The Combo Plan
Simplifying choices--lens packages that work for you and your patients
By Erinn Morgan
Photography by Peter Baker

Today's consumers are inundated with choices. In every retail setting from auto dealers to electronics stores and with every product category from cars to computers, there are seemingly endless options from which to choose.

Manufacturers and retailers simplify the buying process for the consumer by packaging their products with a pre-set group of options for a specific price. This selling tactic is particularly suited for retailers of optical lenses, an area in the optical industry overflowing with choices, options, and add-ons.

"Patients are used to buying things in bundled packages from features on a new computer, to different models of cars, to Value Meals at McDonalds," says Dave Ziegler, OD, at Drs. Ziegler and Leffingwell Eyecare in West Allis, Wisc. "They don't like to be nickel and dimed with all the add-on features that are available with lenses today. They want the doctor's recommendation on what the best lens is for their vision problem and some choices in different price ranges to address those problems."

Indeed, many of those optical retailers who have implemented lens packaging programs report increases in overall business, lens sales, and add-ons such as anti-reflective coating. "We had a 22 percent increase overall from 2001 to 2002," says Barbara Tyson, optician at Flemington Optical in Flemington, N.J. "Much of that came from lens sales. We also have about 75 percent of our patients now getting some sort of AR coating, and we are selling thinner materials than in the past because of our new lens packages."

Here, we cover the benefits of packaging and supply you with concrete examples of packages that work. Customize these ideas for your dispensary and your lens customer and reap the profitable results.

A PACKAGE DEAL

The foremost benefit reported by dispensers is in simplifying the host of choices for the patient. Technology has provided the optical industry with hundreds of different types of lenses in a vast array of powers and materials. Additionally, the options for add-ons can be daunting to a patient making a lens choice. There are many types of scratch-coatings, anti-reflective coatings, photochromics, polarized coatings, and UV coatings adding to the decisions.

Customers are apt to simplify the process themselves by opting out of many add-ons which may have been beneficial to them.

If dispensers can streamline the choices into packages, the consumer will be more likely to purchase extras that may have seemed overwhelming as single items. "We implemented our packages to simplify the buying process for the patients who were overwhelmed by excessive choices in lens materials and coatings," says Ziegler.

Packaging also makes the presentation of lenses easier for the staff. "It gets more features of the best lenses available to our patients through bundling of lens options into packages and, lastly, increases our profit margin by selling premium products," he adds.

Dispensers who have put packages into play report increases in lens business. Some add-ons, such as AR coatings, have seen the most growth from package deals. "We now do 65 to 80 percent AR coatings," says Krishan Patel, owner of Med-Optics in Towson, Md., whose package program focuses on selling AR with either glass or plastic lenses.

EXAMPLES THAT WORK

There are a variety of methods to packaging lenses and add-ons, and the requirements of each dispensary may be different in this respect. Here, we present examples of five different ways experienced dispensers and labs have put their packages together.

MYTEE-Lite: This trademarked lens package was created at the fourth-largest lab chain in the U.S. by volume, Sorderberg Optical, an employee-owned lab headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., with 14 locations across the country. The MYTEE-Lite package program was instated 12 years ago but was revised and updated this year to reflect current market and product trends.

The current package structure includes a scratch coat with two-year warranty, UV coating, and polished edges. The option of adding AR coating for an extra price is also offered. The package comes in four lens options: MYTEE-Lite Supreme 1.66 or 1.67; MYTEE-Lite 1.6 hi-index; MYTEE-Lite mid-index; or MYTEE-Lite polycarbonate.

"Over last five years our poly and hi-index sales have doubled," says Craig Giles, vice president of sales and marketing. "It is because of the MYTEE-Lite program and a demand for thinner, lighter lenses in the market. We happened to have the right product at the right time."

The Nikon Performance Package: A joint venture between Essilor and Nikon, this package combines the Nikon name with thin and light lenses, AR, and two-sided scratch coating. Thanks to recent developments, Varilux Panamic Thin Plastic 1.67 and a new 1.67 ultra-high index material are also available. Eyecare professionals can order the package through VisionWeb L.P. at www.visionweb.com for all laboratories that are connected to the site, as well as all Essilor Laboratories of America and authorized Varilux and Crizal distributors.

Teclite: Tom Appler of Clark, Appler & Loebler in Baltimore, Md., formed this lens package during an annual roundtable discussion of 10 to 12 businesses called the Rigs Group. The package includes hi-index lenses and AR coating sold together for 10 percent less than regular retail. While many dispensers package hi-index and AR, having a set name which customers can refer to, such as Teclite, can be important. "We have placemats on dispensing counters promoting the Teclite package," says Appler. "We tout it as the highest technology available today for people who want visual comfort."

Tiered packages: Dr. Ziegler of Drs. Ziegler and Leffingwell Eyecare in West Allis, Wisc., successfully offers three bundled packages--good, better, best--for single-vision lenses and three for multifocals. They include: Premium Lenses, a single vision or progressive lens, aspheric, polycarbonate, with UV blocking, scratch-resistance, and AR coated ground to 1.0 thickness; Advanced Design has all the same features as the Premium except for the AR coating; The Standard Lens is a spherical polycarbonate with standard lens thicknesses in single vision or a flat-top bifocal in the multifocal category. "We find 60 percent of the patients go with the Premium package, 30 percent with the Advanced Design package, and the balance with the Standard lens," says Ziegler.

AR packages: At Med-Optics, Krishan Patel offers packages of strictly glass or plastic with an AR coating. A basic plastic lens with AR starts at $134 and prices vary depending on power range. For a hi-index lens such as a 1.60 with AR, prices start at $220. Glass starts at $359 and goes to $529 for single vision.

A successful promotion of the package has been utilizing the staff as models. "We offered all our employees a free pair of glasses, whether they needed them or not," says Patel. "They all got AR coating and in the last two weeks, our AR sales have gone up 10 percent right off the bat."

Customized packages: Some dispensaries profit by creating customized packages for each patient's needs. "We have no formal package, yet we package everything," says David Seibel, OD, FAAO, with Vision Care Consultants in St. Louis.

"We don't create a package around a price tag, we create it around a patient's needs. After the exam and my recommendation for lenses, the optician will fit them with frames and at the end, say 'Mrs. Jones, your fee for today is $720.' Ninety percent of the time people say 'No problem.' Ten percent will ask if they really need AR and don't take it." As a result, the dispensary sells upwards of 90 percent progressives, and AR is sold to 50 to 60 percent of patients.

Today's consumer is comfortable with packaged products. There are fewer decisions to make, as well as better value and high-tech performance. Combining options for your patients provides them with better vision and you with growing sales.

"I began packaging 13 years ago," says Patel. "And every year we increase AR sales from two to 10 percent. My belief is that by offering a package, customers don't see a huge difference in cost and will opt for things like AR. To them, for $60 extra, it's worth it to have the best."