Lets bring it to the table

**coupe** · 06-28-2014, 10:35 AM

Are we really fooling ourselves and trying to hide the basic issue. Is online eyeglass retailing that wrong. ECP's forever have been saying that is is wrong, illegal, derogatory, harmfull etc. etc. and yet where is the documented medical proof that people are actully physically being hurt by wearing mis-adjusted online eyeglasses. If it is out there I would like to see the details. The British Columbia gouverment obviously thinks there is no problem.

Gouverning bodies, optical boards, have all stood up and stated that without seeing the client and not being able to make the final adjustment, to the eyeglassses ECP are putting there clients occular health at risk. Well what about your last client that you sold a pair of eyeglasses to (face to face) that will not be back in your office for the next two or three years. Over that time his/her eyeglasses will be come misadjusted and yet they will wear them with no problem. How many people do ECP see outside of their office, daily who have misadjusted eyeglasses. How many of your current office staff, sales reps, lab workers ....right now are using misadjusted eyeglasses. So lets be serious, is it truly the question of final adjustment or is it a question of protecting our permits to practice and our as_es.

Your boards will tell you not to give out PD's. Opto's will tell the client, "I am sorry that was not part of your exam". Is that a lie. If you used an auto refractor is the PD not included therefore part of the exam. With all of the new digital sufficated technology out there today, are you sure that your PD ruler is really that accurate. But lets also be serious, is .5 of a millimeter on a PD really that important. The new tech equipment is accurate, proper seg heights, good PD's, panto angle etc. They even have virtual try on technology. The real dispensing comes from embrasing this technolgy and using your optical experience to evaluate that info for the fabrication of the eyeglasses. Using final adjustments as a cop out reason, for non online dispensing is ....well you decide.

My reason for this post is that unless we, ECP's start looking at the the NEW WORLD of the eyglass business, we are about to get pummelled and very hard. We need to take our heads out of the sand and start ajusting to the new changes that technology is giving us, use it to our best ability and stop pounding on online retailing. Clients with difficult eyesight will always need our help, but is the client wearing drugstore eyeglasses not better off to order online with the proper PD and Rx correction for both eyes. And he will get them less expensily online than we B&M stores can afford to charge. And he would have never come to you anyway.

SO my view is incorporate online with your B&M. Have the clients order online using all of the technology available and then let them come pick them up at your store. Set a limit for the low need clients of basic issues IE: + / - 0.50 to 3.00 SV diopters straight out online purchase without the need for pickup adjustments. Mailed directly to them with the acknowledgement that they should come in for and adjustment.

The very best method ever expressed to me was , allowing your client access to your web site. There they can try on all of the frames for the comanies you deal with. You B&M only has app 500 frames but your website offers 1000's of frame choices for all of your supplier. The client chooses a frame and submit a copy of the current Rx. The virtual try on gives you the measurements for the fabrication of the UNCUT LENSES. A credit card is used by the client to leave a down payment for the order and the lens order is sent to you associated lab. The frame order is placed with your frame supplier. When both are ready and in your office you call the client to come down for a proper fitting and a verification of the frame choice and fit. If all is well ,you cut and mount the lenes and they are ready for your client is twenty minues. If the client does not like the frame choice they may choose from one of the 500 in your office on the frame boards. The advantages....24/7/365 ordering for your client...auto down payment covers lens cost.....greater client satisfaction....increased sales....more frame choice and less inventory cost ( you pay for what you have already sold)....constanly current and up-to-date inventory and you are now an ONLINE RETAILER of a differnt mode. PS: If the client does not like any of your frames their only obligation is to buy the lense or loose the deposit.

So suck it up , look at the new world , start making changes and fight back against the big corporations. It can be done.

**opty4062** · 06-28-2014, 11:21 AM

Your boards will tell you not to give out PD's. Opto's will tell the client, "I am sorry that was not part of your exam". Is that a lie. If you used an auto refractor is the PD not included therefore part of the exam....I have seen this mentioned several times on the board before. I can tell you this for certain. My autorefractor is 10 years old. Sometimes it sticks and it is necessary to have the pt move their chin. The PD from an autorefractor should not be considered accurate IMO. We don't even have our techs document it.

is .5 of a millimeter on a PD really that important. ...Of course this depends on the patient, sometimes it is very important, but I know that you are speaking of those with simple RXs

My reason for this post is that unless we, ECP's start looking at the the NEW WORLD of the eyglass business, we are about to get pummelled and very hard. We need to take our heads out of the sand and start ajusting to the new changes that technology is giving us, use it to our best ability and stop pounding on online retailing. Clients with difficult eyesight will always need our help, but is the client wearing drugstore eyeglasses not better off to order online with the proper PD and Rx correction for both eyes. And he will get them less expensily online than we B&M stores can afford to charge. And he would have never come to you anyway. So what makes you think the drugstore reader pt who would not come to me for RX reading glasses because of price will prefer online ordering which would still be more $$ than the drugstore? Not to mention the odds of a drugstore reader pt being in a demographic that would consider online spec ordering.

