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Thread: Attention Walmart opticians

  1. #1
    Rising Star
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    Attention Walmart opticians

    As a Sales Manager for an independent laboratory I have had several customers comment about Wal-Mart offering Essilor brands recently. Most of my customers are independent optical practices wanting to separate themselves from the large retails offerings. So here are the questions to Wal-Mart Opticians.

    Is Wal-Mart offering Essilor brands?

    Is Wal-Mart offering Crizal A/R lenses?

    Is Wal-Mart offering Varilux products?

    Is Wal-Mart offering Nikon products from the Nikon / Essilor lab in North Texas?

    Thanks for responding, like many people I will check in after the 4th of July weekend. Happy birthday USA!
    John Zimmerman
    Sales Manager
    Tri-City Optical Laboratory

  2. #2
    Bad address email on file Rick Strong's Avatar
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    I do believe here in Canada Walmart is offering the AirWear Family of products.

    Rick Strong

  3. #3
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    To directly answer your questions -

    Yes - they buy various lens types/materials from Essilor, but so do a lot of labs

    No - they have there own in house AR, and use some outside sources, but not Crizal

    No - no Varilux, but they stock Naturals, Ovations, and a ton of Sola Prog's

    Yes - (I think) they have of late been selling some of the Nikon stuff


    Essilor would screw up their relationships with the Distributors if they sold WM Crizal and Comfort/Panamic. It would be a stupid move on their part. In either event... if you can't compete with WM, get another career John

  4. #4
    Master OptiBoarder Jeff Trail's Avatar
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    John,

    You did know that W-M has contracts with both Essilor labs as well as Hoya..Avisia out in Dallas and a Hoya lab up in Col. Ohio...
    I think that they have found out it is cheaper to farm out than it is to produce big bulk in-house, especially on the higher end stuff.
    W-M purchased 10 or so Ziess commercial coaters I don't know if they are on line yet...
    Any way we want to slice it volume and size is going to be the name of the game, and once you start getting back under the retail layer all these guys are crossing over every which way..with the investment that Essilor has pumped into airwear you think they are not going to sell it to someone with a large contract? ...Most of these guys have been doing it for years with L.C. producing the lens and let them market it under another name.. that's just big business for ya :)
    As the market place shrinks more and more you will be seeing more of this line being blurred, I figure the way they look at it is most people do NOT care one way or the other, retailers are not interested in the wholesale battles, other than they want lowest prices and best quality...wholesalers are looking for major volume discount pricing on blanks and we are not like the retail side where if you are mad at a frame company you can just stop selling that line and replace it, most retail customers don't even notice, while we wholesalers are limited by our wholesale accounts, they want a Natural, than you give them a Natural...they want an Image than we are stuck they want a Percepta and on and on, no matter what we are always going to have to have multiple accounts with the lens companies and as the market place shrinks we are more or less going to have to buy from our competition...How can you help it with AO/Sola, Essilor and Hoya being in the wholesale market as well as the lens making biz :)
    The only part that should be making EVERYONE nervous is a lot of these companies popping out designs that can not be gotten from any lab but directly in a uncut version from the company... and when they start blitzing the market place with marketing strategy than you will not have the choice to go elsewhere...this is where you better keep your eye retailers..why should you worry about it? In wholesale the SV and bifocal are lost leaders we really only make any money on the premium stuff.. the wholesalers start losing that you will see more and more independants shutting down... when that happens and you have a narrower choice of labs (maybe a lot of labs but owned by Corps.) than you will start seeing the pricing move the opposite direction than it has for the last 5 to 7 years..instead of downward it will move upward :)... Just something to think about.

    Jeff "gee optical runs in circles" trail

  5. #5
    opti-tipster harry a saake's Avatar
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    Lightbulb products

    John, cole national, which is target opticals, sears, bj,s warehouse and pearle vision sells essilor products, varilux, nikon and ar , but not crizal. For that matter so does visionworks{ECCA} and a host of other chain stores
    .....Having once owned 5 stores of my own i soon learned not to worry about what the other stores in my area were doing, but rather to worry about how i could do it better. Is it smart not to sell a great product just because the competition is selling it?
    .....The key is to sell it and yourself better

  6. #6
    RETIRED JRS's Avatar
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    Cole, to the best of my knowledge, does not sell Varilux lenses.
    J. R. Smith


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    I have not seen any evidence that patients are aware of any brand names of lenses or coatings, with the exception of:

    1. Transitions. Every once in a while we get someone who mentions that by name.

    2. One time we had someone who said he specifically wanted a Seiko lens.

    Other than that, we have NEVER had any brand names mentioned by patients.

    I don't worry about what brands the competition uses. I agree with Harry:
    "Is it smart not to sell a great product just because the competition is selling it?
    .....The key is to sell it and yourself better"

  8. #8
    Optical Curmudgeon EyeManFla's Avatar
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    JRS said:
    Cole, to the best of my knowledge, does not sell Varilux lenses.
    Not Exactly true.............

    It is on the list of available lenses through the Dallas Lab, but I know of no corporate store in the area that sells it. The #1 lens of choice is the Natural.

    Now, franchises on the other hand............


    Harry....ditto.....as I have been telling these WM worrywarts for months
    "Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"

  9. #9
    RETIRED JRS's Avatar
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    EyeMan

    What I probably should have stated is - Cole can not buy Varilux lens blanks and surface them. They have to purchase finished product. Just like any non-Vx distributor lab is suppose to do.

    If you have evidence otherwise, it's news to me.
    J. R. Smith


  10. #10
    Rising Star
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    Thanks for the reply's

    I appreciate the replies, I did not want to give the impression there was any big problem affecting my business.

    Quite the contrary, we are on track for another 30+% increase this year for the third year in a row

    Only was curious because of several retailers have been asking me what's up.

    John Z.
    John Zimmerman
    Sales Manager
    Tri-City Optical Laboratory

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