After lunch at Dean & DeLuca, we visited Warby Parker, an online retailer of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, at their store in Georgetown.
Warby Parker was established in 2010 by four MBA students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The idea of an online glasses retailer came after one of them, unwilling to pay the usual hundreds of dollars for a new pair of glasses, suffered through an entire semester without any glasses at all. Eight years, tens of millions of dollars in venture-capital funding, and 4 million sales of glasses later, Warby Parker is worth close to $2 billion. This astonishing success has been attributed to the underlying foundations of the company's innovative business model -- inexpensive designer prescription eyewear sold online --, which has netted Warby Parker a large, enthusiastic following among young adults -- who comprise the bulk of its consumer base and area of growth -- and given it a reputation for being "hip." As sales representatives Ben and Sarah (pictured above in the middle) explained to us, Warby Parker shook the eyewear industry to its foundations by vertically integrating its business. Instead of purchasing prefabricated glasses from a variety of suppliers to sell for a profit, Warby Parker designs, manufactures, and sells its own glasses directly, eliminating all middle-man costs. The result? Designer prescription glasses that cost only $95. A great deal for a cash-starved university student, wouldn't you agree? But wait -- how exactly do you buy prescription glasses online? How can you tell whether a pair of glasses fits you before you buy it? Warby Parker has innovative, effective solutions to both problems: They'll ship you five pairs of glasses of your choice for you to try on at home for FREE. In addition, Warby Parker uses advanced software on its site to let you virtually test glasses. This way, you'll be able to test your glasses physically AND virtually before you buy them, and decide whether or not they work for you. And that's not all that there is to innovation in Warby Parker's business model. Initially, many of us were surprised that an online retailer like Warby Parker had brick-and-mortar stores -- after all, aren't most businesses moving from the physical to the digital, not the other way around? But after visiting Warby Parker's Georgetown location, we recognized the wisdom of maintaining brick-and-mortar stores in select places: They allow the company to maintain a physical presence within a community and provide customers with a convenient location to try on and buy new glasses. This expansion from the digital into the physical reminded us of similar strategies employed by such giants as Nike, Adidas, and Amazon, who are all opening new brick-and-mortar stores while continuing to grow their online stores. It's a stark contrast to the tactics employed by most traditional retailers, who are instead closing their brick-and-mortar stores and attempting to shift online. Finally, one of Warby Parker's truly most unique characteristics is its combination of business and philanthropy. For every pair of glasses that it sells, the company donates to a nonprofit partner organization who sponsors basic eye care training for nurses in impoverished countries and low-cost prescription eyeglasses for needy patients. Said Ben, "We really try to emphasize this aspect of our business to our customers, who can feel that they're doing a good deed by buying eyeglasses from us." And as I responded, "Now I know where to buy a new pair of glasses!"
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AuthorMeiJade Hsu is a freshman majoring in Management at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. She enjoys learning about and implementing better and more innovative business practices in all settings. ArchivesCategories |