So, is it a bad idea to have a two-tiered approach to selling eyewear, like your "normal eyewear sales" and "internet type sales" ?
Like have a section of inexpensive, i.e. Parade type frames, and inexpensive lenses available along side of your "regular" selections?
This is by far the best articulation I could steal to answer your question.Originally Posted by idispense
Borrowing a metaphor, I think we stress far too much about where the ball is rather than where it will be. Too soon to know where it'll be. My guess is it'll end up being a virtual red carpet to our front doors so people can try on frames. That's because I believe our model has something the other industries in that article didn't have: Our job performance isn't nearly so easily axiomized. Until 3D modeling is so advanced and ubiquitous that shoppers can upload their heads and postures into virtual frame shops and get reliable, good results of predicting aesthetics, comfort, fit, and performance---enough people will want competent, in-person help picking frames with their Rx in mind. The online phenomenon will merge with the corporate chain optical model first. After that, we might start seeing how parts of the IT outreach can help evolve the higher altitude of the market.
Thank You Joe:
Could you provide a link to that study or reprint it here ? I looked on the Vision Council site but didn't see it.
Yeah, I already know that's it's not magic.:)
It was a little bit suprising for me, that it's kind'a new thing for US opticians.))
When I started to make my web-site, I read a lot of info about how to manage your site, including SEO, too.
Now I can't say that I can use SEO opportunities as good, as skilled SEO developer could do, but when I search web I can clearly see their work.
Just like Neo un Matrix...
Truly saying, it's kind'a hard job to work an optician and studying seo at the same time. Though my site was started along time ago, work on it is going very slowly- because of my primary job- optician...
Think it's not a fantastic result, but for request "repair glasses Kharkiv"- my site is almost on top. This result was reached only with help of SEO.
I wrote texts for this page by myself.
http://vizhuvsyo.com/services/766752
From top 5 of this request in Google- two links are directing to my web-site... That's where you see "Вижу Всё".;)
Attachment 11236
However, if you want to promote pages that offer to buy contact lenses or frames- I know it will cost a lot of money, because of the high rivalry for this key words... And you can't reach any good results for high-frequency requests only with help of SEO.
That's how I see it from my side.
As you might have noticed from discussions here, it's a new thing for opticians in North America but yet it's an old tool that's been used for many years in the competitive optical business to achieve high volumes.
Perhaps the reason it's new to opticians here is the constant pressure to quash any discussion of these tools and techniques and turn the conversations away from learning.
It would seem that staying focused on the tools and techniques is pooh poohed here.
In 5 pages of discussion, so far, we have only made it to the topic of SEO but very little about how to employ it and what results can be expected. Many are interested in the subject matter of: " how to compete"
I welcome your thoughts and knowledge and thank you for your participation.
Does that mean "disjudged"?pooh poohed
SEO is only one of many instruments to bring your business to success.In 5 pages of discussion, so far, we have only made it to the topic of SEO
First you need to make your own, not like any other, strategy, I think.
And that is the most trouble for most of us, IMHO.
Thank you. This thread is very intersting to me, too. As I see, though we have many common in our problems with on-liners, some moments are very specific and depend on country too much...I welcome your thoughts and knowledge and thank you for your participation.
Yes dis judged would work but " discouraged" is the correct term.
Most of us embrace technology. I embrace it as it becomes useful to me, not necessarily because others are using it. Admittedly, and without shame, I was a late comer to the promotion of AR. I was, because the technology to properly adhere to the lens, as well as many other issues, were not overcome before they started the hype machine. Once I was convinced it was a good product, I began using it in full force. Same for patternless edges...only when it made sense for MY practice did I buy them.
The point is though, these products weren't developed out of fear, much like the "fighting online" mantra conjures, but rather a desire to progress. I don't look for the sky to fall, nor for potholes to trip me; I focus straight ahead, on what's best for my practice. So far, so good...
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
You do need continuous submitting service ...................................
SEO means search engine optimization. There is plenty you can read about and learn.
You can do it yourself or hire some of the thousands that will charge you for it.
The principle is to submit your own website to the thousands of web search engines for indexing and feeding the results to the big ones as Google and others.
This process has to be done periodically, every 3 month and does take some time to do. You can do it yourself or have one of SOE people do it, however this can become very costly.
I have been watching website traffic for years and have seen sites come up from the bottom to fairly close of the top, stay there for a period of time and then lide back to where they were before.
Today I know that happens when the paying party gets fed up and cancels SEO service and do not do it themselves.
You do need continuous submitting service to get the wanted traffic to your site either by a paid service or investing your own time doing it.
What it means is there was probably never a plan to ever be profitable and payout dividends to share holders on any type of recurring schedule. Rather it was let's build it at any and all costs to the point of critical mass (in marketshare & volume) then sell it for a profit and payout at that time. It worked.
Your second point; the simplest way to acquire start up capital is private equity financing and/or selling private shares. This is how Clive Beddoe started WestJet which has evolved into the most successful profitable air carrier company in Canada. Banks wouldn't touch them back then and now they all line up at the WestJet feeding trough.
Sure they're public now, but didn't start that way. Even better, most of their share are owned by their own employees. Heck, if one could ever assemble a group of 100 people that would toss in $10K each, you would then have $1M, more than enough to open an independently owned chain of 20 optical stores across the country. It can be done successfully done at $50K for each location and the supply chain is already in place.
Then build it all costs for 5 years and sell to Lux.
