How badly are we being ripped off on eyewear? Former industry execs tell all

[optimensch]

Optimensch. Your posts are a morass of pre-conceived notions, prejudices, and defensiveness. Like - how about this?


Butler said it should be clear from EssilorLuxottica’s practices that the company has too much market power. “If that’s not a monopoly,” he said, “I don’t know what is.”

So the crux of the matter is this. Why can Zenni sell glasses for $7 and yet you charge $700?

What type of phoropter do you use? Where did you go to optometry school? Can you name a prof or 2 you liked? See, I have serious doubts that you are an OD - because anyone with a half-ounce of actual knowledge would not post such utter garbage and lies. So if no other optiboarders care to join me in digging in to the comments made by this poster then good luck to y'all, I am gone. Cheer away, and enjoy the insight from total jokes like this.

[Chris Ryser]

The selling price I mentioned was at Warby Parker ...............................

You do realize, with your continued references to the power of google and a web search, that a consumer can buy glasses easily for $6.95, right? Do you know that this is NOT an Essilux company selling glasses at this price to consumers? Is a 6.95$ pair of glasses, (to use your style of math) 13 X cheaper than Warby Parker, not even MORE pleasant to the buyer?

The selling price I mentioned was at Warby Parker at $ 96.00 including the lenses and not $ 6.95.

....................and I do know that WP is not ....yet......belonging to the Essilux family who also sells retail online at some around
the $ 96.00 mark.

So we did not even touch the point of $ 6.95 glasses yet

[lensmanmd]

Optio. You clearly do not understand the supply chain logistics of our industry.
The point of this is that companies that control every aspect of vertical integration need not overcharge, as there no longer are middlemen that others need to rely on. Frame reps, lens reps and lab services just to name a few. Each of these add costs, so that 6.95 is longer 6.95. That $700 retail pair did not cost the practitioner $7.
Enough said.

[Chris Ryser]

O


So the crux of the matter is this. Why can Zenni sell glasses for $7 and yet you charge $700?

Zenni buys "discounted discount" frames, end of the line frame, direct ex factory, etc. = probably for cents a piece

optimensch buys from a regular distributor and uses his own regular markup to get to his selling price.

[Chris Ryser]

LC is owned by now Essilux, formerly Luxottica ....................................

What about Warby? Are they selling something similar to what LC sells, for multiples more?

LC is owned by now Essilux, formerly Luxottica, who also owns lots of other frame manufacturers.

Warby Parker has its own brand of frames, they purchase directly from various frame manufacturers and have their own brand name stamped on them, and sell them for multiples less.

[Chris Ryser]

LC is owned by now Essilux, formerly Luxottica ......................................

Lensman: How monopolistic is Essilor (forget Lux for the moment)?

Essilor.............or..............Essilux................. ....is now concentrating on buying up optical retail outlets from Mam and Pap shops, to online discount opticals and already own the largest batch of them since the merger.

[jasons]

I was actually looking for something else and stumbled on this thread. I had to comment. All talk of monopolies and megaliths aside, last I heard, not one of the online places that sell glasses for 7 dollars are profitable, they are still running off venture capital. (That may have changed recently.) I also can almost guarantee that no no one selling glasses for 800 dollars had a cost of goods of 7 dollars. Apples are not being compared to apples.

[Emma77]

Hi all,

The inclusion of a link on purchasing glasses online prompts questions about alternatives. It's essential to highlight that not all $800 glasses are rip-offs. A suggestion to explore local independent shops is valuable, where markups are lower, and you can find non-Essilux options. Advocating for informed choices, the comment implies that spending over $99 elsewhere may not be the most economical decision, emphasizing the importance of avoiding unnecessary markups.