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Thread: In 2010, Quebec's optometrist association took a B.C.-based retailer to court .......

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    Redhot Jumper In 2010, Quebec's optometrist association took a B.C.-based retailer to court .......



    Quebec online glasses retailers want access to Canadian market.

    Only B.C. residents can legally order perscription glasses online.
    CBC NewsPosted: Oct 12, 2013 2:41 PM ETLast Updated: Oct 12, 2013 2:41 PM ET

    A Montreal-based online prescription glasses retailer, Bon Look, has grown quite a bit since it first entered the market, now shipping more than a thousand pairs a month.
    Still, legally, the Quebec market is completely closed to them.
    Sophie Boulanger says her startup can save customers hundreds of dollars on their prescription glasses, however, they can't sell toQuebecers because only opticians and optometrists are allowed to supply prescription glasses.
    "The customer is just paying a very high price for an essential product that they could now pay at a much cheaper price," says Boulanger.

    Concerns about standards

    Robert Dalton is the executive director of the Opticians Association of Canada and says buying glasses online is risky.
    "The only way you can be certain that something meets Canadian standards is to buy something that's within Canada and that way we can regulate what's inside of Canada," says Dalton.

    In 2010, Quebec's optometrist association took a British Columbia-based retailer to court for selling their products in Quebec.
    A judge has yet to rule on the case.

    The rules vary within the country, and B.C. is the only province to have deregulated eyewear sales.
    Boulanger says this should serve as a wake-up call.

    "At the end of the day, the whole optical industry of Quebec is kind of losing by maintaining this position, this very strict position that they have," says Boulanger.


    see at --------------------> http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...rket-1.2021567

    and ------------------------> http://www.bonlook.com/
    Last edited by Chris Ryser; 02-04-2014 at 04:32 AM.

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    Redhot Jumper Quebec Goverment helps financing online optical ...............................

    In 2011, two friends, SophieBoulanger and Melanie Daigle, created BonLook company specializing in the saleof eyeglasses on the Internet.

    "We sell our products with or without prescription everywhere except in Quebec because of the College of Opticians which prohibits selling online," saysSophie Boulanger, 32, who began in 2005, an MBA Fashion in Milan, Italy.

    It is there that the young woman discovered the world of optics in working for the company Luxottica and where she got the idea of ​​designing his own collection of binoculars.
    Since 2011, Ms. Boulanger was associated with an optical laboratory in Brooklyn, New York, a supplier importing prescription glasses in Europe.

    Frames,manufactured in Asia can significantly reduce costs.Customers pay about $ 99 for a pair of glasses with prescription lenses.
    The company sells 85% of its products in the United States. "Our target audience is young women aged18-34 years whose glasses are a fashion accessory."

    The success of the company is explained by their presence and interaction on social networks. "We created avirtual fitting tool with a webcam. People can ask their Facebook friends what they think of such a model. "
    Sophie's brother, Louis-Felix,30, an engineer, joined the company in 2012. Its expertise in technologies is a big plus in the neck of the young leader who dream of a turnover of 100 million.


    .........................
    says the Investor Anges Capital Fund has 30 million to invest and of that 20 million comes from the Government of Quebec and 10 million from 125 other investors.


    Last edited by Chris Ryser; 02-02-2014 at 06:49 AM.

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    I don`t see why this company can`t or won`t sell glasses in Quebec -

    All they need to do is hire a Quebec-licensed optician and they can legally sell to people who live in Quebec. It is a non-problem and bonlook is just looking for free publicity by screaming foul.

    What is your OPINION Chris.....you post this but don`t seem to voice an opinion.....

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    Redhot Jumper In my opinion our optical retail industry has been .................................

    Quote Originally Posted by optimensch View Post

    What is your OPINION Chris.....you post this but don`t seem to voice an opinion.....
    optimensch......................I have been tracking on-line optical's for the last 3 years. I check and judge their success rate by the popularity on the Alexa ratings so I get a fair idea if they get through to the interested public or not. Bon look does, and they did it in very short time span.
    taking a big hit over the 12 month of 2013. Based on the turnover of Coastal I estimate that somewhere around 10 million pairs of glasses have been sold in North America by on-line optical retailers. Never mind if they made a profit or not ..............the conventional optical retailers did not sell these glasses, all +-10 millions of them.

    Every few weeks I add another one to my list on my website, so they are steadily increasing in numbers and are selling more every year. Up to 4am this morning I was under the believe that in Quebec was no online optical but got told otherwise as per the posts above.

    If the optical retail owners, as optometric retails and opticians do not wake up to the facts, as they come out more and more into the open, these business will suffer as the on-liners progress, if they do not find a solution to counter it.

