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What, specifically, are the challenges and opportunities for Rx Sunwear business given our current economic climate and what is predicted for the economy going forward?

In today's challenging economic times, one of the areas suffering in particular is second pair (sunwear) sales. This is really a shame, since for many of the 3 O’s this area can be one of the most important tools to survive and prosper during difficult times. Many times, the 3 O’s are just so happy to see someone coming through the door to buy a pair of glasses that they don't want to take the extra effort to sell the second pair. What they have to realize is that during these times, fewer patients do walk through the door, so it's important to offer each of these patients as many services as you can, and sunwear becomes vital. Remember that sunwear provides a value which the patient can use every day. It is also vital for eye health and protection and for driving for protection from the sun.

What should ECPs keep in mind about your company’s involvement in/dedication to Rx sunwear? From your ‘regular’ Rx Sunwear initiatives to proprietary initiatives like Drivewear, what should ECPS remember when they plan their Rx Sun business in 2009?



I believe the ECP should keep in mind that no Rx sunwear is complete unless it is polarized. Polarized lenses do the one thing that is the most important feature of sunwear: they block glare. While it may be tempting at times to try to get away with one pair of photochromic lenses, these typically do not work behind the windshield of a car, and they do not block blinding glare. Drivewear lenses combine the best of photochromics and polarization for the driving experience. Since nearly all adult patients are drivers, the ECP can make an instant connection regarding where sunwear may be vital to their patient. But whether a Drivewear lens or a standard polarized lens such as NuPolar® is prescribed, the ECP should keep in mind that the feature which the patients most want is polarization. These have a high level of patient satisfaction.

Which specific categories of Rx Sun lens products – polarized, high-base wraps, PALs, single-vision, mirror coatings – as well as Drivewear– do you feel offer the biggest ‘upside’ business opportunity for optical retailers and ECPs this year? Why?

There's no question that Drivewear lenses offer the biggest "upside" business opportunity this year. Throughout the years, second pair sales have always been difficult within our industry and represent just about 15% of all sales. One of the problems behind this has been that the patient and the ECP never really connected on their particular reason to buy sunwear; it didn't seem like an essential purchase as the first pair did. Drivewear offers an answer to this. Virtually every patient is a driver, and all of us are spending more and more time behind the windshield of our cars. Commute times are increasing, and traffic is getting heavier every year. All Rx sunlens products offer growth in the sense that this is still a very untouched market. But many of the new products on the market just “steal” sales from one area to another. This really doesn't make the industry grow, and we need only to look at our flat sales in the industry to see that we are doing something wrong.

For example, Drivewear lenses appeal more heavily toward male, older, and more affluent consumers. This is quite different from the typical sunwear buyer which tends to be more female and younger. Drivewear is an example of a product which expands our industry and creates new markets and appeals to a different type of patient than existing products available in the market. That's what this industry needs in order to grow.

In which of your company’s specific product lines are you putting the most sales and marketing support during 2009? Which products and programs are ongoing from 2008 and which will be new?

2009 will once again see a major emphasis on Drivewear; a new seminar on Drivewear will be introduced and given across the country in 2009. It will talk again a little bit about the technology of the lens, but this time will concentrate more on the target market, marketing, and how the ECP’s practice can benefit by selling Drivewear. We will also have many new marketing pieces showing testimonials from wearers, and we will have a new handheld demonstrator to help explain what Drivewear does and how it works.

Younger will also be introducing a new Trilogy-based polarized lens that will have many advantages -- both optically and materially -- over many products today. Combining the benefits of NuPolar with the unique characteristics of Trilogy is going to make an exciting new product which our customers have been asking for.

The number-one point I can make is that the ECP should not allow economic conditions to stop them from trying to make their practice successful. During these times, the most marketing-oriented companies take market share from those which are less aggressive and it is important that the ECP does not allow this to happen to their practice. There is no better way to "weather the economic storm”, and “wait for brighter days” then through sunwear sales.