How to Start Online Eyewear and Prescription Glasses Business

Do you want to enter the online eyewear industry? Do you need a quick start guide? In this article, we will help you build an online eyewear store. All the way from the very beginning to the very end, we’ll guide you. And by the end, you’ll have a fully functioning eyewear store.

Starting your own online eyewear store is not as daunting of a task as it might seem. In fact, there are many positive aspects of selling eyewear products online. With the right navigation, resources, and techniques. You can create a viable business that allows others to select their eyeglasses in a convenient manner. SetuBridge offers e-commerce solutions to take your business to the next level with Shopify and Magento development services.

1. Creating an Eyewear Business Plan

Creating an eyewear business plan can be an exciting and challenging venture, but careful planning and preparation are essential for success. We should do proper market research because it’s important to understand your target market, what types of products customers are looking for, and what competitors are offering in terms of products, prices, and customer service. 

After that create a detailed budget and financial plan that includes expenses for product sourcing, marketing, and operating costs. Research and select suppliers that offer the highest quality eyewear products and are able to deliver products in a timely and efficient manner, and also Develop a customer service plan that includes policies for returns, exchanges, and customer inquiries.

2. Understanding the Global Eyewear Market

It is crucial to understand this step in the whole process. Building an eyewear store is not a cakewalk. The first thing you need to do is conduct thorough market research.

According to The Vision magazine, around 42% of males and more than 50% of females in the world are wearing glasses. And the study shows that more than 70% of the planet will need some sort of eye correction due to the time spent on screens.

In 2018, the eyewear business was worth a 131billion USD. And it’s estimated to jump to 250 billion USD by 2025. From the stats, we can see that the US and EU are the world’s largest markets for eyewear stores. But recently, the Asia Pacific region is moving ahead with a sharp growth rate of 13% in this domain.

3. Establish a Solid Business Model

This is something you can’t avoid when you’re set on the path to monetizing your idea.  Businesses spend a lot of money to get their structure set. Creating a robust business model helps you in pitching investors and generate a revenue model.

When it comes to the product, you’ll have to decide on the types of eyewear your store will carry. Will you focus on sunglasses? Contact lenses? Designer frames? Knowing exactly what types of products your store will offer will allow you to accurately target your customers.

Once you’ve decided on your product selection, you’ll need to figure out how they’ll get from the manufacturer to the customer. Will you purchase inventory directly from the manufacturer and store it in a warehouse? Will you have a drop-shipping arrangement with manufacturers or a third-party service provider? How will your customers return defective products or order replacements? You’ll need to figure out all of these details before opening for business.

Finally, you need to decide on how you’re going to market your business. Will you rely on social media ads? Are there any print publications that are read by members of your target audience? Think about how much money you expect to spend per customer, and make sure that it’s less than how much each customer spends on average otherwise, you won’t turn a profit!

4. Legalize your Eyewear Business

You don’t want the FBI to barge into your turf for illegal activities right?
So, in order to run your business legally, you need to get a proper trade license & Permit for a Business. Depending on the country, the process may differ.. But getting a license makes things much easier.

Also, when it comes to legalization, there are a lot of daily transactions happening. You will need a special business account to manage, protect, and keep track of capital. And in case your business and personal assets are linked, then they are also at risk when your business is succeeding

5. How to Choose the Right Platform?

You can try doing some market research and find flaws in the best optical stores online. And try to include those features. For example, when you’re shopping in an online optical store, there are times when you can’t find your prescribed product. For this, you can move to eyewear solutions where you can get custom extensions as per your need.

We know, that creating your very own online is an important decision. There are many options, and it can be difficult to know which platform is the best fit for you and your business. But we’ve simplified that for you. The following are two best picks when it comes to starting an online eyewear store:

Method 1: Magento Supremacy

• Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform that allows users to create, manage, and edit stores online. With this, you can scale your business efficiently as you grow. 

• Magento is widely used by top eCommerce businesses like lenskart.com, hp computers, etc. It’s the best pick especially when you want to create robust stores that can handle large inventories. Also, there are hundreds of unique options available when it comes to Magento. For instance, if you want a virtual try-on or prescription order lenses, then you can also do that by integrating your site with custom extensions.
• At Setubridge, you will have access to various plug-ins and extensions like the Prescription Eye Lens extension where shoppers can enter the details like base curve, diameter, power, etc and the store can fetch the prescribed product.
•  At Setubridge, you will have access to various plug-ins and extensions like the Prescription Eye Lens extension where shoppers can enter the details like base curve, diameter, power, etc and the store can fetch the prescribed product.

