BUYER'S FORUM
Living Large
Amy Spiezio, Managing Editor

This month our focus is on luxury, a market segment that tempts eyecare practitioners with the lure of larger profits and less competition from the big box and chain stores. Tips from the past remain helpful today—these evergreen business and selling strategies just may help make your high-end frame sales reap high rewards.

Follow the money. In March 1988, Eyecare Business' article "High Markups or High Profits" pointed out that in the long run higher-end eyewear can provide a higher return than offering inexpensive frames with enormous markups.

"By selling a better frame at a higher price—but a lower markup—you can make a high profit. By carrying quality merchandise, you increase your professional prestige, and patients are more likely to return to you than to take a chance with their eyes on a high school kid in a chain store who has next to no optical experience."

Like works with like. In February 1999, we profiled Kelly Shaffer from Shaffer's EyeBiz in Harrisburg, Pa. She worked to create a cooperative niche for the high-end businesses in her area by reaching out to those shops and letting them know that she was out there willing to work together.

She mailed hand-addressed envelopes to men's stores in her areas with notes "to let them know that I am available to do consultations for these men who are buying expensive suits but, for some reason, go to Wal-Mart for their eyewear."

Go for the openings. While mass marketers will have most independents beat on value eyewear pricing, in October 1993 Kenneth E. Stone, PhD, a professor of economics at Iowa State University provided our readers with pointers for finding a focus away from the mass market and looking for voids in the industry. He advised: "Consider upscale merchandise because many discount mass merchandisers do not handle the higher-priced name brands. A smart dealer would fill that void because not all customers desire or demand lower price merchandise."