Independent Labs

[JC1111]

With the insurance companies taking over the market place more and more independent labs are getting swallowed up. as Independents we really need to start supporting each other. I am director of sales and marketing at Acculab a full independent and veteran owned lab. On a daily basis I show optician owners how they are losing big by sending their private pay jobs to corporate labs. alot of times I am able to knock over 1000 a month off their lab bill and offer them way better quality freeform lenses. You dont have to use Acculab but please consider supporting independents as much as humanly possible.. Thanks for listening and Id be glad to talk with any of you to show you how to save big time. just private message me or email me at joecolton@acculab.net

[other_bill_fea]

There's certainly fewer of us left every day. I have a plan to put something together to make it easier to find an independent lab, as I think it's becoming more and more important.

Of course, we all want all of the business, but we also have to be aware that isn't going to happen. So long as it's going to an independent lab, I'm happy. There's not really a reason for us to compete because, really, even all of the market share of independents put together is a whole lot less than what certain large players have.

Part of this is why we try and do lab-to-lab programs with smaller labs. With how expensive free-form and AR equipment is, it's really, really hard to compete with high-volume labs. We've been trying to help out there, since we're able to. We want to be able to provide the labs with products they need to stay competitive, since I know very well that most of their customers are never going to use me. They want to use their local lab, and I'd rather help a small lab out than wait for E to come in and buy their accounts business.

[Quantrill]

I love the idea of a list of independent labs. 2 local labs are now owned by E. Watching them run a solid business then selling out was kind of like that scene in The Neverending Story where the great nothing comes in and wipes everything out.

I recently pointed out on another thread that small, independent shops (with 3 or fewer locations) comprise over 60% of U.S. optical sales. That's a pretty big deal, considering the number of chain stores/big boxes that exist out there, plus the Chicken Littles worried about online optical (even though technology is driving people to freeform lenses, not the $6.95 pair of glasses you can get from Z).

Kudos to the independent labs out there. I wish there were more of them!

[Chris Ryser]

........................considering the number of chain stores/big boxes that exist out there, plus the Chicken Littles worried about online optical (even though technology is driving people to freeform lenses, not the $6.95 pair of glasses you can get from Z).

.................some of those "Chicken Littles" have closely watched the development of online opticals for the last 10 years and warned about a steady increase of their business, by up to 30% these days (by 25 to 30 million pairs yearly now sold on line).

This amount is a direct loss to the conventional retail market.

Furthermore there are some successful movements to deregulate the optical retail trade.

It has happened before in Canada when Imperial Optical dominated close to 40% of the retail and even more of the lab market for close to 40 years, ............and all without the internet and instant communication.

[other_bill_fea]

It has happened before in Canada when Imperial Optical dominated close to 40% of the retail and even more of the lab market for close to 40 years

Chris, you're just being paranoid. This is the U.S. we're talking about. It's not like we're about to allow one company to have a majority control of lens manufacturing, wholesale labs, retail stores, online sales, and insurance. That's just crazy talk.

/s

[Quantrill]

.................some of those "Chicken Littles" have closely watched the development of online opticals for the last 10 years and warned about a steady increase of their business, by up to 30% these days (by 25 to 30 million pairs yearly now sold on line).

This amount is a direct loss to the conventional retail market.

Do you have any evidence of your statement? Has anyone experienced a 30% loss (or even a 10% loss) on here because of online optical?

Chris, how many people are buying online that previously did not buy glasses at all? (Their business has not been lost by brick and mortars)

How many online shoppers are buying multiple pairs? (20+ million pair of online glasses sold does not mean there are 20 million people buying them)

How many people buy online glasses as a backup to their brick-and-mortar-purchased pair of glasses? (I would very much like to know this number)

How many people buy online then decide they don't like it so they never buy again? (anecdotally I can say it is comical how often I deal with people unhappy with their online purchase)

Why do brick and mortar stores continue to open if everyone is buying online?

Why do online stores open up brick and mortar locations? (Warby Parker, for instance)

Technology is changing things, but people are also buying phenomenal quality lenses that require custom measurements. This is a very good thing, in my opinion.