What it means is there was probably never a plan to ever be profitable and payout dividends to share holders on any type of recurring schedule. Rather it was let's build it at any and all costs to the point of critical mass (in marketshare & volume) then sell it for a profit and payout at that time. It worked.
Your second point; the simplest way to acquire start up capital is private equity financing and/or selling private shares. This is how Clive Beddoe started WestJet which has evolved into the most successful profitable air carrier company in Canada. Banks wouldn't touch them back then and now they all line up at the WestJet feeding trough.
Sure they're public now, but didn't start that way. Even better, most of their share are owned by their own employees. Heck, if one could ever assemble a group of 100 people that would toss in $10K each, you would then have $1M, more than enough to open an independently owned chain of 20 optical stores across the country. It can be done successfully done at $50K for each location and the supply chain is already in place.
Then build it all costs for 5 years and sell to Lux.
So you are saying they always did intend to make a profit . The profit came from the last sale.
Where did they find the equity financers ?
You are the only one that can solve a problem locally...............................
To come back to the theme of competing with on-line optical s it is not important to know how they make or made their money.............you need a solution to bring back the 7 million or more buyers from them to your local businesses.
You are the only one that can solve a problem locally.
You need a solution which can let you sell at an attractive price like they do and still make good profits by selling your services at a charge that makes up for a less expensive sale.
The info is from a very large study which is distributed to Vision Council Members which you need a login to see. They spend considerable time and money on their studies and they put out huge amounts of data.
According to this study, frame and lens sales from independents grew approximately 5% which equates to an increase of approximately $500 million in 2013. This excludes exam fees which also grew. Someone is doing something right.
Interesting is that just dollars increase or units increase?
Dollars and the amounts are not inflation adjusted.
the other way is to own the key words exclusively like "contact lens" and build your own exclusive stable of key words and key domain names , essentially reducing the Google Ad Words reliance and expense.
Who can explain the process of getting your optical listed on the GPS navigation devices ? Any one care to give it a shot ?
I disagree with providing blanket advice such as this. It is not that simple. There are many other factors that need to be considered before declaring someone needs a solution to combat online. For some, online is a threat, for others it is an opportunity, and for still others it is irrelevant.
If you believe you are losing business to online, you need to react. There are many things you can do but again, it depends on your circumstances. Savvy people can figure it out. Others use consultants. As someone who spent many years as a consultant, just be wary of any consultant that does not do a whole lot of listening before they give you a solution.
Let me give you a very simple example. You may be losing business to online because you are at the same price point as an online site that is popular with your customers. Maybe you should offer a better product that you cannot get online and promote this as a premium product? Or maybe you should buy cheaper lenses and frames and offer packages that can compete with online and attempt to improve your overall margin through an increase in volume? Two opposite approaches but both could be effective if your circumstance allow you to pull it off. But please do not follow this advice as you need to consider many other factors. Like I said, it is not that simple.
Google "list your business on gps" and you will come up with more information than you can ever use such as:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5813330_list-business-gps.html
Actually, this thread should have been titled: "How to Compete".
Does it matter who the competition is, if you bring your "A" game?
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
I honestly do not think that a B&M OPTICIAN can compete with online.
We simply cannot sell cheap enough and still earn a decent living and pay rent on a decent location.
We can however be affordable and offer expertise that customers cannot get on line.
DRs let your opticians charge for verifying Rxs on glasses purchased on line. Keep a record of products purchased from you and charge to adjust frames not purchased from you.
These are obviously needed services that take time, require skill, know how and a lensometer. Prices do not have to be high maybe $10 per service. Some pts may begin to see value in getting their eyewear from you even if you are $100 more expensive than on line. Its costing $300 more that keeps them from purchasing from B&M. Just sayin'
A trait that a B&M optician must have that I do not hear anyone speaking of is PERSONALITY.
Without a pleasant personable personality regardless of your knowledge and skill there will be those out there that will have nothing to do with you. Lets face it sometimes we have people come to us that it just seems they are looking to get out of the house and just be entertained somehow. Admit it. how many times have you put a pair of pliers on a pair of glasses and wiggle your wrist pretending to do something while being sociable talking about the weather, toss them in the ultrasonic for a few moments to warm them up, spray and wipe them and TA DA! You have worked miracles and been entertaining to the patient.
By the way. How many out there take advantage letting the patient know of financing the glasses by Care Credit?
If I understand your question right:
1) Register in Google+.
2) In Google+ menu of your page choose "+Page" (May be another name in your language)- create +Page for your business (optic shop, online shop, etc.)
3) Write all needed for customer info for your optic's in appropriate fields.
4) Bingo! Your adress is on the Google Map!
So far we know that we can increase our website exposure to reach more customers by using Search Engine Optimization techniques just like on- liners use.
One of these methods is to use our own stable of owned key words and domains and another is to use versions of Google Ad Words or similar product from other mediums.
We also know where to research listings to put us on the Google maps and to do the same research to put out icon onto a GPS device.
We know our supplier/competitors put out extensive data on the industry but we can't access it without being a member.
Have I missed anything in this summary ?
So far we also have a lot of opinion expressed as to whether or not it is possible to compete with on-liners or whether we should even try.
Also there is a sentiment expressed against Chris's service charge based model questioning the amount of the service charge as well as the location in an industrial area.
There is also a faction suggesting opticians should not concern themselves with marketing technique and another faction suggesting it would not be easy in any event and yet another suggesting we ignore on-liners entirely as the sky is not falling in and these discussions are silly.
Is this a fair summation of opinion ?
Can anyone suggest a good reason why we should continue to explore the methods to compete and continue to examine the tools and techniques ?
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