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Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

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11–20 of 74 posts

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#11

What kind of competitive advantage do you have compared to other similar companies (e.g. Hubble [1])? Is contact lenses just a race to the bottom in terms of pricing? Other than cost, are there any other elements that differentiate you? [1] https://www.hubblecontacts.com/

Hubble is going the Warby Parker or Dollar Shave Club route, by vertically integrating manufacturing and branding.

This is just ecommerce automation in a niche vertical. Here, they draw in buyers, they stock inventory, and they fulfill.

Maybe he's able to upgrade and use better software to get rid of 15% of "waste" or maybe he's just eating into his margins and it's too early yet for him to realize, either way he's marketing it as a "savings" passed on to the consumer.

Which doesn't mean it's not interesting. If he can prove that his software mix really is contributing to lowering costs and if the niche doesn't sustain/support the business then most likely he ends up finding another niche or selling access to his software tools to help other ecommerce businesses thrive. E.g. sell shovels in a gold rush.

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#12
post #8

ContactLensKing.com is substantially cheaper than JetLenses for the contacts I wear, the Bausch & Lomb Ultras. $43 for a 6 pack on JetLenses, $30 on ContactLensKing: https://www.jetlenses.com/Ultra-6PK_p_76.html https://www.contactlensking.com/prodDetail.aspx?ItemGroupCod... Why is there such a discrepancy in the pricing on these?

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#13
post #8

ContactLensKing.com is substantially cheaper than JetLenses for the contacts I wear, the Bausch & Lomb Ultras. $43 for a 6 pack on JetLenses, $30 on ContactLensKing: https://www.jetlenses.com/Ultra-6PK_p_76.html https://www.contactlensking.com/prodDetail.aspx?ItemGroupCod... Why is there such a discrepancy in the pricing on these?

Basically: scale and supply chain. On some lenses, where we're on an even playing field, we're able to dramatically beat everyone else on price (e.g. Biofinity Toric XR, MyDay Toric, Proclear Toric XR).

As we grow and we can add more suppliers, we'll be able to have the best prices across the board.

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#15

What kind of competitive advantage do you have compared to other similar companies (e.g. Hubble [1])? Is contact lenses just a race to the bottom in terms of pricing? Other than cost, are there any other elements that differentiate you? [1] https://www.hubblecontacts.com/

This is a really important question and @alaskamiller has got the right points other than the selling software to others bit - we're pretty confident the stuff we're building is impactful in our space since we're seeing the results.

In comparison to Hubble: we don't require customers to get a new prescription. Just order from us, save money.

Long term, the process improvement software that we're building as well as the intelligence around actually acquiring customers will be defensible because it is hinged on customer and supplier data. Happy to talk about this more - dhaivat@jetlenses.com.

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#16
Same price as Costco ($50) for 12pk Acuvue Oasys - thats great. If it went lower I'd switch.

By the way most of your images especially on the homepage seem to be scaled up past their native resolution which makes the site look really fuzzy. Your logo for example is 30px but scaled to 50px. An easy win on landing page design would just be to re-export those images at the right resolution.

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#17

What kind of competitive advantage do you have compared to other similar companies (e.g. Hubble [1])? Is contact lenses just a race to the bottom in terms of pricing? Other than cost, are there any other elements that differentiate you? [1] https://www.hubblecontacts.com/

Hubble is super risky as they aren't verifying prescriptions and are also selling old tech (off-patent).

Re: Launch HN: JetLenses (YC S18) – Lowest Prices on Contact Lenses

#20
post #8

ContactLensKing.com is substantially cheaper than JetLenses for the contacts I wear, the Bausch & Lomb Ultras. $43 for a 6 pack on JetLenses, $30 on ContactLensKing: https://www.jetlenses.com/Ultra-6PK_p_76.html https://www.contactlensking.com/prodDetail.aspx?ItemGroupCod... Why is there such a discrepancy in the pricing on these?

For the acuvue moist for astigmatism daily contacts, JetLenses seems to be 25% cheaper than contactlensking
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