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Re: Optical Shop Business

CHINTU — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:10:33 GMT

Dear DR Senthil.

Hi I am Amit from Mumbai I saw a message from your side that you were opening a Optical store in Chennai a year ago hope your business is doing well.
just want an advise from you. I am a person working for Tata company. i have shop in market place and I like to have Business of Optician, where you serve people and also earn.
Your early mails sats that you would like to open a chain would you be intrested in Mumbai.
if yes please let me know.
if not kindly assist as im not from this background.

Regards
Amit Arora

Re: Optical Shop Business

drsenthil23 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:51:49 GMT

Haai Mozart ,

Those were wonderful ideas...but the point is... I dont have that much funding to run a Mobile Shop on a trailer.

Also if you want people to get on to the bus which would come to my shop.

1) We should have marketed ourselves well before we can do that.
2) People would rather prefer to go to Big establishments , rather than a small shop.

Here are my ideas and I am gonna implement these.

1) Eye Testing + Frames+ Lenses for 10 $ ( Possible in India)
2) Contact Lenses for 20 $
3) Sun Glasses for 10 $

This low cost is gonna be the driver for people to reach our shop and its services

Let me know ure ideas on this

Re: Optical Shop Business

Mozart — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:16:12 GMT

What if you had a trailer that was fully equipped for eye-exams and also had an array of eyeglasses to chose from? I bet government agencies would help to provide funding support for this. Alternatively, you may consider providing scheduled transportation to your shop on a predetermined set schedule. This may be especially attractive for people who do not have the means to go to your optical shop where all the equipment/glasses are.

Re: Optical Shop Business

drsenthil23 — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:02:17 GMT

Any New Ideas??????

Re: Optical Shop Business

drsenthil23 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:08:04 GMT

According to Porter Analysis

Either our business has to be of the " Diffrentiation Strategy"

Or we should be a " Low cost Leader"

how many of u agree on this

Re: Optical Shop Business

drsenthil23 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:24:13 GMT

Any more suggestions?? Please????

Re: Optical Shop Business

drsenthil23 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:12:57 GMT

Dear Sir

I appreciate the time u are spending on this.

Well going to the customer is a fantastic idea, but there are a lot of practical difficulties.

How to take Eye Testing Equipment to the customers place.

How do we take a wide variety of frames to the customer. The customers would rather like to shop in a showroom with thousands of frames and choices.

I am in the process of gettng grants from Non profit organisations to provide free eye testing and free Glasses to poor people.

I am trying to figure out the USP idea to make customers come inside our Optical Store

Any Suggestions??

Re: Optical Shop Business

Mozart — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:15:21 GMT

I have an idea! Similar to the story posted by the U.S. based optical shop - have you thought about going to your customers and delivering this service & eyeglasses to them? This model may be effective, given the fact that eyecare awareness is very low in India and transportation options for some maybe challenging.

Also, I understand that wealth in India is changing very rapidly. So maybe for some customers - you can charge them your asking price for services and glasses. But, for the groups of people that can not afford eyecare, would you consider giving them a discount? If not, I am wondering if you can get grants or funding from world health organizations to provide this service to people who need eyecare but can not afford it. Have you looked into this possibility?

I think it's a great service you are doing.

Re: Optical Shop Business

drsenthil23 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:51:50 GMT

dear Sir

Thanks for the reply.

Well the penetration of health insurance is very low. So 99% of our business would be only cash payments.

Also awareness among people about eye care is very low. people dont want to spend unless something is very series.

So these are the problems faced in India.

Re: Optical Shop Business

Mozart — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:38:57 GMT

Welcome to the community! I'm not familar with the healthcare system in India - so I apologize if this is a basic question. Is your optical shop set up to receive insurance? Or is it set up as cash-only? In the U.S. optical shops receive both types of payments. Often optical shops will advertise that they accept certain insurance companies and also get on the insurance companies website for promotion.

There is an optical company that is participating on this site. This is there success story on their optical store (Roman Eyes located in the U.S.), check it out:
http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/docs/DOC-1494?start=6.

Also, click on the user's profile to see if the business owner wants to get contacted - if so they will of published their website & contact info. Although this one is in the U.S., I bet there are some good learnings you can exchange with each other.