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Ocuco’s view is that Independent opticians without an online presence face a trickle of lost patients to the major on-line retailers as purchasing convenience becomes a priority for consumers. Time starved shoppers are accustomed to making appointments and buying products and services on line, and when their local optician does not have the service available, they are slowly trickling away.
“The competitive advantage our independent customers have over the online retailers is their patient database: complete with refraction, purchasing and fitting details. Our strategy is to enable our customers to use these to defend their patch and compete on-line” says Leo Mac Canna, Ocuco CEO.
“When somebody searches from their computer or mobile device for an optician, search engines tend to favour the closest location, in this case the local optician. With our solution, local opticians can compete on-line against even the largest online marketing budgets” says Paul Clare, CEO of OptiCommerce.
“Many opticians have a web site now, which is great. We need to start making them work to protect revenues, drive growth, and capture local traffic” says Leo Mac Canna, Ocuco CEO, “Right now we believe that the battle is online, and practices are losing chunks of the revenues to generic online traders. In the industry, we know why it is better to shop with a reputable optical supplier ? but do the consumers? We can help provide a compelling reason for consumers to buy locally from the practice that holds the customer’s prescription and fitting details, with the convenience of being available 24/7. ”
Ocuco’s new web solutions are available integrated with Acuitas or Focus 2, or as a standalone option with other PMSs.
OptiCommerce is the brainchild of an UK trained Ophthalmic Surgeon Dr Kuki Hundal, and Internet entrepreneur Paul Clare who together pioneered the UK’s first and most complete E-commerce solution for opticians.
The OptiCommerce platform was launched in 2008 and was created to empower optician business owners with a powerful e-commerce system, enabling them to benefit from the growing use of the Internet by customers in both finding Optician services, as well as purchasing optical products.
OptiCommerce users report increased web traffic, e-commerce sales, and new customer acquisition as a direct result of implementing the solution within their businesses. With the rapidly growing use of mobile devices, this trend is set to grow.