Consumer articles ~ Online spectacles are not just an optical illusion

The Observer, June 2005

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Spectacle wearers in search of a bargain may find just the glasses they want at a fraction of the price on the internet.

When Anthony Robertson needed some new specs, he visited his regular optician, who offered him a pair for £135. However after spotting some glossy ads for cut-price specs, the Sussex accountant thought he could do better, so he went to four large retailers, which all quoted him prices of £60 to £75.

Still after a bargain, he logged on to the net and bought a pair for £25. Though Robertson is myopic or short-sighted, he flies light aircraft as a hobby so relies on his sight. 'I have paid over £200 for a pair of spectacles,' he says. 'They need to be specially coated, flexible and robust in case my young children get hold of them. Deciding to buy on the net was a leap of faith, but the specs were as good as any opticians' models.'

Websites have now added specs appeal to the myriad of styles, shapes, frames, tints and lenses currently sold in the high street. Even the larger, more established companies like Dolland & Aitchison and Specsavers have gone online to compete with the cheaper brands - and with the products they sell in their own stores.

When Aileen Colman from Dublin needed a pair of photo-sensitive glasses - ones that adjust to the light - she was quoted at least £160. So she visited a website and bought a pair for £60. 'I don't understand why opticians charge so much for glasses. Even if they include the eye test, it is still far higher than at cut-price stores or on the net,' she says.

Sir Anthony Garrett, general-secretary of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, explains: 'People criticise opticians for over-charging for spectacles, but they have high overheads, the cost of the very expensive equipment used for the eye test that is included in the price of the spectacles, plus the skills of fully trained practitioners. You not only get a tailor-made product but one that caters for different eye conditions.'

Old age has pushed up the demand for specs in a UK industry worth £2.4bn a year,' says Garrett. 'The UK has an ageing population, which means many more people have eye difficulties or failing sight.'

The ABDO represents the UK's 5,000 dispensing opticians who fit and supply specs and contact lenses. Each trains for three years and starts on a salary of £18,000, which rises to over £30,000 depending on the success of their practice. The UK's 9,000 optometrists do a three-year degree course before carrying out eye tests and examinations.

Mark Bowden, whose family have sold spectacles in Bolton, Lancashire, for more than 85 years, says competition has driven him online (www.spex4less.com): 'Even though I have kept on my two opticians' shops in town, the loyalty factor has disappeared and my regular trade has dropped off due to the sheer volume and variety of spectacles offered by the chemists and multiples. The web is giving me a far better trade than my shops.'

Bowden, who is a trained optometrist, says he believes selling specs online works because people are able to log in their prescription details the same way as they would in a shop or optician's.

The downside is that the net cannot carry out eye tests. 'However interactive it becomes, a website can never test people's eyes,' says Bowden. 'We are entirely reliant on the quality of the tests and the accuracy of the clients' entries. Although I recently spotted an inaccurate prescription and asked the client to have their eyes re-tested, a few faulty ones will inevitably slip through unchecked.'

Though online sites sell many types of coatings, tints, frames and bifocals, they cannot yet cater for varifocals (glasses with several different lenses) as they need intricate fitting. 'Its remoteness means a website can never give you as good a fitting as an optician,' says Bowden. 'But low overheads enable sites to sell spectacles at far more attractive prices and, hopefully, help users and providers see eye-to-eye.'Your content here.

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