Cheers.

[other_bill_fea]

Why do online stores open up brick and mortar locations? (Warby Parker, for instance).

Because their redo rate on PALs is too high. I'm sure as online measurement tech advances it'll change.

[Chris Ryser]

Because their redo rate on PALs is too high. I'm sure as online measurement tech advances it'll change.

Nothing to do with PALs. It purely to show actual frames physically and not on pictures.

[Chris Ryser]

Chris, you're just being paranoid. This is the U.S. we're talking about. It's not like we're about to allow one company to have a majority control of lens manufacturing, wholesale labs, retail stores, online sales, and insurance. That's just crazy talk.

Nothing crazy about it................... You can not allow nor disallow a company to advance their own interest in a global economy, and not only the USA.

I have a list, now about 2 1/2 years old, of Essilor acquired and fully owned and controlled companies in my possession, that contains over 400 other companies, and they have added a lot more since then, and continuing.

[Quantrill]

Can you share that list or point us to an updated one?

[Chris Ryser]

I will look for it and see if I can put it on my website. I remember to have it scanned into my computer.

[Chris Ryser]

Chris, you're just being paranoid. This is the U.S. we're talking about. It's not like we're about to allow one company to have a majority control of lens manufacturing, wholesale labs, retail stores, online sales, and insurance. That's just crazy talk.

No crazy talk at all............................

You can purchase anything in the USA if the seller agrees, and the buyer comes up with the needed cash and that goes just about for every other country.

Essilor has been purchasing lab after lab for years, then started to go after manufacturers of lenses, followed by buying up optical equipment manufacturers, and that was followed by taking over some of the larger on-line retailers and now owns the largest ones on at least 3 continents. In the USA + Canada alone they own some of the largest ones.

The list I have dates back from 2013 and lists about 400 takeovers world wide, and there have been many more since then.

Many of the labs that went to Essilor used to be independent that could not resist the offers they got. Some of them have even done it twice.

This is no more just the USA, this is global all the way. Lens manufacturing by the old big names as Essilor, Zeiss, Rodenstock, plus many more is now all concentrated in Thailand.

[Chris Ryser]

Originally Posted by Quantrill

Do you have any evidence of your statement? Has anyone experienced a 30% loss (or even a 10% loss) on here because of online optical?

Even if they had, they would not admit it. When on a Board all is beautiful, have you ever heard anybody saying that business stinks, on OptiBoard?


Chris, how many people are buying online that previously did not buy glasses at all? (Their business has not been lost by brick and mortars)

Probably lots of them, but it has been lost by B&M stores because they had a cheaper alternative, which a few years back did not exist.

How many online shoppers are buying multiple pairs? (20+ million pair of online glasses sold does not mean there are 20 million people buying them)

Whatever the amount of glasses that are purchased on-line, they are not sold by traditional retailers.

How many people buy online glasses as a backup to their brick-and-mortar-purchased pair of glasses? (I would very much like to know this number)

Impossible to know, again the answer is : “not sold by conventional retailers”

How many people buy online then decide they don't like it so they never buy again? (anecdotally I can say it is comical how often I deal with people unhappy with their online purchase)

There is NO information available on this question or you would have mentioned any number for yourself.

Why do brick and mortar stores continue to open if everyone is buying online?

The online businesses are still too young to make the big impact on general sales, however the computer savy generations are taking over, while the others are dying off.

Ask yourself why are the big optical corporations now active purchasing already setup and successful onl;ine opticals ?
Companies like Essilor and Luxottica that operate already around 30% of them on a global basis ?


Why do online stores open up brick and mortar locations? (Warby Parker, for instance)

Purely to catch the attention of customers that want to see the actual frames in their hand and face.

Technology is changing things, but people are also buying phenomenal quality lenses that require custom measurements. This is a very good thing, in my opinion.

Ordinary people know nothing about technological advances in the optical manufacturing without learning from a retailer who also knows only from their sales reps that are selling technology that often was around already around 30 years ago and has become the latest.

