IcareLabs Blog

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 during patients' eye exams. 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!

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.

Blue light and the health hazards of HEV, High Energy Visible light, have become available to ECPs wherever they turn. They find information in the industry news media, class credit articles, seminars, conventions and on the Internet when looking up vision health concerns. It is everywhere.

Even though the industry may be aware of the HEV health concerns, the general public may not be. This is the reason every vision health professional should make HEV part of the discussion with every patient. It is our job to educate and inform our patients of the dangers of HEV.

What is blue light?

The spectrum of natural sunlight includes the high-energy wavelength that humans are attuned to. It affects our sleep cycle, alertness, mood, cognitive functions and sense of wellbeing. Depending on the study³, there is a range in the blue portion of the light spectrum that has hazardous affects. The peak threshold of the blue color cone photoreceptors is 463mm, with a range of 400-500 nm. They can penetrate into the eye causing retinal damage, which is cumulative.

There is an abundance of research available on how taking vitamin and mineral supplements to improve our health and energy level. One issue that is of particular interest to eye care professionals is improving eye health through supplements. And, one question that keeps coming up is how can supplementation help with eye health overall. There are some eyeglass stores that promote eye health supplements to their patients. If you don’t, perhaps this information will be helpful and might inspire you to do some research on your own.

It All Starts With A Healthy Diet

As the name itself implies, taking supplements are to go along with a healthy diet. No amount of dietary supplementation can provide all the nutrition a body needs to be healthy. Poor diets and unreasonable amounts of junk food are associated with many serious health issues, including vision loss. On the other hand, there is some research that indicates certain vitamins and nutrients can be beneficial for maintaining eye health and good vision.