By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
By now, we’re sure you’ve seen our popular What Are You Wearing? feature - which comes out every month on Vision Monday’s Endpage. But the retailers and glasses they’ve shared with us are so fantastic, we wanted to put them all together. Below is a recap of all the fun styles we’ve had throughout our first year. We’re sure you’ll enjoy.
See all the photos via Vision Monday
March 19, 2012
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
With the landscape of business changing rapidly, companies today need more than just traditional products or marketing communications to reach customers. A growing number of businesses have begun incorporating charitable works more directly into their corporate message and, in fact, their business models. According to experts, many are seeing results both positive and profitable.
In sponsoring local charities, providing employees with volunteer time or even just recycling in-house, most optical establishments have long been involved in doing good and providing community service on some level. Increasingly, though, companies and business owners are working to build the message of social responsibility into the fiber of the organization. Businesses interested in upping both their community efforts and company profile can accomplish this with relative ease and, as such, provide unlimited attention to their cause. Read more.
(Full article via Vision Monday)
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
Selling eyeglasses online is one of the most challenging issues optical has faced in quite some time. Though the divide between brick and click is narrowing in some quarters, online players are still considered a stepchild by many in the industry. Online retailers, or e-tailers, are often thought to be taking business away from traditional ODs and opticians, and are still perceived by many as an “unauthorized” channel that is strictly promotionally priced. But is that really true? And just how does selling glasses work on the internet? Read more.
(via Vision Monday)
January 4, 2012 4:00 PM
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
PEORIA, Ill.—In time for the company’s 70th anniversary, Bard Optical, based here, launched their “70 Pairs for 70 Years” program. Providing up to 70 pairs of glasses to “in need” public school students, the company announced it will reach out to each community where it has an office, 18 in all.
“Bard Optical recognizes that some students simply have little or no access to proper vision care. We want to help these students by providing free glasses,” the company said. Read more.
(via VisionMonday)
February 23, 2012
I don’t like running. I don’t believe in it. A friend of mine once said, “I only run when chased,” and I’ve held on to that witticism for quite a number of years. Mostly it’s because at no point in running do I not feel like dying. I feel like I’m dying absolutely every second of every breath that I’m in motion. I know all about how bad it is for your knees and your posture and that there are a lot better ways to exercise. I recite these by rote every time someone brings up their marathon, 5K or morning jog. I’ve gotten quite good at publicly hating running.
But if I’m being completely honest (and in a story like this, what’s the point of lying?), there was a time when I did run. Read more.
(Full article on Loop)
February 20, 2012 12:24 AM
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
NEW YORK— Continuing the more optimistic attitude toward business among independent ECPs captured at the end of 2011, in January 2012, the outlook of independents toward their overall business remained steady with what it had been last December. Both months reflected an index reading of 3.8, according to the latest edition of Jobson Optical Research’s Optical Business Barometer (OBB).
In December, the index saw a significant improvement when the Barometer rose 0.3 from November’s index of 3.5. The January 2012 and December 2011 ratings for overall optical business are the highest since March of 2011 and higher than any month in 2010. Read more.
(full article on VisionMonday.com)
February 13, 2012 12:03 AM
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
The scene of a lady, usually in heels, strutting through a shopping center with stacks of purchases in each hand comes to mind when one imagines “shopping.” And with good reason, according to optician Van de la Plante. “Every aspect of retail in L.A. County, and around the world, is built for girls. Men experience retail as sitting on a bench and holding a purse. Every advertising pitch in consumerism seems to be targeted at girls so I thought it was interesting to have a store for dudes,” he told Vision Monday. Read more.
(Via Vision Monday)
January 16, 2011
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
NEW YORK—For the last month of 2011, the outlook of independent ECPs towards their overall business saw a significant improvement, according to the latest edition of Jobson Optical Research’s Optical Business Barometer (OBB). The Barometer rose 0.3 from November’s index of 3.5, to reach 3.8 in December; its highest reading since March 2011 when the rating was 3.9.
Earlier this year, July and August held steady, both having an index of 3.7, a rise from June 2011’s reading of 3.6. Then in Sept., the index declined to 3.5. Read more.
(via Vision Monday)
January 23, 2012
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
With its constant pace, mercurial nature and endless updates, the world of social media can get very overwhelming. By October 2011, 1 minute out of every 5 spent on the internet worldwide was dedicated to social networking. That’s based on data from 1.2 billion people around the globe, or 82 percent of the world’s internet population, according to digital business analysis from comScore.
During that 20 percent of web time spent grabbing the online world by the horns, users may have patted themselves on the back for figuring out Facebook. Then Twitter came along. Just when they’d mastered hashtags, Google came out with Plus. And just as their Tumblr followers started reaching double digits, Pinterest took over the photo feeds. Most haven’t even begun to consider the rising fame of Instagram and the photographers who love it. Yes, social media saw some exciting changes in 2011. But what do these innovations mean for business in 2012? Thanks to sites like Mashable, magazines like Wired, newsletters like VM’s CLICK and our corresponding annual conference, the divide between you and the internet intelligentsia grows less expansive. Read more.
(via VisionMonday)
January 23, 2012
By Delia Paunescu
Assistant Editor
With expertly designed websites, young urbanite models and cheap chic frames, a fresh crop of optical e-tailers is bringing new competition to the market
The internet isn’t new. Buying glasses on the internet isn’t new either. But a new wave of online-only optical retailers is switching up the way e-tailing looks where eyewear is concerned and striking a chord, particularly with younger consumers. Companies like Tortoise and Blonde, Bonlook, Mezzmer, Classic Specs, Lookmatic, Sneaking Duck, Eyefly and Warby Parker are playing up the “fast fashion” model and bringing a hipster-cool aesthetic to the world of online optical.
(via Vision Monday)
