Thinking about adding this in house since I have the edger for it. Not real happy that they are in direct competition especially considering their consumable prices have quite the markup.
Have they been doing this for a while or is this a new development?
https://buychemistrie.com/
It's news to me. I wonder what happens when there's a prescription change?Originally Posted by morinput
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. - Richard P. Feynman
Experience is the hardest teacher. She gives the test before the lesson.
I see this more for attracting those patients who want to add a Chemistrie layer to their existing eyewear. The majority of wholesale labs I am familiar with won't do retrofits. Only new product.
"Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland
Chemistrie Magnetic Layering System is available directly to you, the consumer!
Here they go. They must be feeling a slow down by other direct optical internet sales as probably many other suppliers do, and have taken steps to recuperate some of the lost business. Most probably you will see more of these type websites in the very near future.
Interesting, they have an Alexa ranking of ...................
Chemistrie selling direct to consumer?
Interesting, they have an Alexa ranking today of of:
7,578,829, in the USA749,861
Interesting, I will watch them over the next couple of month if the ranking will go up by getting consumer traffic. Usually on-line optical's are the highest ranking sites according to my studies and website listings at
http://optochemicals.com/web_listing.htm
Last edited by Chris Ryser; 04-09-2015 at 05:44 AM.
Time to get them out of the office?
The prices they are charging is a loss for us and makes us look like gougers; we can not do them for the prices they are charging and I will be calling the rep today.
I don't mind internet sales but selling for our cost is a little crazy.
Barry,
What do you say?
Craig
Say it isn't so!
You can go back in the archives of Optiboard, and see the evolution of Chemistrie, and see the direct connection between the opticians educating the consumers, and the success of their product. I was one of the first in this area to use it, and one of the first Optiboarders. Those of us who used it, promoted it, defended it, and were key to it gaining a foothold in the opticial community. The reason I pushed it was because it seemed to be a product that required some in-house skill to produce, and allowed a decent profit center.
From the beginning, my offices have never used the word "Chemistrie", but instead, we renamed it to _________-clip, using instead, a derivative of our company name, to imply that it is only available through us. And truthfully, it IS only available to us, because nobody else can use that name.
At the very least, this is extremely dissapointing, and unexpected. I am not sure how this will change how we deal with the company., but I will avoid a knee jerk reaction. I agree with Craig that this is undercutting our business, and will consider that as we move on. We have been very reasonable in our pricing, and in fact, set our prices at the price point CHEMISTRIE reccomended. For them to sell them direct to consumers is extremely dissapointing. For them to undercut our pricing, after they suggested it, is simply underhanded.
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
In the FAQ section of their website, their is a "How do I buy Chemistrie products?" section. You would have thought, at the very least, they would have some type of optical locator for those who have been carrying their products for so long. From the website, it would appear that the internet is the only option consumers have.
Joe Zewe, can you shed some light on this subject?
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
I guess I did't learn my lesson with Varilux. ECP'S made the name common with consumers. I've always referred to the clips as Chemistrie. That ceases this morning. I also won't be handing out any product with the name on it. I too Johns won't make a knee jerk reaction. But I will be changing in some way how we go forward.
We sell Chemistrie through wholesale labs and retailers who can edge our product. We do not sell through corporate chains. Unfortunately, since our distribution is limited by the reach of the labs who carry our product and retailers with edgers that drill, there are large portions of the country where we have zero distribution. We get calls in our office from consumers who want our product but do not have an ECP in their area. We do have a retail locator on our Eyenavision site where consumers can locate a retailer in their area and when we get calls or emails, we direct consumers to this locator.
We also have the problem that most retailers and labs will not do retrofits. We do retrofits in our lab. Many retailers and labs send us retrofits and we do them at a wholesale price point that is competitive in the market. These are not easy jobs to do (especially drill mounts) and often we lose money on them when we do them wholesale.
When we get calls, we recommend that the consumer go to our locator and find an ECP in their area that carries our product. This has produced business for ECPs who carry Chemsitrie. Like I mentioned above, our distribution is limited. We became frustrated telling people who want to buy our product too bad, you can't get it. About a year or so ago, we had our developer throw together a site that would allow consumers to mail us their glasses and we would retrofit them. Many say no thanks as they only have one pair and cannot send us their glasses. Others do not want to deal with the hassle. Some send us their glasses. The volume is very small. Fewer than one per day on average. But it is better than sending someone away disappointed. Maybe when they go to get their next pair of glasses their ECP will see their Chemistries and decide to carry the product. The buychemistrie site is not a focus of our business and we have not spent any money to promote this site.
