Iam planning to start a website to sell eyeglasses and frames globally.Iam not sure of the scope of the idea.I appreciate any sincere inputs.Thank You.
Web based Opticals
Iam planning to start a website to sell eyeglasses and frames globally.Iam not sure of the scope of the idea.I appreciate any sincere inputs.Thank You.
So you want to start an unethical company and provide people with glasses even though you have not taken the measurements yourself and have not fit the frame properly?Originally Posted by shyamsam77
I know it might sound harsh, but you have to ask yourself - Is this right?
I would love to sell glasses over the Internet. It would save me a lot of money compared to how we currently do things; however, it is like selling your soul to the devil.
Sent you a Private Message
Jacqui
I accept the limitation of measurements in web based opticals.But you have to remember that frames are not custom made for each and evey customer.They are made in standard sizes and the lenses are made per prescriptions.
I guess online eyeglasses is a major gift for people.
That is why they have to be customized to each customer through fitting. A properly fit pair of glasses will give better vision to the patient over an improperly fit pair of glasses.
Prescriptions too work this way. You can have a pair of Varilux Panamics with the perfect presctiption, but if it is not properly fit, even if it is off by a little (2mm) then the patient will get poor to no vision out of them.
Sorry again for being harsh, but this is something I feel very strongly about.
So, let me get this right. You want us to help you enethically, unfairly compete with us price wise, and ruin the reputation and professionalism of the eyecare profession. I don't think you're looking in the right forum. Try the "slimey business ethics" forum. :finger:
You have not put things right.How can you say Iam doing an unethical bussiness or ruining the professinalism.See even in your post you are afraid about the price and not about the quality.If a webbased optician can give a better quality product for better price than normal outlet optician I will definetly go for that.
Remember one thing you cannot sell any health based stuff just like that.If the health organisations has approved my idea,it means the benefit is outweighed the risk.
Let me ask one question.How does a customer select the frame size.Based on standard measurements and ofcourse the lense is made similarly.You are not going make a glass with a person sitting in front of you and you measuring each and every mm.Just be logical and be willing to accept the technology.
The meaning of modernisation and technology is better service with better quality in a better way.If you can give me the pros and cons of my idea,I welcome that,but if you want to criticise just in fear of competition,I guess that is not true professionalism.
How the heck are you going to place the MRP of progressives or seg heights for one? Just approximate? Professionals don't approximate. The list goes on, way beyond price issues.
Of course you sit there and measure every mm of the lens?
Your occupation says doctor? Is that optical, because any professional in the optical business should know of the importance of these facts. Any store that does not take the time to make sure the frame fits the customer and that the customer can properly see out of the glasses should be closed down. This logic is simply applied to the internet.
But I will play along.
Pros
- Lower costs, since you do not have to hire the same staff and give the same guarrantees.
- Wider market
Cons
- Unethical and in many places illegal business practice
- Not offering customers the best correct vision
- Not offering customers the best correct comfort
Shoot, I hope you can fit glasses better than you can spell. If not we're all in trouble.
A great deal of what professional Opticians do requires face-to-face contact with our clients. From the initial conversations about lifestyle needs, the lens and frame selection process, the actual fitting and measuring, and finally to the actual dispensing of custom made eyewear, our contact with clients is essential to assure a successful transaction. And, of course, there is the follow-up care to be considered. After all, every client should be invited (or scheduled) to return after a specified length of time for routine fitting and adjustments to ensure continued success. The sound of a cash register should not signal the end of customer care. I am constantly amazed and dismayed at the number of people who expect me to provide free care, small parts replacement and advice for eyewear purchased elsewhere. My skills, expertise and experience are valuable and I price them accordingly.
That being said, if you believe that providing eyewear online is a proper professional outlet, then by all means go for it, just don't expect me or my professional counterparts to provide your customers with measurements, adjustments and necessary troubleshooting for free.
OK, so someone comes to your website and either by phone or email you communicate with this person for 30 minutes, after picking your brain and taking your professional opinion they ask for you to write that down because they are going to take that info you provided and go to your competitor, Burns a little huh.
By the way, if you think this wont happen then the returns that you can expect do to dissatisfaction of the frame or guessed measurements will come as quite a shock.
