The Optical Vision Site

Eyewear Merchandising Tips from the Field #3 – Frame Selection

We have been getting lots of comments on our “Eyewear Merchandising Tips from the Field” so we are bringing you Eyewear Merchandising Tips from the Field #3 – Frame Selection.

Eyewear consumers price shop and it is hard for the independent practice to compete.  The Internet has become the prime tool for this but not even the larger chains have all the models shown on their web sites. I know as I called and requested information about purchasing them and not one store within a 50 mile radius had any of the specific frame models I asked for that were featured on their web site. Try some more unique brands of eyewear and suggest that the consumer looks at yours as well. Flair from Optylux has some beautiful unique frames for example. Walman has a great selection of national brands and provides excellent customer service.

Zenni Optical And The Eyecare Professional

Can $8.00 frame and lens packages be quality? This subject came up with 2 of our sponsor labs, who had both ordered from Zenni to test the quality of the lens. Both said the exact same thing- the Rx was right on, the frames were low quality, and if they were a consumer and didn’t know any better, they would probably order from Zenni. To find out more about online retailers - Check out our article about Online Eyeglass Retailer Reviews

Everyday, we get google alerts and Zenni Optical comes up consistently. The below are only a few Zenni Optical updates we get everyday. When I say a few, we get at least 30 alerts per day by blogs touting Zenni and other online discount prescription eyewear.

• Wonderful Blog: $ 8 Rx eyeglasses By lavanya-How You Can Start Spending Smart and make smart purchasing decision whenever you need to buy eyeglasses. While I was looking for his glasses sometimes recurring question in the heart, do you wear prescription glasses? … Wonderful Blog – http://www.kameleonsoftware.com/

• Good Or Bad: $ 8 Rx eyeglasses By Prem The $ 8 Rx eyeglasses. Therefore, if you are now looking for very cheap eyeglasses, you can go to Zenni optical site at ZenniOptical.com. This is How You Can Start Spending Smart on eyeglasses because you will save more money. … Good Or Bad – http://www.justakads.com/
• My First Blog: My favorite high fashion eyeglasses By Prem-As one of your friend, I recommend you guys to buy glasses from Zenni Optical, which offer high quality glasses with reasonable cheap price such as the $ 8 Rx eyeglasses. Zenni Optical has been doing business since 2003, …My First Blog – http://johnfirstblog2008.blogspot.com/
• special day: $ 8 Rx eyeglasses By Prem-The Zenni Optical has a big name only offered $ 8 Rx eyeglasses and you will be able to get stylish and fashionable prescription eyeglasses. Because are How You Can Start Spending Smart prescription eyeglasses from the unique and … special day – http://sports-is-the-sports.blogspot.com/
• HEALTH & BEAUTY SECRET: My favorite high fashion eyeglasses By Akbar-I was very happy when I finaly found great online store of eyeglasses at ZenniOptical.com Frame selection is quite good and highly recommend it to anyone who needs high-quality glasses for a very reasonable price. …HEALTH & BEAUTY SECRET – http://healthtobeauty.blogspot.com/
• Anything Special: $ 8 Rx eyeglasses By Edwin Nevis-Also read advice article titled How You Can Start Spending Smart and make smart purchasing decision whenever you need to buy eyeglasses.$ 8 Rx glasses and you will be able to get stylish and fashionable prescription eyeglasses. …-Anything Special – http://www.polymerelectrolytemembranes.com/
• AntoSugiyanto.com » Cheap Eyeglasses on Zenni Optical-By anto-Zennioptical.com is the best source to search and buy for cheap eyeglasses since you only need to spend as much as $ 8 Rx eyeglasses. Saving money and knowing How You Can Start Spending Smart to buy eyeglasses can also be found at …-AntoSugiyanto.com – http://www.antosugiyanto.com/
• Everything About Eyeglasses in Zenni Optical-By NailaIntan=Eyeglasses are definitely a personal fashion and style item, and to that end we strive to provide a fashionable and stylish product. More importantly, we feel.
• Stop The Junk Food – http://www.stopthejunkfood.com/

So what do you do about it? The First- Never assume your patients are not shopping online. They are. Assume the worst and you will be prepared for the future. Second- Discuss with your staff on ways to overcome and develop a ‘value’ and customer service- engagement program.  Third: Read this great article from Eyecare Professional Magazine on ‘The Truth about Online Discounts’. Fourth- Make a plan now to keep those patients coming in and develop into long term loyal- referring patients and customers.-

Does Price Guarantee Customer Satisfaction?

