The Cut Throat World of Contact Lens Websites.

A focus on Contact Lens Websites (and other highly competitive online products...)

When buying contact lenses online, Sweeteyes comes up trumps and I am not being biased... well maybe a little but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Looking for the Best Contact Lens website? For an industry dedicated to helping people see clearer it’s amazing how unclear and clouded this online industry is. The following is not only about contact lens websites but competitive online industires in general. I will very broadly cover some of the pitfalls and hopefully you will get the gist of some hot little tricks to get you noticed.

There are many highly competitive, cut throat industries that fight it out online and the question needs to be asked “What tactics do I need to use in a highly competitive online market?” The answer to this question often spawns valuable online entities and software in itself. Take accommodation, Wotif.com is an online giant founded on the competitive nature of accommodation online. Accommodation however is very suited towards the web as much of the industry’s purchasing DNA is online due to the accessibility and search scope the internet offers. It is also an industry that can be led by price however each destination has additional factors that influence consumer behaviour: Location, quality, seasonal trade and most recently reviews and actual customer experiences. This industry has been thriving for many years online due to obvious reasons.

Oddly the largest growing sector of online sales (in NZ anyway) is retail. This is largely led by appliances and related consumables. The paradox is that people are visiting physical shops, gathering information about the product best suited to them, combining this with information found online and then buying online. My take on this is that the profile of these types of stores are not renowned for their service instore. Big ticket items clearly have more education and sales time involved (meaning staff are tied up and often unable to serve others in a timely manner) More of a decision is required from the consumer to spend more money which takes more time. However, once the decision to buy is made, the memory of the service effort is crucial, as it has been proven many consumers will go to the online store of the brand that the preferred server represents. Conclusion, these bigger retail stores need the investment in their physical stores and staff to make these online sales.

Which brings me to industries that sell the exact same thing. Surely it can’t all be about price? Industries such as Books, DVDs, music, nappies, branded foods, suppliments and of course, contact lenses. (So this is how we get there)

General online sales have been ever increasing in NZ and in some areas retailers are even shutting the doors of their physical shops completely after building up their client base and relying solely on their web presence to sell their product for them. But how do you make your site the preferred site?

Lets take Contact Lenses. There is a definite limit to the number of products in this market. Even the key players such as Bausch & Lomb, Ciba Vision, Cooper Vision and Johnson & Johnson all have pretty limited product ranges. Let’s face it, what can you really add to a contact lens. It’s not a razor whereby each year they add an extra blade for an even smoother shave! With this in mind, what goes through the mind of a contact lens website owner? Sure it’s big business for some but how does any new player take a portion of the pie? I liken it to buying a terrace house or newly built subdivision home that looks similar to all it’s neighbours, the equity you will ever gain is completely diluted by the fact everyone beside you is identical. Great if no one is selling as the supply would be far less than demand driving the price up, but conversely it’s crap if everyone is selling as there is no point of difference.
Read: Contact Lens websites are all trying to sell!

This is where sweeteyes wins outright. Most of the other sites (the ones that have the word contact or lens in their title) all with their white clinical backgrounds, and stock standard frameworks... they have no point of difference? Nothing to anchor me to. No cognition factor allowing me to recall it on demand. Sweeteyes actually has a feeling, a brand... an experience worth remembering and endorsing.

Sites like: clearlycontacts.co.nz/  quicklens.co.nz  lensesonline.co.nz   contacts2go.co.nz/ ezyvision.co.nz/   optik.co.nz/   contactlens.org.nz    contacts4u.co.nz   4contacts.co.nz/  visiondirect.co.nz/  turtlecontacts.co.nz/  i-contacts.co.nz  opsmdirect.co.nz  www.acuvue.co.nz  budgeteyewear.co.nz  contactlensprice.co.nz/ all have a very similar look and feel, it’s almost like playing a spot the difference.

As a consumer this means I am driven to go on price alone and to find the online store (searching keyphrase ‘contact lenses’) I have to wade through all the competitors. And yes they may get sales but there is no loyalty, no brand experience. So much so I probably wont remember the site and I will probably go through the exact same ‘locating’ process to try and re-buy from you in the future but there is a high possibility I will end up on a competitor and not even know it.

With such aggressive competition comes aggressive Google campaigns. To get your site to the number 1 paid rank in Google you need to be prepared to spend a whopping NZD$8 per click! And this in a highly comparative industry. If you spend $8 getting them to your site what is the conversion rate? Most likely they will check out other sites to compare and price takes over. The worst thing about this is that in such an industry (competitive and very similar names) if they found you through Google they will probably try to get back to you the same way. At $8 per click if they visit the site via Google three times $24 of your margin has gone on top of your free shipping! Therefore search engines are not the best way to find the best contact lens site.

