With all of the uncertainty that we have going forward in this industry, your best hope for survival is really down to one person – you. I’m sure you knew that lesson was coming. When it comes down to it, these are business decisions that you need to make, and you need to make sure that you’re well-informed about the way things are, and where they could go. To quote a popular motto: Always be prepared.
Shades of Gray
What you need to keep in mind is that just because something is “Big Optical” doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to make money selling it. Certainly, we aren’t trying to say that people won’t buy their products. However, that kind of thinking is better in the short term than it is for the long term. If you can be successful selling their products, then by all means sell them. What we are trying to do is make sure that you think about what you’re selling, and why you are selling it. You need to have a ‘big picture’ type plan.
We also don’t want to paint all independent companies with the same brush. Just because a company is independent doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily better, but it also doesn’t mean that it’s worse, either. Each company needs to be evaluated on its own merit. Just like any business decision, you want to do what works. The whole ‘go independent’ movement is about making it okay to try things that are outside of your comfort zone. Sure, you might not like doing it, but it could be rewarding. You aren’t going to know until you try it.
Of course, now it sounds like I’m trying to convince my daughter that broccoli won’t kill her. She’s adamant that she’s fine eating only spaghetti for the rest of her life. Certainly, she won’t die of starvation if she keeps doing what she’s doing, which she’s happy to point out to me. But being able to try new things is going to be good for her, and it could be good for your business. We’ve certainly gone through a number of times where she’s tried something new and promptly spit it out (or worse, but we don’t need to go into that level of detail). But that’s okay, eventually we’ll find things that work for her, and everyone will be better off.
Long Term Survival
From everything I’ve seen, everyone seems to agree that the business of eye care is getting more competitive. Whether we’re talking about eye exams or eyewear, there’s more options for people to get these goods and services. With the increasing encroachment of technology on the market, there’s going to be plenty of changes in the marketplace in the future, and you need to decide how your business is going to handle that.
The problem with a lot of these changes is that they’ve often cost-driven, and not service-driven. Limiting exam times to cram in more patients, or trying to get cheaper and cheaper eyewear. The ever-popular ‘free exam with purchase’ comes quickly to mind here. If everything keeps getting devalued, you can pretty much guarantee the you aren’t going to be the one that wins the ‘race to the bottom’.
You’re not going to out-big-box a big-box store. They’ve got economies of scale large enough that you’re going to just waste your time trying to price-compete. This is, of course, assuming that the products you sell and they sell are the same. If they carry the same brands as you do, you have nothing different to offer your customers. This is where you need to take a good look at your market and product offerings to see how sales have been over time. If the brand isn’t working for you the way it used to – can something do better in its place?
The Light at the End
It’s not all doom and gloom here, you can still help yourself if you think about your business objectively. While there’s plenty of argument on the merits of ‘Big Optical’ or ‘Independents’, there’s really one pivotal question. The major question of the whole Big Optical vs Independent argument is this: Which of these wants to help your business, and which one wants to ultimately take it from you?
Most independents don’t really go after consumers. They tend to focus on one business segment, and that’s enough for them. Usually selling to you is enough, and trying to do an end-run around you just isn’t worth it. Of course, some of these may sell online directly (most commonly with frames), but if they sell at the same retail as you do, it’s not like they’re stealing anything.
When it comes to ‘Big Optical’, it’s another story entirely. They’re big because they have interests in most (or all) segments of the supply chain. That means they have an interest in selling things to you, and also selling directly to your customers. As they’ve become ‘Big Optical’ over time, it’s only natural that they still want to be ‘your partner like they have always been’. Of course they do – when you started selling their stuff ten or twenty years ago, they didn’t own multiple online sales sites, or retail chains, or vision insurance.
Times have changed, and it’s time we realize that. The longer they can keep you selling their products, the more information on your customers they can garner. They can then use that to lure them away to buying from BigOptical.com instead of ever setting foot in your store. No matter where someone buys, Big Optical gets a piece of the action (if you let them). They just get a bigger piece when they can lure your customer away. The only way Big Optical is going to keep shareholders happy is to increase those earnings, so at some point they’re going to have to take your piece of the pie, because they’ve already eaten everything else.
As we move forward in this industry, you need to have your back up plans in place. As cliche as it sounds, you want to keep your options open, and don’t have all your frames in one basket. If you can make money in the short term with Big Optical, that’s great. When it comes to your long term survival, however, you’re going to be better off with an independent that wants you to be successful. For an independent to be successful, they need to add value to increase your business so they can sell you more – it’s teamwork.
For Big Optical to make money, they just need the brand product to move, whether it’s through you or from their own outlets. That kind of relationship is a little one-sided. In the journey along the rough path ahead, you want to make sure you have a friend that’s going to stick by you and help you along the path, instead of having the kind of friend that’s going to eat you as soon as things look a little desperate.