See here is the deal, I welcome my pts to try my competitors, when they do, the most surely return with a renewed faith in my abilities and products.See providing excellent products and services has its benefit, when there curiousity has been filled, they will be back with open minds. God love the nit wits who help my business. (you would be the nit wit) I say that because you clearly have no optical back ground or you wouldnt be online asking opticians to give you advice on how to rob our profession fo patients.
Good luck.
Advances in technology, in every realm, has benefited us all, one way or another. In optical, the designs, materials available, have all been made better. For the opticians, and most importantly for the consumers (patients, customers), the advancement has made our occupation easier, by giving us a wider variety of items, for us to recommend, to the benefit of the customer/patient. But all this advanced technology is for naught, if two procedures are not met. First, a thorough, quality eye exam is essential that the customer/patient's visual limitations are recognized and prescribed. Second, the evaluation or interpretation of the rx, by the optician. Including, recommendation of products available to best benefit the individual, according to their needs and wants. This can only be done, accurately, by one on one, face to face, so to speak.
With that being said, I would not try to discourage you on any ideas you may have. But, while computers/internet are a great communication tool, it still doesn't replace personal interaction. This is a healthcare occupation, despite individuals and big chains trying to reduce it to alphabet retail.
Mud
"You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it." Wendell Berry
I only say this... remake, remake, remake => you will loose your shirt.
I don't think that price should even enter into the discussion. If this were really a legitimate way to have a customer receive a quality pair of eyeglasses, the convenience to the consumers would allow you to charge 3 times MORE than a traditional bricks and mortar.
Now...
Let's look at YOUR competition. $39 frame and lens. $29 frame and lens. $19 frame and lens. Where are you going to be positioned ? $22 ? $17 ?
If online optical could really dispense a quality product that will serve their customer as well, or even 1/2 as well as a traditional optical, why would they have to practically GIVE the products away to get business.
ps: :bbg: I think this thread was just a set-up. You can't be serious. (Not about the business, but about the forum you chose to get advice.)
shyamsam77,
Your idea is obviously not new. Just do an internet search and look at your competition. No way, and I mean no way in HELL can a customer get as good customer service from an online optical service as they can a real licensed or certified optician. Who will do the fitting? Your customers will still have a need to have their new eyewear fitted. Are they going to take them to you? Or will you adjust them by looking at a picture the customer has sent you? NO, they will bring them into their local optical shop to have them adjusted. Are you going to pay that optician a fitting fee? Measurements? Most people can't read a tape measure with accuracy (no offense to those of you who make a living doing it). How do you expect your customers to take accurate measurements in mm's.
There is NO way you would ever convince me (or probably any optical professionals on this forum) that you are going to do this with the customers or our professions best interest in mind. In every one of your posts all I see are dollar signs.
I think Johns was correct. You have got to be kidding. Noone in their right mind would come to this forum FULL of optical professionals and ask what you have asked. I usually am not this crude, but I wish you NO luck with your venture.
Jim
Would not invest.............................
Before you go any further I would like to get you thinking about a very important feature in selling glasses. My friends on the Optiboard might not like a comparison I am going to make, but it is a fact:
Compare an optician.......to a barber.............or a hairdresser.
How can you cut the hair on the internet.............how can you dye hair on the internet........how would you define the position of a hair wave.and on and on.
The optical trade is a profession that is very personal, needs careful personal care about measurements, placing of lenses at the proper point and many more items.
If you want to sell finished glasses with lenses that come as is from some factory in China you might be successful. Doing prescriptions over the net would be very doubtful to me and I would not invest any of my cents in such a venture.
I'm new to this forum, but I can't help the strong urge to put in my 2 cents.
Recently, we had a patient that purchased some frames with rx lenses online. He did save a lot of money, but he's had nothing but problems. He's a very big guy, (about 7 feet tall and 350 Lbs). Unfortunately, the website negelected to inform him that a 50mm lens frame with 135mm temples would not fit him very well. Also, his old rx glasses had quite a bit of face form and pantoscopic tilt and his new one's didn't.
Since that patient happens to be the son of the pizza restaurant owner a couple of stores down from us, I curteously offered my professional assistance and adjusted them for him. He could see better and the dizzying effect was reduced, but the frame was way too small and he decided to return them anyway. Oh yeah, he's still trying to get his money back and that was 3 months ago. Score one for Opticals all over the world.