Competing with  On-line Shopping

The two places I shop consistently are Cost-Co and Trader Joes. I go to Cost-Co to buy in bulk their recycled and organics products. When I went a couple of weeks ago, they were not carrying them! I made a special trip to just get the recycled toilet paper  and some organic veggies and they were not there. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was. Trader Joes is the same way- a grocery store that’s marketing strategy is to provide unique, new seasonal products to make shopping more of an adventure. If you shop at Trader Joe’s- people complain more about what is not there, than what is there.

When shopping online, price is certainly the biggest consideration. But availability, appeal, merchandising and the variety of merchandise on site is more important to customer satisfaction than price, according to a study of the top 40 online retailers. The study found that a highly satisfied online shopper is 73 percent more likely to purchase online, 38 percent more likely to purchase offline, 75 percent more likely to recommend than is a dissatisfied website shopper.

What does that mean to you?

• If your average patient only comes in once every 2.3 years- make sure you carry a consistent product selection in order garner patient satisfaction and referrals. (Availability)
• If you are cultivating ‘eyefashionistas’ keep a special section for new and innovative products to inspire your patients to come in more often to see what is new. (Variety)
• Merchandise, Merchandise and Re-Merchandise – change display, change eyeglass positioning on the board, decorate and adorn to enhance the shopping experience. (Appeal)

The above results are evidence that what an optical retailer offers is still important to patients and customers despite a challenging economy. Take the time to figure how to improve and enhance your patient-customer shopping experience.

Competing Online- Eyecare and Optical Services

We have done several articles about  Internet Competition. What I find very interesting is the amount of email we have received from online eyeglass sellers wanting to hook up and collaborate with us- why- because they know the power of the Internet. That said, I believe that the online sellers of Eyeglasses and Contacts are and will continue to be  your Number 1 Competition. (See Post- 42% of Optical Buyers Go Online) Essilor and Jobson Optical Research conducted a survey on this very topic- which was even more interesting- because it seems that most optical professional and retailers are not prepared to compete on line.

Why  Is This Your Number One Competition?

• Aging population- kids growing up are equipped and are buying on now- these are your future patients. As your current patients and die, they don’t need your services anymore.
• Consumer Demand- people are busy- it is more convenient for them to shop online.
• Cost factor- overhead is very low to online sellers, they can undercut any prices.
• Amazing amount of ‘closeout’ eyeglass frames out there that frame vendors have to get rid of! (Think about that when you start returning frames, this is where many end up- online! )
• Laws have made it easier for the consumer to buy online.
• Availability of mobile marketing, podcasts, social media, websites and more to get the word out about products and services.

But most of all for this reason:

• Online services are becoming more sophisticated and tech-no in the dispensing of Eyewear and Contacts and accessories- see below examples of what online optical sellers are doing to enhance the customer services experience.

Examples of Online Optical Services

• Frames Direct - Offers special promotions (free T-shirts and Eyewear) gift cards, a blog, The Eye Zone, They are on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube  and they Podcast, plus they have a section ‘Ask the CEO’- great customer interaction and just in case the consumer want to try frames- they offer a virtual try-on program.
• Clearly Contacts Launches Free Eyeglasses Style Consultations- jumping right from contacts into eyeglass frames. They now offer ‘Frame Fashion Consultants’ who can help the consumer choose an appropriate pair of glasses.
• Vision Direct – an online retailer of contacts now has an Auto Recorder- wherein customers can set up smaller automatic payments, with more frequent deliveries.
• Zenni Optical- Huge Google Adwords campaign, Glasses for $8.00, tons of online reviews. YouTube,

Affiliate Programs- which are basically, resellers of products that make a smaller percentage. For instance Best Buy- can have 100′s of affiliates selling their products- a global reach- taking away even more customers and patients.

