Millennials + Eyewear

The inside, ECP-delivered scoop on how this market wants to buy eyewear

By Barbara Thau

Move over, baby boomers. The millennials are the new “it” generation.

The demographic born between 1980 and 2000 is poised to become the nation’s biggest buying group by 2020, when it will rack up $1.4 trillion in U.S. retail sales yearly, predicts Accenture research.

The generational shift hasn’t been lost on eyecare professionals. “Millennials have become a focal point of everything that we live and breathe at this point,” says Brad Childs, executive vice president of Eyetique, based in Pittsburgh. And “their buying patterns are totally different from the baby boomers.”

The interior of Pittsburgh’s Eyetique, where a local give-back program is popular with millennial customers

ECPs are courting millennials by addressing their distinct shopping inclinations—from appealing to the group’s pull toward socially conscious purchases to “their interest in knowing how a product was made,” Childs says.

That interest is one expression of the rise of the “maker movement,” marked by the popularity of everything from “craft beer to craft eyeglasses,” says Nate Ogura, owner of Eyes on Fremont in Seattle.

As a result, ECPs are promoting eyewear collections that benefit a cause. They’re also pulling back the curtain on production, revealing to patients the craftsmanship behind the finished frame—a nod to “transparency and authenticity,” two deeply resonant words for this generation, Ogura says.

Adds Childs: “Millennials want to feel a personal connection to their purchase. When they spend money, they want to feel good about how and where they spend it.”

Here, Childs and Ogura share tips on wooing today’s most coveted generation.

Tap Toms’ giveback model

Take a page from ethical-retailing pioneer Toms, which donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair sold.

Eyetique is doing just that. Via the “Chromos Cares” program, Eyetique gives a free eye exam and pair of glasses to a child in need from the local Pittsburgh school system. The program is about not only doing good, but also doing well: Chromos is one of the top three collections at the store. With this purchase, customers “are giving back locally,” and millennials gravitate toward that, Childs says.

Highlight craftsmanship

Play to millennials’ appreciation for skilled craftsmanship, on-site production, and trade expertise.

“For years, optical retailers have tried to hide their finishing labs, where they cut lenses down into the frames, going to great lengths to mitigate the noise and keep the actual lab hidden from view,“ Ogura says. “We do the opposite. We celebrate the fact that we have a lab in the store,” particularly in light of the maker movement, he says.

The interior of the hip Eyes on Fremont in Seattle, where the attraction is “craft” eyewear

And millennials soak it up. “It’s a pretty memorable experience when you show them what an uncut lens blank looks like, when you show them what the edgers are doing, and when you explain the process of making a pair of glasses,” Ogura says. “We want to display that we are proud to be opticians, and we are proud to know how to make a pair of glasses.”

Digitize your marketing

Reaching millennials means meeting them where they spend much of their time: online.

From targeted advertising messages to YouTube videos, “you must have a social media presence,” says Childs. As younger people “seem to want to watch, listen, and not just read text,” video is a key medium to engage millennials, he says. “Our video posts are the most shared.”