The global eyewear industry has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by changing consumer behaviors and advancements in technology. It's crucial for eyewear retailers and opticians to embrace modern technology and provide a smooth shopping experience for their customers.
With the North America market projected to reach $59.5 billion by 2028, there has never been a better time to scale up your optical practice by expanding into the online eyewear space.
Eyewear Market Trend You Should Know
The mix of online and offline selling is the new sexy in eyewear retail. Warby Parker has always been a pioneer in the use of e-commerce and technology to enhance their business efforts. They were among the first companies to provide a virtual home try-on feature, allowing customers to view how various frames might look on them. Over the last few years, the company has expanded its physical presence and developed a business strategy that combines e-commerce and retail sales.
“We believe the future of retail is at the intersection of brick-and-mortar and e-commerce. Some customers prefer to shop in stores, some prefer to shop online, but deeper than that, most customers like to do both. That’s why we’re continuing to invest a ton into the website but also into traditional retail.”
Just as Blumenthal said, the future of eyeglass retail lies in both online and offline channels.
Why eCommerce for Optometry is essential for your business?
No working hour restriction for your online optical store
Walking into an in-person optical retail store can bring many benefits for customers, such as getting an eye test or other eyecare services, but there are times when they just do not have the time to visit your optometry business, or there isn't a decent physical optical store in their neighborhood.
This is when the b2b eyewear commerce platform comes in handy. With ecommerce, you can make your optical business available 24/7, selling prescription glasses to customers from all over the world with no time constraints.
You get to reach a wider audience
With the increasing popularity of online shopping, it is essential to meet your customers where they spend their time. eCommerce provides new methods of outreach, allowing you to reach patients on platforms like email, Instagram, and Facebook.
Once you've integrated eCommerce into your optometry business, you can offer in-store pickup, home delivery, and same-day shipping options, enhancing convenience for your patients. These options play a significant role in customers' decisions, ensure your optometry practice growth, and keep your competitiveness in the eyewear market.
Leverage data-driven insights to offer more personalized experience to your customers
One of the key advantages of selling glasses online is the ability to leverage data-driven insights. Modern consumers seek highly personalized experiences that make them feel involved in the buying journey.
As an online optical practice, you have access to valuable first-party data collected from your patients, which can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns, offer tailored promotions, engage patients in your optical brand's community, and, most importantly, provide personalized frame suggestions per their preferences.
How to Sell Prescription Glasses Online
Understanding Eyeglass Shoppers’ Common Pain Points
People shop for prescription glasses online for various reasons; some want a better deal, while others want to take advantage of the convenience of online shopping. Here, you might notice that what your customers expect from you is actually a more personalized and convenient shopping journey comparable to their offline experience.
This is understandable, given that when people try to buy glasses direct online, they are likely to encounter various challenges. Typically,
- They find it hard to order prescription glasses online.
Some optometry business now still only take their online website as a place to showcase their product and service, rather than a sales channel where customers can actually order a pair of glasses.
Further, some brands only sell eyeglass frames online, and if the customers are interested in prescription glasses, most of the time, they still need to visit the physical optical store to complete the actual purchase.
- They think it’s difficult to find a frame that fits their style when shopping online.
This is a rather typical issue, even in real stores, because some don't have enough space to display all of their frame designs, so the number of choices is quite limited.
Things can get worse when selling eyeglasses online because customers are not able to try on the glass frames; they can't see how the frames look on their faces, so there's no guarantee that they'll get the product they want.
Choosing the Right B2B Optical Sales Platform
An effective way to address these pain points and stay competitive in the optical industry is to equip yourself with the most appropriate eyewear commerce platforms to ensure that you meet the demands of the market.
There are plenty of eCommerce platforms out there, some of which are industry leaders with pretty sophisticated features that can help most businesses grow. But, given the distinct nature of the eyewear industry, we know you need more than an eCommerce system; you need something specially designed for your optical practice, something that does not require additional time commitment, boosts your revenue, and, most importantly, protects your reputation.
So, we created an online optical store management software, a solution tailored to the eyewear industry, targeted at addressing your issues when operating an online optical store and your customer's pain points when shopping for a pair of prescription glasses online.
Prescription Submission
Shoplazza's Prescription Lens App offers your eyewear customers the flexibility to submit their prescriptions in the way they find most convenient.
Whether it's manually entering the prescription details, uploading prescription images, or sending the prescription via email, this eliminates the need for customers to visit your offline optical store stores or fax their prescriptions, streamlining the entire glass ordering process and saving valuable time for both the customers and you.
Virtual Try-on
As said earlier, one of the most significant challenges customers face when shopping for glasses online is the inability to try on frames physically. Shoplazza's optical shop management software addresses this concern with its virtual try-on feature.
By leveraging AI technology, this optical tool can mimic the offline shopping experience, allowing customers to virtually try on different frames and visualize how the glasses would look on their faces. This immersive experience enhances customer confidence and reduces the likelihood of returns, ultimately contributing to a more seamless and satisfactory online shopping journey.
Streamlined Optical Inventory Management
Shoplazza simplifies optical inventory management by allowing optometry businesses to seamlessly import their eyewear catalogs from other ecommerce platforms. With just a few clicks, you can migrate your existing inventory to Shoplazza, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors.
Optical inventory solutions save valuable time and ensure accurate product information, enhancing the overall efficiency of your online optical store.
Customizable User Experience
Shoplazza's online optical store management software allows opticians to provide a personalized and tailored user experience. You can customize the lens customization process, allowing customers to choose between multi-step customization or selecting pre-designed lens packages for quick ordering.
This flexibility caters to the diverse preferences of customers, ensuring they get a personalized and intuitive glass shopping experience.
Multilingual Support
We see the importance of catering to a diversified customer base and offer multilingual support for your lens customization process.
With the ability to set multiple languages, you can effectively engage with customers from different regions, eliminating language barriers and enhancing the overall user experience.
Fully Customized Features
We understand that you might have various needs when it comes to selling prescription glasses online, so we support fully customized requests in the hope of saving you time and resources while providing the tools you need to succeed in the online eyewear market. Just reach out to our sales agent with your needs, and we will help you onboard in any way we can.
From Customer Experience to Success: Skyrocket Your Eyewear Sales
Shoplazza's online optical shop management software is a dedicated eyewear selling solution that allows you to easily collect patients' prescription details and seamlessly integrate your optical inventory onto your website with virtual try-on capabilities.
Book a demo with us to discover more about your future optometry business plan, on how to sell prescription glasses online, allowing your patients to shop before, after, and in between appointments, converting them into your loyal customers.
