IcareLabs Blog

Frame Measurements have become increasingly important with the addition of digital lens designs. As a lab, we have lost control over the safety margin on lens cutout. The lens designer gives us all of the parameters to process the lens, and we are at their mercy.

Our biggest issue has been the Frame ED (Effective Diameter) measurement. Unfortunately, many have been misinformed about how to measure this.

When we get a job that hasn’t cut out for a customer, what we often see is the LD, or Longest Diameter, placed incorrectly in the ED box. One of the top results in a quick Google search even incorrectly explains how to measure it.

If you have been in the dispensary area of your store, you may have heard a conversation between a couple of millennials that went something like this:

“Hey Joe, my new glasses with the anti-reflective coating make taking selfies easier!”

“Really? What about Instagram filter compatibility?”, and so on. It’s all about being able to shop for their eyeglasses on their smart phone and digital devices.

The millennial customer is unique and they are looking for products that appeal to their interests and lifestyle. They want the latest fashions with bold style, color and textures. The more choices they have to make it unique to them, the better.

Selling to Millennials with Technology

Millennials can really relate to digital lens process. Just as they can customize their music stream on their smartphone, ODs can customize a patient’s vision with proper measurements, including position of wear, frame parameters, etc. The digital process can optimize the Rx based on the position of wear measurements and frame specification with wider field of view.

IcareLabs: 2015 Lab Innovator

We are proud and honored to have been selected as Lab Innovator for 2015 by Optical Lab Products Magazine!

It's a very satisfying thing to see all the hard work being recognized! In the past few years, our leadership has succeeded in really turning things around. 

We have invested millions of dollars in upgrading our state-of-the-art laboratory and AR lab. We've also streamlined our ordering process and eliminated unnecessary expenses along the way. All this results in a much higher quality product, faster turn around time and our commitment to the lowest prices in the industry. 

"IcareLabs is a carefully constructed machine dedicated to providing its customers with quality products in a timely manner and exceptional service, all with very competitive pricing. The company didn’t pick two; it chose to offer all three. That is a true model for success."

We couldn't have done it without our greatest resource: our employees!

We realize there are many choices when it comes to your optical lab.

In this article, we wanted to list several recent industry awards our lab has been chosen for, and let you know about some serious upgrades we've recently made to our state-of-the-art optical lab!

IcareLabs Industry Awards:

• Lab Innovator of 2015 from Optical Lab Products magazine
• Essilor Independent Distribution Division's Lab of the Year for 2013
• Ranked among the top-ten independent wholesale optical labs in the United States

Recent Laboratory Upgrades:

• We recently completed a multi-million dollar upgrade to our lab that doubled the capacity of our digital line.
• Just 2 years ago, we upgraded our AR lab to double our capacity.

What does this mean to you?

Well, at IcareLabs, our lab is constantly improving.These upgrades allow us to keep up with demand, and help to ensure that your jobs will be completed in the fastest time possible. And, these upgrades give us redundancy, if needed.

A picture tells a thousand words, so here are a few images from this year when we upgraded our 15,000 sq ft lab in St. Petersburg, FL.

You probably get a lot of questions in your practice. Many questions come up about the different types of lenses. Many people are asking questions about the difference between bifocal and progressive lenses. If your patients are asking the same questions, here are some suggestions on how to answer that will help eliminate their confusion, and hopefully, provide you with some additional revenue. That’s a win-win!

First, let’s set the stage. Multifocal lenses typically address the needs of your middle-aged to older patients who are starting to feel the effects of aging. Many start to experience presbyopia, which is the gradual loss elasticity of the eyes and the resulting difficulty to focus on objects close up. This condition is very natural, but often annoying, and usually becomes noticeable in people in their early to mid-40s. It may continue to worsen until around age 65.

It’s at this point people need something more than a single vision lens in their prescription eyeglasses. They’re going to need additional magnification in part of the lens to help the eye focus on up-close objects. 

Introduction

Last time, we looked into the advantage of “speaking human” to our customers. We learned that an informed customer would be more likely to purchase than a uniformed customer would be.

Our industry has grown expeditiously over the last 10 to 15 years with more products and add-on goodies than we can keep up with. While we have more products than ever, studies have found that eyeglass unit sales are flat once again while dollars are up a bit. With this knowledge, you know we can expect to see about the same amount of customers this year as we did last year. To increase overall sales we have to increase the sales average per customer.

Marketing for ECPs (Part 4)

If you’re an eye doctor or an optician, you probably did a lot of studying about eyes, optometry, chemistry, biology, anatomy and biochemistry. However, if you’re like most eye care professionals (and other doctors, chiropractors, pharmacists, lawyers, etc.), you may have only had one or two marketing classes.

So, you’re an expert at taking care of people’s vision. But, how do you get patients in the door? Where do you get marketing ideas for eye doctors, opticians and optical stores? Where do you learn about marketing for eye doctors?

This series of articles contains excerpts from our e-book entitled, "Marketing Boot Camp for Eye Care Professionals." For more information, click here.

Marketing for ECPs (Part 3)

If you’re an eye doctor or an optician, you probably did a lot of studying about eyes, optometry, chemistry, biology, anatomy and biochemistry. However, if you’re like most eye care professionals (and other doctors, chiropractors, pharmacists, lawyers, etc.), you may have only had one or two marketing classes.

So, you’re an expert at taking care of people’s vision. But, how do you get patients in the door? Where do you get marketing ideas for eye doctors, opticians and optical stores? Where do you learn about marketing  for eye doctors?

This series of articles contains excerpts from our e-book entitled, "Marketing Boot Camp for Eye Care Professionals." For more information, click here.

More than 30,000 eye care professionals descended upon Sin City last week for the International Vision Expo West 2015! With tons of educational sessions, opportunities to explore a gigantic exhibit hall with all the latest technology and trends, there was plenty of inspiration and learning - not to mention entertainment!

Were You There?

Looking to grow your business? You might want to consider focusing a portion of your selling floor to the millennials. After all, in a few years they will be the majority of the population and more of your target market.

Let’s look at how millennials, a.k.a. ‘Gen Y’, shops and buys today and what you can do to sell to them.

Let's start with a definition: people born between 1981 – 1997 who have grown up on the Internet. This represents about 75-80 million young people, nearly one quarter of the total population of America.