Buying contact lenses online really are cheaper than
your local eye practitioners. For exactly the same lenses you'll pay
around 70% less when buying online. This includes the
cost of shipping which is often free when you place a larger order
anyway. The cost is such a big difference that local eye practitioners
have found it increasingly frustrating since the internet and
the purchase of contact lenses online has grown in popularity. There
are several reasons for this which we'll go in to here.
There are many costs and overheads for being a "bricks
and mortar" business especially one that needs to be on a busy street
like optical retailers. The cost of renting or buying shop space on
these streets is astronomical and they have to be passed onto the
customer. The salary of the eye care professional is not cheap and the
eye exam is only meant to partially cover this cost with the
remaining monies coming from the sale of eyeglasses or contact
lenses. There are distribution costs for a retailer to ship
their lenses to all the different stores they have around the country
from the supplier especially with gas rising like it is.
Some of the costs mentioned above are almost non
existent for an internet retailer. The only store front is the
website itself and the design and maintenance of a website is of
minimal cost. There are no eye care professionals to
employ with their large salaries, all you need are people
available to ring the professionals to confirm prescriptions. The
biggest cost saving for the internet retailer is location and storage
of stock. They can be located anywhere in the country (preferably
central however they don't need to be on a busy central street to catch
walk in customers. They can have a centrally located warehouse
that they can ship every order from which has low
rental costs and all their stock is in one location. Some
internet stores can command very low prices from the manufacturer
because of the massive amount they're buying.
All of these cost savings are passed on to the customer
which ends up with more customers, more buying power and even
lower costs. The local retailer can't compete, they have to sell
themselves in a different way and that is the personal service you get
by shopping with them and most importantly that you
can have your lenses immediately without having to wait for them to be
delivered. The problem is you will be paying a very high price for this
service for exactly the same end product. For this reason people are
choosing the internet in their millions.