Contact Lens websites need to exist in search engines but chances are the number one ranked paid link is probably not the best for you. They have to be loaded to afford that rank and one way or another the user will pay. It is not an industry of large margins either, in fact I would suggest the margins are getting pretty close to the bone as everyone keeps undercutting everyone else. Price is a large factor but cannot be the only factor as it is not a sustainable model. I would look to the 5th to 10th paid link or the number one natural results. These will probably be the sites that are professsional enough to ensure shopping satisfaction but clearly have lower ‘online advertising’ overheads which you would hope reflects in their price.

On a side note, I mention sweeteyes.co.nz being the best contact lens website... Not only does sweeteyes.co.nz achieve a fantastic brand experience it was also clearly the cheapest over 10 of the 12 specific products and brands I tested in all the sites above...

The industry’s highest selling contact Lens, Johnson and Johnson’s Acuvue Moist (in a value 90 pack) had the largest variance in price. For this sweeteyes was amongst the 3 cheapest (very close) and these 3 cheapest where vastly cheaper than the rest of the pack. See links below and prices at the time of this article.

http://www.sweeteyes.co.nz/Shop/Product/20/1DAY-ACUVUE-MOIST-90-Pack from $76.50
http://www.clearlycontacts.co.nz/contact-lenses/1-day-acuvue-moist/prod91508.html?ilid=lnav from $113.97
http://www.quicklens.co.nz/goods/index/gc/J1M/ from $120.00
http://www.lensesonline.co.nz/ProductDetailsV2.aspx?ProductID=79631789-4977-47fc-8d39-178b0243d594 from $72.00
http://www.contacts2go.co.nz/product-1_day_acuvue_moist-4246 from $81.95
https://www.optik.co.nz/product-details/1-day-acuvue-for-astigmatism-90-pack- from $126.90 - This site is VERY slow loading, expensive and there is no clear entry point to their shop? I am very confused as to how they make sales?
http://www.ezyvision.co.nz/product/1_Day_Acuvue_Moist_90pk from $74.95
http://www.contacts4u.co.nz/Shop/Product/731/Acuvue-1-Day-Moist-90-Pack from $98.90

Besides, no business owner sets up a business with the idea of giving as much margin away as possible to be the cheapest. Until you have volumes you can use to leverage suppliers there is no point. Therefore there has to be something else...

How to do it right... 

Brand Experience. Give consumers something they truely want to be proud of using. Over ride the price factor with a stylish, lovable brand and incredible service. Make it something consumers build an affinity with yet still convenient and easy to use. Go the extra mile to be rave worthy.

Most importantly separate yourself from the pack and run your own race. It may be a slow start but it is by far the most sustainable and valuable option. Sweeteyes.co.nz ticks all the boxes for an online shopping experience. It has a name that i can remember easily. When I have told friends about it they all think ‘that’s kind of cool’ and most importantly they remember it and know where to go. In the event they don’t searching for ‘something to do with sweet?’ will most probably lead them to the site rather than 50 competitors.

Sweeteyes has this semi-1950’s soapbox feel. I like the sense of humour it achieves with its ‘from the space project’ positioning. Everything about it lures me in and makes me want to be a part of it. They have a facebook and twitter page that offers quick little snippets of valued information (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweeteyes-Contact-Lenses-Online/159645324046458) all in all it is definitely the contact lens website leader.

Sweeteyes service is unbelievable! I ordered from several sites for research purposes. (Ironically I don’t require lenses) www.sweeteyes.co.nz order arrived SAME day along with www.lensesonline.co.nz. The others all trickled in over time. Sweeteyes had the best /safest courier package and my parcel arrived in pristine condition. It may be a small thing but I really hate it when a box arrives damaged or covered in stickers that say ‘I’m cheap and bought these from somewhere cheap.’ With contacts I can imagine you look at the box everyday in your bathroom/bedroom and is some ever so small subliminal ‘feel good’ factor about the box being in good condition.

Sweeteyes also came with a sweet surprise of edible lucky hearts. Sweets that offer a little inspirational or motivational message. Needless to say that I want to use them again and I don’t even wear contacts. As is confirmed in their customer testimonials ~ sweeteyes.co.nz is a funky website with fantastic service and great prices! They are really setting the standard for online shopping in markets where the products are identical. If only bookstores and DVD/Bluray sellers would follow suit?