Monday, May 21, 2012 Search
Search

Twitter
Twitter
Facebook
Job of the week

What Business Activity Is Growing by Double Digits?

November 14, 2011

 
Most folks this year have been checking the status of the financial markets at least a couple of times a day, given its ups and downs and roller coaster performance as the economy sputters forward.

And VM’s reported on some of the industry’s own numbers, either via consumer data like The Vision Council’s VisionWatch or ECP outlooks toward business, like the Jobson Research Optical Business Barometer. While many optical retail businesses are holding their own, and some are seeing gains, it’s rare to hear of a business generating high “double digit” growth these days. People are grateful if they’re running “even,” are happy with 3 percent to 5 percent gains and get pretty ecstatic if they see something approaching 8 percent, 9 percent or even 10 percent.

But there is one aspect of the vision care/optical industry that has been experiencing high double-digit increases—and that’s online business-to-business, or B2B, ordering.

In what will be a two-part feature, this month’s “New World Order” reports that after years of gradual increases and expansion, optical retailers and eyecare professionals and their staffs are much more actively tapping online software and purchasing technologies as a regular part of their daily routine.

Next month, we’ll take a focused look at how suppliers and their customers are interacting directly via B2B sites which offer new ways of furthering bonds between buyers and sellers.

The increased traction in online ordering spells new efficiencies for all practices and retail operations, in terms of time saved and processes streamlined. And it signals a shift that has and will continue to build the way that buyers and sellers interact.

Beyond the shipments of merchandise, the increase in online ordering bodes well for how practices, labs and suppliers can learn even more about their business and make more informed decisions about it because online ordering spawns a lot of data. That data can be aggregated and charted and analyzed so that patterns can emerge to help in that decision-making process.

In short, there are many positive implications of this important and growing trend. ■

maxelrad@jobson.com
Most Viewed Stories This Week