Eyebuydirect

Last updated

Eyebuydirect, Inc.
Type Subsidiary
Industry Online retail
Founded2005;18 years ago (2005)
FounderRoy Hessel
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
U.S.
Key people
Sunny Jiang (CEO)
ProductsEyewear
Parent EssilorLuxottica (2013–present)
Website eyebuydirect.com

Eyebuydirect, Inc. is an online retailer of prescription glasses, based in Austin, Texas. [1] [2] [3] [4] The company also sells prescription and non-prescription sunglasses, sport sunglasses, and computer glasses designed to reduce glare. [5] Eyebuydirect was founded in 2005 by Roy Hessel, who was succeeded by Sunny Jiang, chief executive officer since 2017. [6] [7] [8] The company has operations in the United States and China, and sells its products worldwide. [6]

Contents

History

Eyebuydirect was founded in 2005 by Roy Hessel, a former venture capitalist. [9] [10] The company launched Eyebuydirect.com in March 2006. [11]

In 2007, Eyebuydirect added EyeTry, a "try-on" function, to its site. [9] The function allows users to upload photos and then superimpose Eyebuydirect's glasses overtop their photos to "try on" the glasses. [9] [11] [12] The company later launched the "Wall of Frame", a social network that allows customers to share their created pictures and interact with other site users. [11] [13]

In February 2010, Eyebuydirect began incorporating facial recognition technology to its site to give users the ability to measure their pupillary distance using user-submitted photographs. [13] [14]

In 2013, French lens manufacturer Essilor purchased a majority stake in Eyebuydirect. [6] [15] Essilor had previously purchased Framesdirect.com in 2010. [6] [15] Hessel was retained as Eyebuydirect CEO. [6]

Eyebuydirect redesigned and relaunched its website in April 2014. [16]

Eyebuydirect introduced EyeZen digital screen protection lenses from Essilor as an option to customers in 2016. The company still sells EBD Blue lenses. [17]

Eyebuydirect sells only EBD Blue Lenses as of 2022. [18]

Operations

Eyebuydirect is an online-only retailer and designs and custom-makes most of its glasses in-house. [13] [19] They carry primarily affordable eyeglasses, but also offer three premium brands. [13] [20] Ray-Ban, Oakley, ARNETTE and Vogue Eyewear are their outside premium brand offerings, while RFLKT is their in house premium brand. According to the company, 50 percent of its revenue came from repeat customers in 2013.[ citation needed ]

Customers must have a valid prescription prior to purchasing prescription eyeglasses from Eyebuydirect. [9] The company sells multiple types of lenses, including bifocal, progressive, and Transitions lenses. [5] As of January 2020, Eyebuydirect has launched their 2-day delivery within the United States. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasses</span> Form of vision aid

Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear with lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms that rest over the ears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakley, Inc.</span> Manufacturer of sports eyewear

Oakley, Inc., based in Lake Forest, California, is an American company operating as an independent subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica. The company designs, develops and manufactures sports performance equipment and lifestyle pieces including sunglasses, safety glasses, eyeglasses, sports visors, ski/snowboard goggles, watches, apparel, backpacks, shoes, optical frames, and other accessories. Most items are designed in house at their head office, but some countries hold exclusive designs relevant to their market. Oakley currently holds more than 600 patents for eyewear, materials, and performance gear.

Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate and the world's largest company in the eyewear industry. It is based in Milan, Italy. Its best known brands are Costa, Ray-Ban, Persol, Oliver Peoples and Oakley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray-Ban</span> Eyewear company

Ray-Ban is an American-Italian brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is known for its Wayfarer and Aviator lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to Italian eyewear conglomerate Luxottica Group for a reported $640 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinhole glasses</span>

Pinhole glasses, also known as stenopeic glasses, are eyeglasses with a series of pinhole-sized perforations filling an opaque sheet of plastic in place of each lens. Similar to the workings of a pinhole camera, each perforation allows only a very narrow beam of light to enter the eye which reduces the size of the circle of confusion on the retina and increases depth of field. In eyes with refractive error, the result is often a sharper image. However, a second effect may appear at the common bridge between each two adjacent holes, whereby two different rays of light coming from the same object are diffracted back toward the eye and onto different places on the retina.

Essilor International is a French-based international ophthalmic optics company that designs, manufactures and markets lenses to correct or protect eyesight. Its headquarters is in Charenton-le-Pont, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pupillary distance</span>

Pupillary distance (PD), more correctly known as interpupillary distance (IPD) is the distance in millimeters between the centers of each pupil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1-800 Contacts</span> American contact lens retailer

1-800 Contacts Inc. is an American contact lens retailer based in Draper, Utah. The brands that 1-800 Contacts use includes Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb and CooperVision. The company was founded as the industry's first way to buy contacts online and has since expanded to provide online prescription renewals, glasses, lens replacements, and the in-house AquaSoft Daily contact lenses brand. In 2006, its last year as a public company, the company reported net sales of US$247 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GI glasses</span> Eyeglasses issued by the American military to its service members

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Cohen's Fashion Optical is an optical retailer headquartered in New York City featuring fashion products such as eyeglasses, frames and sunglasses, lenses, contact lenses, and accessories. Professional eye exams are usually available with on-site Doctors of Optometry.

