frame inventory
Frame Inventory: Gender Blender
Key strategies that answer your questions about balancing eyewear departments
by Erinn Morgan

Keeping track of what's on your frameboard will help please patients and practice pocketbook alike. Image courtesy of Fashion Optical Displays

What is the right mix? At Eyelines in Chicago, the frame breakdown is 20 percent men's, 30 percent unisex, and 50 percent women's. At Clarkson Eyecare, a chain of 26 stores in the St. Louis area, it boils down to about 25 percent men's, 25 percent women's, 40 percent unisex, and 10 percent kids'.

Are you truly planning your merchandise assortment? "Some people are buying and buying all kinds of frames just to make their dispensary look good," says William Berris, president of the five-store Ohio chain Berris Optical. "But you just don't need it! We reduced the frames in one store from 2,000 down to 900 because they were just taking up board space."

Tracking sales is a critical function of the right mix, but there are also other ways to decipher this mystery. Read on for answers to your questions about keeping boards on target.

GET THE RIGHT MIX

How do you come up with the right blend of frames? Overall, figuring the mix depends on yourcustomer base. "Once you're an established practice, things fall into place after time," says Marty Mast, a licensed optician and buyer for the practice of Steven Schoenbart, OD, in Long Island, N.Y.

Times do change, however, and so will product mix percentages. "In the last year we started selling a lot more children's eyewear—now we are doing a lot more than we used to," Mast says. "It's because we are getting more referrals from the local pediatric ophthalmologists."

Men, women, and children all need representation on frameboards for ophthalmic eyewear and sunglasses alike. Image courtesy of Eye Designs

Newer dispensaries—and those who don't have a handle on their mix—can look to a few easy resources for demographic direction.

Practice-specific information may be a trip to the files away. Check out your doctor's records and get a breakdown of men, women, and children that they see, recommends Doreen Burdalski, a merchandise management professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia and Albright College in Reading, Pa.

"The other thing you could look at is the demographic breakdown of your area," she says.

"Look up your county and get a breakdown of men, women, and children in your area," she adds. This information is available from the U.S. Census, www.census.gov, or at your local library.

Once you have the general figures, research how many children in general need glasses and if women tend to need glasses more than men. "Start with the area's demographics and play the numbers down based on some educated guesses about need," says Burdalski.

The location of your dispensary can also affect your mix. "If you have an office close to a Chrysler factory, then you'll have a more male-oriented set of patients coming in," says Bill Jehling, president of the 26-store Clarkson Eyecare in the St. Louis area. "You'll need more things like men's double-bar traditional frames—make sure you have those types available."

But don't forget unisex options when working the mix. "The shift towards unisex just happened over the last year," says Tom Benthien, OD, owner of the Eyelines shop in Chicago. As much as 30 percent of the dispensary's assortment is unisex. "A lot of the higher-end frame lines today are mostly unisex and rimless styles are usually unisex."

Making a mix work. Image by Bright Display

TAKE CONTROL

Do you really need all those styles? Some dispensers are taking a hard look at inventory to filter out frames they don't need. Berris Optical actually reduced its inventory by more than half in one location. "We don't want the dispensary to look empty, but we don't need all those frames," says Berris.

Part of targeting your inventory means taking an active role in managing it—and not leaving it to frame company reps. "As far as managing the boards, I have taken control of the situation," says Berris. "Don't let the frame companies control you."

Instead, he recommends working with reps on board management but keeping track of everything yourself as well. "Keep rotating your stock, depending on what's selling," he says. "We may give a company 50 board spaces but, if they are still going to have that space in a few months, we have to exchange things that don't sell."

Mast also keeps tight inventory control, but he works with sales reps on the breakdown. "We do board management by manufacturers and our men's and ladies' mix is put together by the suppliers," he says. "Before we open, they come in, go to their section on the board, and see what's happening. This way our board is constantly updating."

Between frame rep visits Mast also tracks inventory. "We reorder within a couple of days of selling," he notes. "We don't wait two months for the rep to come back. It keeps our board fresh and up-to-date this way."

Other ECPs do without frame management assistance from reps completely. Moab Eyeworks in Moab, Utah, has an old-fashioned way of controlling its assortment. "I don't see reps; I see (and show) my lines through catalogs," says owner Tom Lord. "The customer comes to my shop, tries on the different shapes and colors I have in stock so we can see what looks best with their skin, hair, and jewelry," he says.

He will then order up to six styles from the catalog for them to try if they can't find something in stock.

TRACK YOUR INVENTORY.

What's the best way to manage your stock and get the right mix of frames? Follow your sales.

"Have an information system that allows you to track the sales so you know what to stock," says Jehling. "That is the key. Our frame merchandiser compiles this big spreadsheet with all of the brands going down the side and our offices going across the top, so we keep a brand-name, by-office specific list."

Benthien agrees. "It's very important to make sure frames don't get lost in the shuffle," he says. "You might order something in four different colors, but it doesn't sell. That's why it's important to do inventory—if you have a frame in four colors still in drawer, there's a message there. Put it on sale, it's got to go. You have to analyze each frame."

Conversely, he says, if you ordered five and you only have one left, that's a no-brainer as well. "Order it!"

Conduct an inventory of your frames at least twice a year, ideally during a slow period. It's generally not difficult to do, but probably will be time consuming.

Practice management software may also help track inventory. Jehling notes: "It gives us the information we need to make the right decisions on products for our offices."