While selling eyewear online was once viewed as almost violating the unwritten rules of optical retailing, many eyecare professionals have now come to realize that e-commerce is just one more form of omnichannel retailing that is not going away. As this retailing method evolves, some traditional brick-and-mortar stores are crossing the virtual divide, and vice versa. In this edition of dba q&a, find which of the following regional optical retailers are venturing into cyberspace and the techniques they are using to do so.
Q: Have you participated in e-commerce for any aspect of your operation's eyewear business?
Alan Ulsifer, OD, CEO and president,
FYidoctors, Alberta, Canada
At FYidoctors, we are currently selling both contact lenses and eyeglasses online. We have incorporated active prescription verification, imposed age and Rx restrictions, and have an active follow-up mechanism with patients for any questionable Rx choices. We have implemented our own virtual-try-on as well as a PD and seg height platform administered by an optician. We do not actively market our site but use it as an option for patients who, regardless of the advantages of custom service, want this choice.
There are many barriers to entry. Most people simply see it as "software," but it is much more than that. To do it properly and seamlessly requires supply chain management and integration into multiple systems including lab, warehouse and accounting platforms. There are certainly up-front development costs, and often, by the time your site is completed, it needs to be updated and sometimes even rebuilt to optimize changing demands in search engine optimization and consumer demand. Ongoing investment is required, and volume needs to justify the expense.
At FYidoctors we took the approach of building it ourselves. There are multiple companies that offer "turnkey sites," but the challenge is meeting the demands of the consumer and integrating it to fit with your practice. The data make it clear that price is the primary motivator for eyeglass sites, making it difficult for a small player with no infrastructure to compete. There has been no clear winner when it comes to providing a turnkey approach as the consumer has just not responded to these offerings for eyeglasses.
David H. Hettler, OD,
Drs. May & Hettler, Alexandria, Va.
We used Essilor's MyOnline optical to expand the product assortment available to our patients with minimal cost to us. When patients do not find a frame that they like on our boards, we can point them to a much larger assortment.
There is always the fear that sending a patient to the web will cause them to start searching sites other than ours. On the other hand, if this provides incremental sales, then this is occurring with much lower expense.
We have admittedly done poorly in this area due to our fear of losing sales. On the other hand we already lost those sales, so we plan to return online. We had the link deep in our website, while we need to put it on the home page to improve success.
Robert Evangelista, president,
Co-Op Optical, Detroit
We're not convinced that we need to participate in e-commerce yet. Our current patients respond to the personal experience. Demographically, it's a loyal patient base in the region that is older, and not among the generation who are looking to buy everything on their smartphone.
If our demographics were heavier with younger customers or we serviced a different clientele in an urban downtown, we'd be remiss not to be looking at it. But honestly, we don't feel like we're missing out on anything. When you see online retailers starting to build brick-and-mortar stores, that tells you the experiment is still ongoing. We'll wait on the sidelines while others finish testing out the right recipe.
The main obstacle for us is resources. Spending money on programs, either outsourced or using employees, has to be justified. And currently, we can't model any ROI on e-commerce that outweighs the ROI on other initiatives that will impact cash flow equally or better. We'd rather focus on increasing sales organically or through targeted marketing.
Thomas Zeller, ABO certified optical team lead,
Medical Management Insurance Group/Barnet Dulaney Perkins, Phoenix
Currently, we do not participate in e-commerce for any aspect of our operation.
We are in the process of creating our own "Optical Shop" online that will provide most of our optical services to our patients. It is within our mission to offer the latest and greatest in technology, and that includes keeping up with the abilities of our competition, even our online competition. Our project is set to go live by the end of 2015.
We do not believe that there is any obstacle in e-commerce. Everything can be purchased through an app on your phone, a website on your tablet or computer, or in a store. We do not want to be any different. If anything, e-commerce should help improve our business and keep us up-to-date.