They are happy if they can see properly.

[Don Gilman]

With the insurance companies taking over the market place more and more independent labs are getting swallowed up. as Independents we really need to start supporting each other. I am director of sales and marketing at Acculab a full independent and veteran owned lab. On a daily basis I show optician owners how they are losing big by sending their private pay jobs to corporate labs. alot of times I am able to knock over 1000 a month off their lab bill and offer them way better quality freeform lenses. You dont have to use Acculab but please consider supporting independents as much as humanly possible.. Thanks for listening and Id be glad to talk with any of you to show you how to save big time. just private message me or email me at joecolton@acculab.net

Thread could also be headlined INDEPENDENT OPTICAL COMPANIES, Of which we are one. Founded in 1923 and still going strong, thank you very much. Let's hear it from others who are still independent!

[mervinek]

I love the idea of a list of independent labs.

Kudos to the independent labs out there. I wish there were more of them!

+1

[Chris Ryser]

How come the independent labs have no organization or association that can advertise and counter the corporation ones as a group?

Supporting the corporation owned ones is financing the retailers own competition that gets bigger and stronger by the square.

[Chris Ryser]

received from an OptiBoard friend as a message:



Chris:
The meaningful answer to this question is simple:

Do you have any evidence of your statement? Has anyone experienced a 30% loss (or even a 10% loss) on here because of online optical?


Answer:

At the moment, probably no individual store has lost 30 percent or even 10 per cent. The reason is simple, B&M stores extract their sales from a small localized radius around their individual fixed location, whereas online internet sellers gain their sales from a broader entire country wide base.

But that's about to change! That's why Internet sellers are now focusing on fixed locations as well. They are going to selectively target market individual locations and territories. Then you will see individual stores lose on a higher percentage per store loss basis.

[Hayde]

Out of respect to the OP, perhaps this rogue branch of conversation ought to go on a different/new thread?

[Chris Ryser]

Out of respect to the OP, perhaps this rogue branch of conversation ought to go on a different/new thread?

There is already another one with the same subject:

Thread: Where are the Independent Labs?

[OpticalDinosaur]

I do believe that Chris had it right when he said that the internet savvy generation is taking over. This is in many forms - there will be rarely any mom&pop stores of any kind, brand loyalty will only last as long as the new trend emerges, and, the cost of living for up-coming generation will certainly limit their disposable income, hence the surge in online sales - Amazon, Zenni, and even Ebay. We have to face facts that the U.S. culture (and perhaps many others) is that of a "disposable society." Its easier to throw something out than have it fixed...this includes our profession. If I can buy it cheap, toss it and get a new pair, why go to the optician. The tangible shopper is slowly, but surely shrinking.



Steve

[other_bill_fea]

How come the independent labs have no organization or association that can advertise and counter the corporation ones as a group?

Supporting the corporation owned ones is financing the retailers own competition that gets bigger and stronger by the square.

I've been trying to think of a way to make something like this work out. One of the main problems can be mentality. I.e. the "I don't want to work with them, they are competition!". Which is true, to an extent, but really, I don't think the competition between independent labs is anywhere near the size it is, especially when you just compare market share of Corporate vs Independent Lab.

We plan on having our Winter issue of OPT magazine focusing on Independents (labs, practices, etc.), and I'm hoping to be able to do some things there to at least make it easier for people to FIND an independent lab. When it comes down to it, we need to realize that helping other independents is helping us. We need to fight against the mentality of there being only one brand as an option, and to promote education. Every lab is different, and some will be a better fit for different types of customers. The important thing, especially at this point, is that they can find other options.

[David_Garza]

Google "Optical Labs near zip code XXXXX" and you can find an independent lab near you.........

[Quantrill]

Google "Optical Labs near zip code XXXXX" and you can find an independent lab near you.........

But how many of those "independent" labs have been bought out by E? Can you really call them independent labs?

[David_Garza]

But how many of those "independent" labs have been bought out by E? Can you really call them independent labs?

If you call or e-mail them it's pretty simple to get those questions answered.