Method 2: Shopify

• You don’t need to be a developer or hire one because you can easily manage your online store by yourself. Shopify offers hundreds of beautiful themes, which will help you bring your brand to life.

• It has a Shopify app store with thousands of apps that can help you to improve the functionality of your eyewear store. You also have the flexibility to implement all modern marketing tools like Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, and others.

• We provide a wide variety of services ranging from custom services like Shopify apps to building robust stores. Our most popular solution for online eyewear stores is the Prescription Eye lenses Shopify App. Clients can create lens-type products, get prescription-based orders, and much more. It will help you increase conversion rates and sales. If you need a helping hand from professional eyewear digital marketing experts, just reach out to us.

SETUBRIDGE offers custom app development services. Also delivered all types of custom development, theme customization, and third-party integration services.

6. How to Build Eyewear Website?

Now, this is the most important part. All your onboarding, sales, conversions, etc will depend on your eyewear website.

Now, there are many aspects to building a website. But let’s start from zero.

If you’re just starting your business. Then you’ll need a robust website to deal with your products and shoppers. Now, to do this, people have two options:

• Do It Yourself

• Hire Pros

Do It Yourself

• Many store owners believe that their site should be their own creation. To do this, they simply form a developer team and start working on creating a website. Though the store owners have all the flexibility, it’s still hectic.

• They’ll have to learn everything and work with trial & error methods. It’s good for the long run, but starting would be very slow with a lot of amateur mistakes.

Hire Pros

•  If you want a flashy website built in a short period of time. Then this option is for you. Here people hire a company like SetuBridge which specializes in making websites that will be result-oriented. Specify your requirements and they will do the rest.

• The best part of hiring pros is that you don’t need to worry about anything.

7. How to Add a Payment Gateway to an E-Commerce Site?

People are far more likely to abandon their shopping carts if they have too many hoops to jump through during checkout. To ensure that your potential shoppers become actual customers, it’s important that you make the checkout process as efficient and simple as possible.

One way to do this is to integrate payment gateways into your e-commerce website. Payment gateways allow you to accept debit and credit card payments from customers, with this information transferred securely from your website to the relevant bank account for processing.

A good payment gateway service will provide you with a reliable platform that ensures that your customer’s sensitive information is kept safe and secure, while also giving them a variety of different options for paying for goods or services on your site. This can include credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks (eChecks), PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay. Some even offer cryptocurrency payment options!

You’ll also want a service that offers you 24/7 support in case anything goes wrong during the checkout process—this will ensure that you can resolve any issues quickly and efficiently without losing any potential customers along the way.

Also read: Top 5 Payment Gateways 2022

8. How to Promote Online Eyewear Store?

When you create your own site, shoppers won’t come on their own to buy eyewear frames online. So you have to drive traffic, attract customers, and increase sales. Here are some effective ways to promote your online eyewear store:

Social Media Marketing:

Utilize social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to showcase your products and reach your target audience. Utilize hashtags, influencer marketing, and paid advertising to increase your visibility.

Email Marketing:

Build an email list and send regular newsletters to your subscribers to promote new products, sales, and other important updates.

Customer Reviews and Referrals:

Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and refer your store to their friends and family.

Collaborations and Partnerships:

Collaborate with other businesses in the eyewear industry, such as optometrists, to cross-promote each other’s products and services.

9. Offer Excellent Customer Service 

Offering excellent customer service in the eyewear industry after product purchase is important and crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. One key aspect of this is ensuring that the customer is fully satisfied with the product that they have purchased. This can be done by offering a warranty and guarantee on the product, as well as providing easy returns and exchanges in the case of any issues.

In addition, ensuring the customer has access to services as they are required and conducting regular follow-ups to measure their level of happiness with the purchase are both effective ways to build positive customer relationships. One way to improve client satisfaction is to give regular promotions and discounts and to have a dedicated customer care team to respond to questions and address problems. As a whole, it’s crucial to put things in order.

10. Build your Network

Networking is the key. Without it, your store will face time decay. Shoppers won’t be able to know about your store if you don’t grab their attention. By developing relationships with industry professionals, customers, and suppliers, you can increase your visibility, drive sales, and grow your business. By building a strong network, you can increase your visibility, drive sales, and grow your business in the eyewear industry.