What can they say? Why would one approach their biggest corporate is sponsor to voice their concerns and dismay? Same goes for the Colleges and Universities.Originally Posted by idispense
Never bite the hand that feeds you!
What can they say? Why would one approach their biggest corporate is sponsor to voice their concerns and dismay? Same goes for the Colleges and Universities.
Never bite the hand that feeds you!
Good post, mensch.
We already do cost + on lenses: acquistion price + dispensing fee = retail price.
We really do that on frames, too, but not as simply:
acquistion cost + cost of retailing + cost of service = retail price.
I'm certainly happy to live off of the fees for services I provide.
But let's examine the "costs of retailing" above and beyond cost of goods sold, as you mention:
1. shrinkage (not the Costanza type)
2. depreciation (that's a biggie)
3. overhead for a retail environment (a very biggie)
What else can we add, here?
You forgot your material purchasing and Rx finfishing cost which are your most costly items next to your rent.
Those are items you can save big time if you care to look around and do some searching.
Thanks, Chris.
I was trying to highlight other value-added things that B&M stores provide, and not include the cost of goods sold (but as you say, that's a fertile area for reducing the total retail price).
For example, do your stores have heat? Do customers really need that? How about music? I just spent $70 for an online music subscription and now I wish patients would just listen to me hum.
What about carpet? High color-rendition light bulbs? Upholstered waiting room chairs? That stuff costs too much.
My frameboards weren't cheap. I pay a cleaning service.
I hired a licensed optician. Big waste when a teenager can say "hi" and point to the optical. I have a nice frame warmer, tools, a couple of lensometers, etc. But that's only for the jobs that we actually fit to patients' faces or do a quality control on.
A phone so we can be reached. Several lines, at that. Customer service is too costly. A voicemail service or a "contact us" e-mail link would cost a lot less.
I don't know if people value this fluff, anymore.
Where do you think the on-line opticals buy their frames ?????????????????????
Drk ....................you got a point.
However you probably did not read the thread where I wrote that the cost=sales of frames leaving the factories is now just about the same it was 51 years ago.
Then it was sold in the retail times for (whatever)
Today it is sold to an exporter who sells it to an importer who resells it for (whatever times whatever)
The importer sells it to a distributor who then resells it for (whatever x whatever x whatever + warranty charges and sales commission) to an optical retailer.
The optical retailer takes his normal (markup to cover his expenses and make a profit.
Where do you think the on-line opticals buy their frames ?????????????????????
Straight from the source................at the lowest price and maybe even get some discounts for quantity orders.
I bet you use actual optical grade mono/polymers for your glasses too right DrK? You know you could save a LOAD of cash just by cutting out the bottoms of plastic water bottles, and mounting those up instead. ;)
Yes online is growing but it is not necessarily a zero sum game as you seem to suggest. Because 10 million pairs are "sold" online (is selling below cost or giving free glasses 'selling'?) does NOT mean 10 million fewer pairs were sold in real stores.
It can only grow so much and then it levels off. I've said it before...contacts are a commodity, no fashion, and super easy to sell online. They are at 16%. Glasses will not get there, IMHO. Opticals in the real world have started to become more competitive with on lines for contacts and no one online is making money now selling them.
After MIDO and seeing all the action and all the innovation and merchandise, I feel more confident about the future of optical. However, real Opticals must adapt and offer smarter packages and options and service. It is not complicated to do. Online is changing things, yes. But there will be Opticals on the streets and in the malls for a long time to come.
There are incredible boutique, P/L and designer frame collections out there that are NOT owned by L. There are many lens suppliers of all kinds that are NOT owned by E, despite the reports to the contrary here. I spent 3 full days at the trade show this past weekend and you could not see it all. ECPs and independent suppliers are not stupid and everyone is smelling the stinky coffee being brewed by E and L. People adapt and innovate, many will thrive. Some will not make it. That is how it is, and how it always was. If you don't get off your a-- and look for new ideas and products, don't complain if business drops. I have never done better than we are doing now and I plan on growing much more.
I would venture to say that the retail environment really isn't that important to many clients and they would gladly pay $100 less to purchase their name brand frames in a "less hi end looking dispensary" and feel great about the great lower price. That seems to be one of the problems that B&M has with on line and fashion frames...people can get the same product for (sometimes $100) less. Many probably do not use "our" dispensaries to try them on because many on liners offer a fairly easy return policy . (talking frames only here).
That's what makes a market. Some people will try online, some never will. Of those who try online, not all will like the experience for a variety of reasons. Because someone buys something online does NOT mean they are lost to the real stores. It is just silly to think that. I have bought shirts online and I never will again. It's a nonsensical thing to imagine people will stop shopping in stores.
Here's a question : how many on optiboard have purchased anything on Amazon.com or overstock.com or Rockautoparts...etc..?
Here is a question: How many of those purchases are custom made medical devices?
Last edited by Fezz; 03-04-2014 at 04:36 PM.