Warby Parker is an American online retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Warby Parker was founded as primarily online retailer, but now sells primarily through approximately 160 physical retail store locations across the U.S. and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DITTO</span>

DITTO is a company that sells software that aids eyewear companies sell their products online using virtual fitting. Originally DITTO was a retailer that sold designer prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company is based in San Francisco, CA. It used virtual fitting technology to let customers try on frames from a computer. The technology measures a user’s face by homing in on pupils, ears, cheekbones, ears and other facial landmarks, and then came back with images of dozens of different pairs of glasses that might be a good fit.

Roger Vincent Hardy is a Canadian Internet entrepreneur and businessman. He is the Chairman, and CEO of Hardy Capital. Hardy is also the co-founder and former Chairman, and CEO of Coastal Contacts Inc., the leading manufacturer and online retailer of eyewear products. The Coastal Contacts Inc.’s family of websites includes Coastal.com, ClearlyContacts.ca, Clearly.com.au, Clearly.co.nz, Lensway.co.uk and ContactSan.com.

FramesDirect.com is an international online eyewear retailer. The company sells eyewear products such as eyeglasses, prescription sunglasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses through its website. FramesDirect.com sells designer and brand name eyewear products with over 60,000 models displayed on its website. Founded in 1996, FramesDirect.com was one of the earliest online optical retail stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shwood Eyewear</span> Eyewear company

Shwood Eyewear is an American brand of sunglasses and eyeglasses, it was founded in 2009, and is based in Portland, Oregon.

GlassesUSA.com is an online retailer of prescription eyewear. It was founded in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clearly</span>

Clearly is an online retailer of contact lenses, eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company was acquired by EssilorLuxottica Canada, and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are one of the largest online contact lens retailers in North America, and the largest seller of prescription eyeglasses online in the world.

Zenni Optical is an American online retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses. Founded in 2003 by Tibor Laczay and Julia Zhen, it is based in Novato, California.

EssilorLuxottica SA is an Italian-French vertically integrated multinational corporation based in Paris and founded on 1 October 2018 from the merger of the Italian Luxottica with the French Essilor. The group designs, produces and markets ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment, prescription glasses and sunglasses. The company has a portfolio of proprietary and licensed brands including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Michael Kors, Varilux, Crizal, Transitions and LensCrafters. EssilorLuxottica is currently a global leader in the design, production and sale of ophthalmic lenses and frames.

An eyewear retailer or eyewear store is a retail businesses selling eyewear and often providing optometry services. Eyewear retailers may sell any number of different products, including sunglasses, spectacles, contact lenses, sports eyewear, and safety and protection eyewear.

References

  1. ↑ Patricia Marx (March 29, 2010). "FOUR EYES; On and Off the Avenue". The New Yorker.
  2. ↑ Charles Passy (July 2, 2009). "Home &Family -- Cranky Consumer: On the Lookout for Inexpensive Eyeglasses". The Wall Street Journal.
  3. ↑ Thad Rueter. "Eyebuydirect boosts sales 200% during the holiday season". Internet Retailer. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Ryan Wilk. "Glasses for Less Than $50". Kiplinger. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Alan Henry (July 13, 2014). "Five Best Online Glasses Stores". Lifehacker. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Essilor Acquires Majority Stake in Eyebuydirect.com". Vision Monday. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Seeing Opportunities on The Web". Fox Business. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  8. ↑ "EyeBuyDirect Launches Lightning Fast Delivery for Eyewear". www.businesswire.com. January 15, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Don Davis. "Web 2.0 feature answers the question, "How do I look in these glasses?"". Internet Retailer. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  10. ↑ Kaihan Krippendorff. "You Can Ignore The Competition If You Offer Something Better". Fast Company. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 Don Davis. "Eyebuydirect.com boosts traffic with new social network". Internet Retailer. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  12. ↑ Jennifer Fong (July 1, 2008). "Clicking for specs; Website for eyewear offers virtual try-ons". The Edmonton Journal.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Thad Rueter. "Eyebuydirect boosts sales 200% during the holiday season". Internet Retailer. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  14. ↑ Natasha Singer. "Face Recognition Moves From Sci-Fi to Social Media". New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  15. 1 2 Flore Fauconnier. "Essilor rachète un site e-commerce de lunettes de vue". JDN. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  16. ↑ Greg Holden (June 8, 2014). "Eyewear Seller Puts Ecommerce into Focus" . Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Eyebuydirect introduces EyeZen Digital Screen Protection Glasses – OpticalOwl". opticalowl.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Eyebuydirect introduces EyeZen Digital Screen Protection Glasses – OpticalOwl". opticalowl.com. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  19. ↑ Paul Demery. "How Eyebuydirect focuses on the merchandise customers really want". Internet Retailer. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Prescription Ray-Ban Glasses for Men & Women". Eyebuydirect. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Eyebuydirect Launches Lightning Fast Delivery for Eyewear". www.businesswire.com. January 15, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.


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