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FORT WORTH, Texas. —Consumers have traditionally avoided buying glasses online because of the inability to ensure proper fit, lens selection, and ongoing eyecare. But Zip Eyewear is aiming to revolutionize the way consumers buy prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses online by offering them a “Site to Sight” solution.

ZipEyewear.com ( www.zipeyewear.com), which launched this month, solves that problem. Consumers select and purchase from a well-priced assortment of the most popular name brand eyeglasses and sunglasses. What’s unique is that the order is actually fulfilled by a local optical center, ensuring proper fit, prescription, and lenses. A consumer can pre-order their prescription and lenses with the frames, or just order the frames. Even if a consumer makes a mistake online and orders the wrong size or just an unflattering frame, he or she can easily switch to a different frame or lens at the local optical center.

Customers receive a voucher for the eyewear they order which they can then take to a participating provider. Providers, in turn, have the ability to be notified of a pending customer order and prepare for the in-store interaction and sale.

Some 200 eyecare professionals have partnered to date with Zip and that number is growing, Michael Nason, Zip Eyewear’s CEO, said. Details of the provider agreements are posted on the site and followup is handled by Zip’s team, who walk providers through the process and policy. He said, “Zip Eyewear gives consumers the best of both worlds. They can finally get a great online selection of the most popular brands and the trusted, professional, local optical care that they and their families need.” Zip is working with local eyecare professionals who are highlighted by zip code and by the patient’s eyewear choices on the Zip site. Currently, Zip ECP providers are in 45 of 50 states, and signups are continuing to expand.

Nason grew up in the optical business, the son of two longtime. He said, “We provide the e-commerce platform and are able to help the ECP capture customers who go online to shop, which is happening more often. We have a simple solution for them to acquire and serve customers online.”

Zip’s future marketing, which will take advantage of search-engine-optimization (SEO) and other social media marketing initiatives this spring, will provide even more visibility for the concept and the profile of the participating eyecare providers.

Zip Eyewear was created by Nason, in partnership with eyecare professionals, powered by Jobson Medical Information’s Frames Data, and is backed by over 50 years of professional opticians’ expertise.—Marge Axelrad. ■