Hi Fezz. The brand name frames are not custom made. They are mass produced. Sometimes that's up to 2/3 of the retail cost of a pair of glasses. Just sayin'
What's your point? Just sayin'
Earlier in the thread drk asked if people still valued the retail environment. All of my statements were related to that and the previous statement that online purchasing was motivated by lower price. Frames ,auto parts cds, dvds..etc can all be sold for less if they don't have the expense of being displayed. More than a few items that we purchase on line today we used to purchase in the stores. ... that's all I was sayin
no one online is making money now selling them. ...............................
After the actual takeover you might not see any more sales and profit figures by CC if E changes the setup.
Anything that is Essilor owned and selling on line is going to make money as they will be the manufacturer of the goods from frames to lenses, selling to their largest onliners, plus they just might or will end the give away game.
Also whatever is offered at shows in Milan or New York this month and Paris later this year, will be available to onliners who are also present there, to look for the latest in the field.
All of us making a living from the status quo should have an alternative plan to apply, we can use to make a living when the internet commercial selling gets even stronger.
My indoor air-conditioner and heater died yesterday afternoon in my Florida office. No equivalent replacement available in Town so I checked the internet and found a few at Amazon and purchased one of 14,000 BTUs at $ 350.00 less than Home Depot who did not have one. It costs me another $ 29.95 for next day shipping and per their e-mail I will get it today.
One other feature was the one button shopping, choose the product and click the button. All the information is there: No need to go there, address and payment mode is all on record, just click the button and a 100 pound item will be at your door the next day hundreds of miles away.
Soon the consumer will order a new pair of glasses to go to some event on Friday this week somewhere on this continent and Fedex will deliver Friday afternoon in 2 days from now wherever it is.
My point is that we're selling service, largely. Service ain't free. It can't be.
"Price-Quality-Service, choose two" as they say.
We'll always sell service. We are a service industry. (For God's sake, don't give away services, please.)
drk.............if you sell service you can deal with any on line customer who needs service and you will never be put of business.
Chris,
I previuosly mentioned that a certain opticain in Quebec had suddenly started to buy up local independents. Actually he has reached app. 18 stores in little over two years. It was stated that possibly E was backing these purchases. So, grab your hats and think about this. Could this be E's way of overcoming the Quebec Optician/Optometrist rules. Get as many locations as you can throughout Quebec and then have all of the CC ONLINE eyeglasses delievered to E's local "independent store" for fittings/adjustments and any other issues. Completely within the rules and no confrontation with the two orders. Keeps E looking like a hero to most Quebec opticians/optometrist and stops the two orders from becoming enemies or aggressive against E. Plus E then has the added value of only selling E products, in these stores, to the puplic that does not buy online. A win..win situation for them.
t was stated that possibly E was backing these purchases ............................
coupe,
If they have not initiated this already you have just given them an idea.
However I would suspect that they have checked all the roads and obstacles before making the deal and everything will go the way, as planned ahead. They weigh the for's and counter's very carefully and when they make a deal it is in their overall interest.
We should know by now, that they will only stop their "progression" when the martians will open a giant sinkhole that will swallow them up.
Is it me or did Coastal just increase their prices? I see they still have a give away on the cheap frames, but you need to buy $99 to get free shipping. Ray bans are $199 and up and lenses are extra. This could end up being like glasses.com where luxottica significantly increased their prices after buying the site.
Another comment...an earlier post talked about disruptive technology. I would be very careful before going out and paying a premium for an online that is a generic brand like coastal.
Well, if I were the kind of corporate optical that wanted to actually make money, I'd raise prices...
I already stopped ordering from Essilor....I dont like to feed my competitor....Continuing to order Essilor products by independent optical business means you are enemy of your own business...Essilor has a unfair plan for future they want to promote their lenses by optical business then start selling Crizal and other branded lenses cheaper than us by online ...I wish we,optician and optometrist, get awaken to stop ordering from Essilor.....
Unless the item sold is a super hot one............by raising prices you make more money but you sell less. The right way is to sell more at the lower price and make more money that way.
We also stopped dealing with Essilor. Hoya is now our main lab. I just can't understand Hoya Canada's way of operating though. Hoya has great products in Asia which they do not bring in here... For example , Hoya could be the the first company (or among the first) to have a stock lens with a blue filtering AR in North America; they even did not know it existed and first told me they could not find where it came from... I called Hoya Hong Kong and I was told it is made by Hoya in their manufacturing plant in South China! It is sold in most countries in Asia including Russia and Hoya Canada had NO CLUE whatsoever what I was talking about. And the treatment has the name "Blue Control" instead of "Recharge". "Recharge", what a terrible name for a blue filtering AR; why didn't they take the name which existed already in Asia?? Blue Control speaks for itself, doesn't it?
Also, Hoya has also a wonderful line of polarised lenses/tints in Asia (9 tints in all) called Polatech and AGAIN the people from Hoya Canada knew nothing about it!!! And they want to compete with Essilor... when you go to war you make sure you have the best weapons to "fight" your opponents. I rattled the cage a few days ago when I phoned the headquarter in Ontario; I hope it gives some results but I doubt. When I have to tell Hoya about products it owns and no one here in Canada heard about these products, something is terribly wrong...
Last edited by djal; 10-10-2014 at 08:22 PM.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks