The manner in which the consumer obtains goods and services is changing - always has - always will. Long gone is the barter system and the mercantile system is a thing of the past. The mom and pop shoe store has given way to the Foot Lockers and their customers are now going on-line. Chances are you are now buying your electronics on line after selecting your product choice first at Best Buy. The major consideration for most consumers today is price and convenience.
The eyeglass business is not insulated from this metamorphosis no matter how hard we try to insulate it under the cloak of a medical or professional service. Glasses are a commodity, nothing more, nothing less. We seem to concentrate all of our efforts these days trying to combat the desires of the consumer to obtain a good product at a fair price by enacting government regulations and trying to enforce them and establishing restrictive office practices like, "we ain’t going to give them their stinking PD’s."
In the optical business the supply chain has undergone some disruption. Frame manufacturers now sell directly to the optical retailer rather than through wholesalers. Some see this as an improvement in distribution but by forcing Joe optician to purchase a given product from a single source they have total control over the price and can enforce “buy-ins and minimum purchases with no negotiations. We also see the vision care plans dictating most, if not all, of our business processes.
If you want to be around in five to ten years you had yea best adapt your business process to the new world that we all live in today. In the words of the Bard, Bob Dylan, “The times they are a’changin.“ Stop living in the problem and start live in the solution!
Bookmarks