as ask for their pd these days.