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Barry Santini's Avatar
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    The solution of course, is to recognize that only in your own, in-office bundled transactions can you "afford" to include associated services with no fees...and for a defined time frame. All the ECPS who want to check/verify/adjust online eyewear at little to no fee are giving their value away, and making it attractive to buy eyewear anywhere else other than their store. Suicide mission, if you ask me.
    B

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Santini View Post
    The solution of course, is to recognize that only in your own, in-office bundled transactions can you "afford" to include associated services with no fees...and for a defined time frame. All the ECPS who want to check/verify/adjust online eyewear at little to no fee are giving their value away, and making it attractive to buy eyewear anywhere else other than their store. Suicide mission, if you ask me.
    B
    I totally agree. Warby doesnt adjust frames people purchase from me, I don't adjust frames people purchase from them = it is very very democratic.
    I gladly fit lenses into WP frames and do adjust those.
    My sales growth in the 4th quarter of 2013 was better than the 5% growth reported by Clearly Contacts, and I don't spend 25% of my revenue on advertising. But angel investors just don't love me.
    One thing you must consider is that all the advertising done by the onliners gets people talking-thinking about glasses, gets the phones ringing (even if for PD requests) and that creates MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES and a DISCUSSION with clients who might otherwise NOT be thinking about glasses - this might be more significant than the presumed 4-5% market share they are taking. It is not a simple one-way street away from us, but the opportunity must be seized and you must adjust your business model and marketing offers.

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    [QUOTE

    If the optical retail owners, as optometric retails and opticians do not wake up to the facts, as they come out more and more into the open, these business will suffer as the on-liners progress, if they do not find a solution to counter it.[/QUOTE]

    They don't get it. They still think its a one company against them kind of thing and they think that company will go bankrupt. They don't see why it may not go bankrupt. They don't see that the issue is elsewhere and its bigger than that. They also don't see that its global in size, it's game changer and disruptive in nature. They don't get the overall big picture.

    Imagine today's retailers selling horse and buggys and buggy whips and facing Henry Fords vision. Reality and scope have no meaning to them yet.

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    Redhot Jumper Here is my opinion .................................

    Whatever we all say we have the near daily visit of ICS the Canada wide optical delivery service who works on a similar way and organization as UPS. The driver who stops at our company has not had a well filled truck as it used to be, in a long while.

    So business is down and we all know it. It is only a matter of knowing why. In my humble opinion, I do believe that on-line opticals play a large role and have seen it coming.

    Being in the supply business to the optical trade, I have concentrated my sales efforts over the last few years into industrial applications of some of my products and have been lucky to sell into the automotive, weapons and sport industries on a global base.

    All of us will at some point have to make adjustments to our ways of making a living. If done early enough and if the feared downturn does not happen we just will be ahead by having an expanded and more modern business model.

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    Chris
    I think its great that you've found other markets to sell your products, and if you are selling globally that is impressive.
    Maybe overall optical is down in Canada, but I see new shops still opening and not many,if any, closing...
    I think smart and nimble independents, owner-operated single location practices can survive and thrive in the internet age, and I wonder whether medium sized chains (those NOT owned by Luxottica....) may lose more ground to the web.
    I see opportunity in the local market.....in part BECAUSE of all the web noise and awareness-raising of eyewear.

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    Redhot Jumper BECAUSE of all the web noise and awareness-raising of eyewear........................

    Quote Originally Posted by optimensch View Post

    I think smart and nimble independents, owner-operated single location practices can survive and thrive in the internet age, and I wonder whether medium sized chains (those NOT owned by Luxottica....) may lose more ground to the web.
    I see opportunity in the local market....
    .in part BECAUSE of all the web noise and awareness-raising of eyewear.
    Web noise

    Why Health Professionals Need Independent Supervision

    Posted: 02/03/2014 12:09 pm

    Even more bizarre but without a death is the College of Opticians of Ontario. In 2007, Toronto's CITY TV journalist, 75-year-old Peter Silverman, went to an optical store to investigate complaints about the optician selling counterfeit frames when he was assaulted by that optician. That assault, which aired on Anderson Cooper's CNN show called Optician Gone Mad, is on YouTube. You would think that this sort of unprofessional behaviour would result in discipline action being taken against the optician in question by his regulatory college. After all, we do not expect that a health professional needs to be removed from their offices by a police SWAT team and then charged with assault as happened in this case.
    The optician, Adam Plimmer, was referred to the College Discipline board in 2007 and he allegedly had a trial on September 24, 2013 according to the college website. But, there isno decision more than six years after that assault and, with a short suspension of his license in 2009 for what is described as administrative reasons, the optician's status is current and active. He is still practising.

    But then, this College may be too busy as it is is presently mired in a $1.5-million libelaction that was brought against it, the 2013 president David Milne, vice president Roque Fernandes, and the former registrar for defamation. Two members of the 2013 executive who were removed from the executive, Mr. Jay Hakim (who was also removed from council even though he was elected) and Mr. Chris Namvarazad, are suing. In their 22-page statement of claim, they allege that the vice president referred to them as Iranian terrorists ..................


    see all of it ------------> http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/marvin-...b_4716750.html


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    I admit that I am confused by this. Who is it that needs supervision ?

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    The timing of that case was interesting. It must have been just about that time the Great Glasses case was going on. The powers that be were busy, trying to institute refraction. The Minister was issuing directives to stop refraction. Then this case comes along and goes viral . Could anything have been worse publicity than this case generated ?

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    Why such a long time before the judge rules.

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    Quote Originally Posted by coupe View Post

    Why such a long time before the judge rules.

    Maybe some corporation is stirring the soup or there is no flame under the pot

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