The very best method ever expressed to me was , allowing your client access to your web site. There they can try on all of the frames for the comanies you deal with. You B&M only has app 500 frames but your website offers 1000's of frame choices for all of your supplier. The client chooses a frame and submit a copy of the current Rx. The virtual try on gives you the measurements for the fabrication of the UNCUT LENSES. A credit card is used by the client to leave a down payment for the order and the lens order is sent to you associated lab. The frame order is placed with your frame supplier. When both are ready and in your office you call the client to come down for a proper fitting and a verification of the frame choice and fit. If all is well ,you cut and mount the lenes and they are ready for your client is twenty minues. If the client does not like the frame choice they may choose from one of the 500 in your office on the frame boards. The advantages....24/7/365 ordering for your client...auto down payment covers lens cost.....greater client satisfaction....increased sales....more frame choice and less inventory cost ( you pay for what you have already sold)....constanly current and up-to-date inventory and you are now an ONLINE RETAILER of a differnt mode. PS: If the client does not like any of your frames their only obligation is to buy the lense or loose the deposit.

This sounds like a great way to incorporate the web and B&M but it also sounds like a headache. What if the patient chooses a frame not conducive to their RX? Then they don't like the frames on your board. You've got their choice to return and you are looking at refunding their deposit and you are stuck with lenses. (Pts won't like the idea of being on the hook for the lenses if their choice does not work out) Then there is the time spent on these orders vs patients in the office with money to spend. What about the overall impression of convenience vs the idea that this is still something that is important enough to have done in person with a qualified professional. IMO the pt who is going to use their rx at Warby is not the pt who is going to choose instead my website with virtual try-on. It's two different animals in their mindset. And certainly not the pt who chooses zenni for the unbeatable price point.

So suck it up , look at the new world , start making changes and fight back against the big corporations. It can be done IS this fighting back? Or is it trying to compete with the companies who do ONLY this and do it well and cheap to begin with?

**mshimp** · 06-28-2014, 11:30 AM

Brick and Mortar meshed with online. It's the future. Embrace it or get out of the game.

**Judy Canty** · 06-28-2014, 03:30 PM

Why do you think that WP augments with B&M locations?

**Robert_S** · 06-28-2014, 05:43 PM

The single advantage of buying online is price. If i ever feel that my services/products don't justify the difference in price and then some, I wouldn't keep doing business. Porsche don't compete on price with Toyota... More people will buy Toyota but each has a place in the market. Our business has grown year on year over the last 3 years and doesn't look like slowing down, because we have that differentiation.

**Barry Santini** · 06-28-2014, 10:46 PM

Following....

**drk** · 06-30-2014, 08:46 AM

This is getting old.

Let's set aside public safety for the moment (which is the #1 reason online is bad), and just look at the commerical aspects of this.

1. Materials
2. Services
3. Overhead

Onliners are cutting out 2 of the 3, and trying to sell low (not that they're raking in the profits, from what I've seen).

Keep doing 1, 2, and 3, AND IN A FREE MARKET (which is never guaranteed anymore) you'll outcompete them.

**Judy Canty** · 06-30-2014, 09:28 AM

There's a free market?

**Chris Ryser** · 07-02-2014, 02:31 AM

Originally Posted by drk

................... just look at the commerical aspects of this.

1. Materials
2. Services
3. Overhead

Onliners are cutting out 2 of the 3, and trying to sell low (not that they're raking in the profits, from what I've seen).

Keep doing 1, 2, and 3, AND IN A FREE MARKET (which is never guaranteed anymore) you'll outcompete them.

A good statement drk.................the only thing its too late. If the economy would be normal it might work.

However the economic conditions are working for the onliners, The majority of the more successful ones is now owned by the Optiboards most favorite suppliers, the last of the big ones, the WP is most probably the next to join the others to help domination.

Optical retailers should add just one service to get back into the flow of things by adding service to the one liners for a fee, Just give in a bit and people would come back for the hands on personal service offered. Times have changed fast and will change even more.

Stop pushing the AR coatings with big names. These are some of the items that make the most money for your suppliers. Sell your frame and lenses at similar prices and charges for the hands on service, of whatever you want, need or think its worth.