IF anyone wants to invest their money, time and effort in such an online venture, my advice is go ahead. I personally have no ill will towards you and that would actually be nothing but wasted energy. The fact of the matter is you will never succeed. People will always want to touch, smell and try the product on their faces. To feel the material, the texture, the lightness, the nosepads, the weight, the ear pieces and last, but not least, the prescription.
But do what ever turns you on.. you won't be the last and your not the first to spin your wheels. Bigger companies have already contemplated that endeavor and none have actually materialized with any definite plans, because it wouldn't work.
shyamsam77, Best advice is ..........................................if you have to go into glasses stick with finished readers or sell sports goggles and stay away from prescriptions as you can get burned by making mistakes you dont even know about.
Knowing a little about websites, in order to get into search engine listings your sute will be crwaled by the search engines. They do not like sites that do not contain names and addresses on a home page. In order to be found and have a successfull site you will have to hang out name and address. This means you can be found if you make mistakes.
Good luck in charging foreign credit cards!
The money you going to loose on remakes are penies comparing to a foregn credit card fraud!
The disturbing fact is that the trend this poster represents will increase.
Everyone thinks they can make beaucoup bucks on the web, and lots are.
There will be a backlash, eventually, when customers get fed up with online limitations.
Most contacts are commodities. Frames are commodities. Spectacle lenses are not.
My biggest question is how states will regulate this kind of garbage. They're set up to regulate us, the professionals, and sick people like this guy slip through the cracks of legislation that is turn-of-the-century.
From your name I'll guess you're 28. I'll also guess you're looking to get rich quick in the "Land of Opportunity". Or are you really from San Francisco?
You really should work in the profession for a few years so you'll see what a Quixotic quest you're on!
The only eyeglasses you will sell online sucessfully are already sold in department stores and are known in the profession as "Over the Counter" (OTC).
To set up a secure web site and legally fill rx's will require a significant outlay of big $$$$ and risk on your part.
For your own educational purposes you should send an rx of your own or a friend to one of the many already established online optical "stores" and see what you get! This type of business is very good for my business!
:)
Thanks for many positives and negatives posted for my query.Although there were lot of criticisms,its all giving me good idea of how I should approach.By the way Iam not a lay person.Iam an opthalmology resident physician.The plan came to me not because of commercial purposes,but the reality is we can provide quality glasses to public for much cheaper price.Its all the retailing expenses that eats the opticians margins.
Iam not worried about the investment and I really dont care even if I loose money.About the fitting I have good network of opticians across the country in atleast 20 states and there reference will be there in my website and ofcourse they will collect a nominal service charge.And my website will be a source of advertisement for those opticians too.
Please understand friends,my effort is not just money making and not stealing bussiness.But to provide quality care and minimise the health expense for public as much as possible.Believe me my website will not be 19$/29$ eyeglasses.The profit margin Iam going to keep in this will be just to run the bussiness.I dont have to make money from this.If you guys can understand really my desire behind this,I welcome a warm supporting hands and we can work together.Thanks.
I'm gonna puke if you are doing this for "public health purposes". You are nuts. You will fail, and promise to post when you do. The thought of providing "quality care" over the internet cracks me up. How would you like me to start doing some telemedicine for red eyes? I'm extra suprised an ophthalmology resident would be so naiive. Have you seen what internet contact supply has done for the "public good"?
So you know, it's not just the retailing expense, but the cost of professional opinions and care (amongst many other expenses). How hypocritical of you to deny the public quality optical professional care on the one hand, while training to provide ophthalmological professional care on the other. You've got a lot to learn about business, the HARD WAY. I wish you "bad luck".
Last edited by drk; 03-29-2005 at 11:00 AM.
Dear Fellow Opticians, I have just recently started to submit my thoughts but have read your conversations for some time. I sense a lot of anger from different members about where different consumers purchase eyewear. Let me say this to you, these people are not your customers, each person decides on where they can receive the greatest value for their dollar and you will spend a lot of time trying to convince them otherwise. Life is the best teacher. I have learned to purchase quality because in the long run it pays off. I could go into personal examples but I am sure that each of you can bring forth your own personal examples. As far as my fellow consumers who feel they are getting ripped off, I encourage you to start your own business because I think you have an excellent grasp on how to run a successful business and give the consumer the best product for the cheapest price. :hammer:
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