NEW YORK – Essilor’s MyOnlineOptical.com, launched late last
month, is designed to help U.S.-based independent eyecare professionals
extend their practices’ reach to patients 24/7 via custom-built
e-commerce capabilities, the company’s executives said.
Not technically the first customizable e-commerce service
available to independents, the new service is the first offered by such a
major player on such a large scale and one that is designed to include
all eyewear product areas including eyeglasses, sunglasses, prescription
sunglasses, contact lenses/solutions plus a virtual try-on tool.
The program, first announced in June 2009, is built on Essilor’s
own Internet and ECP research, beta/field testing and a partnership that
led to the company’s acquisition of an undisclosed majority stake in
FramesDirect.com.
MyOnlineOptical.com allows any optician, optometrist or
ophthalmologist in the U.S. with a “brick-and-mortar” store to utilize a
full suite of fulfillment and support services. For ECPs who enroll,
their information will be validated, and then they will begin the
customer support process of making the modifications to their site,
choosing the products, determining the pricing, and making decisions
relative to the display of the MyOnlineOptical option.
John Walborn, vice president of growth initiatives for Essilor,
told VM, “We are looking at this as an ‘open business model’ to the
industry.” He said the system would provide access to all lenses on the
market, not just Essilor lenses, and all frames, depending on the
conditions determining account access to certain brands from each
vendor’s own policies. Said Walborn, “We are working with vendors to
understand their choices in selling products online.”
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Morgantowneye.com site and related Morgantowneye.onlineopticalstore.com site, built with myonlineoptical.com.
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Regarding the processing of Rx lenses, Walborn also stressed,
“With MyOnlineOptical, we are the fullment house on behalf of the ECP.
So we are considering the service requirements, dedicated customer
service and quality control elements of the site. He said, “there are
labs that have been evaluated and analyzed to provide service via the
system and currently some of these are Essilor labs and some are
independent labs.”
Orders via the participating sites can be delivered to the ECP
practice or directly to the patient.
There is an initial $250 annual fee for a practice to set up
their presentation and involvement; future fees will be leveraged
against the number of transactions via the site, according to the
webinar information and the agreement posted on the informational site.
During the webinar, ECPs were told, at the end of each month they
will receive a check for the transactions processed through their
participating site; the details of that transaction fee structure have
not been disclosed.
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—Marge Axelrad
maxelrad@jobson.com