News from the AOA's Blog

 Essilor of America, the nation’s leading manufacturer of optical lenses, has built more than 600 online optical stores for independent eye care professionals (ECPs) to date through its e-commerce initiative, MyOnlineOptical. The service has experienced a steady increase since its launch last spring, growing at a rate of approximately 100 ECPs per month.

With U.S. retail e-commerce projected to grow at a rate of 11.5 percent in 2011 (according to benchmark data from the U.S. Census Bureau), Essilor anticipates the growth rate of MyOnlineOptical to remain constant throughout 2011.

“Practices that experience the greatest success with MyOnlineOptical are simply those that actively market their new online stores,” said John Walborn, who leads the MyOnlineOptical team for Essilor. “These same practices report increased revenue in their brick and mortar stores due to the cross-channel impact. Some practices report double digit revenue growth from the increased foot traffic.”

Essilor’s MyOnlineOptical program allows ECPs to add a turn-key e-commerce engine that extends their reach beyond office walls and office hours to 24/7 accessibility. ECPs maintain complete control, determining the product pricing and selection, and preserving the look and feel of their practice Web sites. ECPs can provide patients with up to 100,000 eyeglass options that can keep them from walking out the door to a perceived more competitive offering.

The MyOnlineOptical solution provides ECPs a way to offer their patients a secure, convenient and robust online purchasing tool for all their eyewear needs through minimum staff involvement and reduced inventory costs.

Essilor’s MyOnlineOptical online optical store creates an additional touch point with the patient.

Through these stores, ECPs have a new channel to communicate with their patients to drive interest in their product offering, including a second pair of eyeglasses, sunwear or a renewal order for contact lenses.

For more, visit www.MyOnlineOptical.com. Comments or questions about this initiative may be directed to MyOnlineOptical@essilorusa.com.