ZenniOptical and the whole new world of online business!
Monday, February 23rd, 2009Today I’m bringing up a topic that, besides being potentially useful, is also a good example of the new kind of business models that have been emerging with the advent of the Internet: the kind of business where a company gets to skip the middle man and save lots of money in advertisement, thus effectively succeeding in selling its product at an extremely competitive price, on that simply wouldn’t be affordable in the traditional markets.
You might have heard about this company called ZenniOptical before, especially since it’s been highly praised in the NY Times… and with good reason, too! You see, ZenniOptical is a 100% online eyeglasses vendor; they sell a wide range of prescription (as well as leisurely) eyewear, and the prices are quite remarkable: the website claims it’s possible to get prescription eyeglasses from $8. Needless to say, that’s a LOT more inexpensive than anything one would hope to find in the traditional brick-and-mortar optometrists.
That, my friends, is the power of the Internet. A lot of businesses might have failed back in the days of the so-called “dot.com crash”, but that’s arguably because the entrepreneurs failed to take advantage of the real strenghts of the on line markets. Besides, back in the day there was only a small fraction of online shoppers, while nowadays there’s a substantial and ever-increasing volume of transactions getting processed over the Internet. And that actually makes perfect sense, once you think about this illustrative example. If you can’t follow this reasoning, maybe you would benefit from getting a new pair of prescription eyewear? Here, I’ve looked up a tasteful model for you; no need for thanks… and welcome to the future, already!