• Glassy Eyes.com (Blog) sells glasses and contacts, on Twitter, Flickr. I love the ‘Eyeglass Stories-, Forum, and a referral program.
• Get Better Glasses (Blog)- Affiliate from Best Buy Eyeglasses, EyeBuy Direct, Glasses USA and a few more. Onsite- promotions, reviews, trends and celebrities.

‘Mass Market’ E-Tailer

• Overstock.com
• E-bay
• Amazon

We will be continuing to write articles on how to compete with online optical services e-tailers. For now you can see more information on how to compete on the following posts:

• Should an Optical Professional Twitter
• Viral Marketing-
• Can Yelp Help to Grow Your Business
• Can YouTube Help You

Standing Out From Your Optical Competition

Making yourself different from the competition is all about managing customers expectations and giving them not only what they expect and a little extra. At one time you would have gone to Starbucks because they offer free WiFi. Now even the smallest diners or cafe’s offer Free WiFi. Before you embark on your ‘Standing out From The Competition’ take the ‘Nobody Else is Doing It’ out of your thinking. Being a leader or first to offer a product or a service can be challenging!

Wow Your Patients

 Some considerations to “Jump-Start’ Your Creativity 

• How do you Stand out? 
• What can you add? New Services, product extras you can put into the mix. 
• What barriers can you remove? How can you make it easier to do business? 
• What fun can you add in? How can you make the buying experience fun and engaging? 
• What value can you add? What can you give customers-patients something so unexpected that adds value to your products and services?

Online Eyeglass Retailer Reviews

Now that we know that 42% of people go online to research optical services. Want to know how the online eyewear retailers stack up in regards to quality and service? Check out this site that rates those online eyeglass retailers. The site was created for consumers who purchase eyeglasses online. Included on the site are coupons, pricing and information.   

Eyeglass Retailers Reviews

Why Optical Consumers Buy Online

After hearing from optical retailers and optical suppliers how much the Internet has effected their business, I thought I would do an article on what motivates the consumer to purchase on line. Should you be offering this services as well?  After reviewing many optical websites- very few offer this service. You can set an appointment, find out about eye health- but what happens if you want to reorder contact lenses? Or you saw a particular frame, you liked, why not make this service available to your patients and potential patients?

Aegis Group’s Synovate recently did a survey for Guidance and came up with some surprising and not so surprising results.

Check these site out- to see what they say about buying online

• Online Shopping for Medical Services-
• How to Buy Your Glasses online- EZ Article
• How to choose a pair of Glasses from an online Retailer-

Teklite- Eco Friendly Lenses From Frames Direct

These lenses are from Frames Direct- ‘The Teklite production process reclaims more than 90% of the plastic left over from the initial injection molding stage of lens making for secondary uses such as automobile and toy manufacturing.’

The appeal: The Eco Friendly Consumer which is over 50% of the marketplace today.

The reason why I put this video up is because Frames Direct is ‘on it’ and effectively using technology (youtube) and consumer trends (eco friendly) to grow their business. I consider Framesdirect.com one of the top internet sellers of eyewear, thus being a strong competition to the brick and mortar optical professional.

What they do, and you can do the exact same thing:

1. They have a ‘talk to an eyewear professional’ on the phone. For consumers who aren’t quite sure on what to purchase and want to speak to a live person.
2. Twitter Give-away- they are always promoting give-aways and promoting people to follow them on Twitter. (806 Followers)
3. They are on Facebook (441 Fans)
4. Promote Gift Cards
5. They have a Blog- which consistently shows up on the top page of google. I like their blog as well, it’s fun and informative.
6. They are all over YouTube (see above story) Not only do they go on YouTube themselves, they also feature their vendors YouTubes on the blog. I can’t tell you how easy this is to upload on a blog or website. (copy and paste)
7. If you examine their website and blog, Twitter and Facebook, they engage the consumer with talk to me, Dr. Cooper’s favorites, eyewear discussions, giveaways and on line chats, now they are offering gift cards to submit songs.
8. Virtual Frame Try On Software program.

Bottom line- take a look at Framesdirect.com, see what they do and consider how to incorporate some of their use of technology and consumer appeal into your marketing plans now and in the future.