We focus on the independent. In addition to our clips, we do high quality private label frames at a very favorable price point, have a stock lens program at extremely low prices, can provide digital Rx lenses for our ECP customers who use our lab, etc.
there is a locator
https://buychemistrie.com/how-to-order
Having gone this far, why are corporate chains a taboo and why would you consider that a feather in your cap ?
Have you considered a login area where existing dealers can view the business coming in from their areas through your direct to consumer website to re establish their trust and open their eyes to other opportunities?
Is it reasonable to think that you did weigh the risk of alienation and losing some of your existing dealers as well as impacting edger sales compatible to the process ?
Last edited by idispense; 04-09-2015 at 08:59 AM.
I don't consider it a feather in our cap. I am just stating a fact. Our strategy for the Chemsitrie business has been to focus on distribution through independent ECPs. Corporate chains were not chosen as a focus for many reasons.
Joe, one of the biggest issues I have is you selling direct at price points sub what we retailers are charging, as Johns said, lower than you recommend us sell them.
If you had just reached out to the community here, I for one could tell you how to increase coverage and get more offices on board with doing them in house. I know an equipment manufacturer that would be happy to partner with you.
"Has been" is a past tense. What is the future focus? Is it reasonable to think that thought was given to losing existing dealerships by alienating them this way?
Then change the tense to "is". Our focus with Chemistrie will continue to be the independent unless business dictates otherwise and I do not see this changing. But we are a tiny business in a big optical world and we do not dictate the future of the industry.
Is it true that your web site direct to consumer price is "sub your recommended price that retailers should charge" ?
We don't dictate retail prices. We provide pricing feedback based upon what we see in the market and every market is different. Most of our ECP customers buy Chemistries through a lab and the lab dictates the wholesale price which has a big impact on what the ECP charges their patient. If the pricing on our site is an issue with some of our significant customers, we will raise it.
Last edited by Joe Zewe; 04-09-2015 at 10:22 AM.
When considering the effects of a direct to consumer web site and the possibility of conflicting interests and pricing, how many dealers did you anticipate losing, yet still being viable to risk their ire?
I'm curious what denotes a "significant customer" to chemistrie? And further am curious if the overwhelmingly negative response of every private provider here to this news is enough to give chemistrie pause, and cause them to reconsider their pricing structures to private practice, and wholesale labs (which really aren't all that different across the country from every one I've spoken to about it).
Another question to ask is about the discount consumers get on additional clips that they order. I was checking out the website and additional clips were available for $50.00 for each additional one. Is such a discount offered to ECP's that order multiple clips at once, whether it is for one patient or multiple patients at once?
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity
Another excellent question. This is one I don't think can be simply passed off as "That's just the way the labs do it." As I would surmise that the vast majority of us are able to get some form of multi pair discounts on ophthalmic lenses. Logic doesn't seem to point to them doing it for one, but not the other. Are the labs getting a worse pricing structure (no multi pair discount direct from Chemistrie) than private patients are in that regard as well?
Not a really fair comparative question Brian. Labs don't get discounts from blank suppliers simply because you order 2 pair for a patient. It's marketing (and because almost all labs offer it, it's become the norm..) The only discount labs get is based on volume. Chem has such discounts too for volume. It is up to a lab what they discount and how, but suppliers aren't involved (except as mentioned, volume).
Once again, the consumer pricing direct is what concerns me.
Why not establish a "firmer" MSRP, and stick to it yourself?
Perhaps I should re-frame the question. Based on the large volume of chem lenses that the contracted wholesale labs are doing, when compared against a small private practice, is the pricing that chemistrie then offers those labs such that they can still compete against chemistries own direct to consumer pricing - particularly as it applies to second pair sales? Dollar amounts not required of course, but a general sense of who is getting the better pricing would certainly be helpful for businesses to judge whether or not to carry or continue to carry this line. Labs and private offices alike.
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