Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money) • Hacker News Board

Re: Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

#71

Post by yoshizar » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 5:40 AM UTC

binarysolo wrote: post #67

yoshizar wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a fair criticism. I came this article it from a strategy perspective, and would actually like to know more about their operations. I agree about Zenni Optical and Coastal Contacts --- they are basically pure price plays, while WP is aiming at a very specific customer segment and brand image/personality that's backed up by every interaction you have with them.

I'm fine with the strategy perspective, but curiously omitting the presence of their competitors in the same vertical (but different niches) makes the article a bit too gushing and the picture just a tad biased. To be fair I think the brand play is a much better game to play than the price game -- if you know how to play it -- since it inherently leaves more money on the table.

If you go to the last sentence of the post, you can probably tell I meant to write a follow-up post about the competitive landscape and do some sort of SWOT analysis. I ended up just moving on to another topic, but that would have been a good sequel to this post.

Re: Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

#72

Post by yoshizar » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 5:46 AM UTC

shanecleveland wrote: post #69

As some have mentioned, not a great option if you have insurance. Mine covers a new pair every two years (plus the appointment you need to get a current prescription). They may want to make an effort to cater to that segment more, if it's possible. But it is an innovative approach to a market ripe for the picking. On that note ... Insurance and medicine – Talk about a broken system full of money.

I actually wear both contacts and glasses, and my insurance is enough to cover the contacts or the glasses, but not both; I end up paying for the glasses out of pocket. I wrote this post after being really frustrated with the experience I had at the local optician.

Re: Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

#73

Post by lsc » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 7:47 AM UTC

huh. the biggest problem I have with buying glasses online is the lenses. The PD (I believe is what it's called; the distance between your pupil and the bridge of your nose) is super important for the glasses to work very well at all.

Yeah, you can fuck around with a mirror and a ruler, or once at wallmart the kid at the counter just looked at me real hard and drew spots on the plastic filler lens... as far as I can tell, the actual machine to do that measurement? makes a pretty big difference.

I think the optometrists know this, too; the optometrist is happy to give me my prescription, but they won't give me the PD numbers. "you usually have it measured when you get the frames" they say. (I should look if it changes.)

And that's the thing, the difference between pretty good glasses and perfect glasses is huge for me. Enough that I'm happy to pay five hundred bucks for a product I can get for fifty online.

That said, my local Cosco has those machines, and as far as I can tell, the lenses they grind are just fine, and if not 1/10th the cost, at least 1/5th the cost of the optometrist.

But yeah, until they solve that measurement problem? I don't really see how this is any different from any of the millions of other online frame/lens retailers, save for the vertical integration (which is kinda interesting.)

Re: Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

#74

Post by pavel_lishin » Sat, Jul 07, 2012, 4:49 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #62

pavel_lishin wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that some optometrist shops really hate giving away the prescription, since they want you to buy the lenses and frames from them. I'm not sure about the legality of this, but I've had some tell me over the phone that they wouldn't release my prescription to me. (I didn't bother fighting them, I just moved on to the next one.)

I've found that, oddly enough, both the high-end and the low-end tend not to hassle you much, and instead it's sort of the middle-range optometry shops that are trying to make a bunch of money on in-house lens/frames sales. Just about the cheapest place to get an eye exam is in the Wal-Mart vision department, and they're happy to hand over the prescription. Of course, they run the vision dept in part to try to sell y…

In my experience, the actual optometrist at Walmart is basically running his own business, he just happens to be renting the space from the chain, and doesn't really interact with them all that much.

Re: Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

#75

Post by swah » Fri, Jul 13, 2012, 8:53 PM UTC

lsc wrote: post #73

huh. the biggest problem I have with buying glasses online is the lenses. The PD (I believe is what it's called; the distance between your pupil and the bridge of your nose) is super important for the glasses to work very well at all. Yeah, you can fuck around with a mirror and a ruler, or once at wallmart the kid at the counter just looked at me real hard and drew spots on the plastic filler lens... as far as I can…

Does that change as time passes? Can't it be done with a picture of you (and a scale like a quarter that you could hold between your eyes) ? Anyway, I don't know why that won't go on the prescription, bothered me too.

Re: Warby Parker (or, Finding Broken Systems That Are Full of Money)

#76

Post by swah » Fri, Jul 13, 2012, 9:02 PM UTC

nickpp wrote: post #51

Been using framesdirect for a few years now. Very happy. How is this different?

They have fewer and better selected frames, IMO. Their website has pretty good design compared to these, enough that they managed to disconnect from the "cheap chinese glasses" feeling that the other websites give me - although in the end it might be the same product.