News Briefs Archive

Alcon Broadens U.S. Availability of MARLO

August 19, 2020

Alcon has announced broader U.S. availability of its MARLO digital contact-lens ordering platform. The platform allows patients to order, reorder and track their Alcon contact lens order online and have their lenses shipped to their doorstep, while keeping the relationship and revenue with their existing eye doctor.

Following a successful pilot in 2019, Alcon scaled MARLO’s availability to reach more eyecare professionals (ECPs), and with the rising popularity of virtual health services during COVID-19, Alcon has now accelerated MARLO access to a larger population of independent practices.2 Alcon also implemented remote MARLO set-ups to support more ECP businesses during the pandemic.

“Alcon understands the eyecare landscape is becoming increasingly complex due to rapidly evolving patient and practice needs, especially during this challenging time,” said Laura Walker, vice-president and business unit head of Digital Innovation, Alcon. “MARLO is uniquely positioned in the marketplace, servicing the ECP, their team and their patient needs, and has been created as a result of feedback from each audience to help ensure we deliver an optimal experience.”

It is estimated that nearly 20 percent of patients go online to initially purchase their contact lenses and the trend of online sales is expected to continue to grow.3,4 Alcon says MARLO is focused on delivering on patient expectations for convenience while ensuring the practice experience is simple and efficient for both patients and staff. With MARLO, 90 percent of patients who ordered through the platform said they are more likely to reorder their contact lenses from their ECP when using MARLO, and 65 percent of patients are likely to recommend their eye doctor because of MARLO.1

“My practice has been using MARLO since the initial pilot and it provides convenience and satisfaction to my contact lens patients, efficiency for my office and revenue for my business,” said Jessica Crooker, OD of Scituate Harbor Vision Source in Massachusetts. “With MARLO, my practice can receive orders after business hours, on weekends and even when we were closed during COVID-19. MARLO also helps my team reduce time spent on fulfilling orders and instead increases our opportunities to deliver an optimal patient experience.”

The process for using MARLO is simple and convenient, including only a few steps for the patient, ECP and their practice:

• ECPs introduce MARLO to their patients either during their annual eye exam or through a unique practice link sent to their patients through e-mail or text, allowing patients to order directly from and stay connected with their ECP throughout their eyecare journey.

• Once entered into the MARLO system, patients will receive reorder reminders so they can continue to purchase contact lenses without returning to the office. Patients will also receive exam reminders.

• In addition to online and text ordering, the platform also enables practices to capture and fulfill patient contact lens orders over the phone and ship the contact lenses directly to the patient, making it convenient and easy for the patient.

At the same time, Alcon introduced MeetMARLO.com – the newest way for ECPs to learn more about the MARLO digital platform and request a virtual demonstration from an Alcon representative.

References
1. MARLO Patient Claims Survey”; Fielded Jan 3-7, 2020 by the Travis Group; n=184; 95% Confidence Level
2. Bestsennyy, O. et al. (2020, May 29). Telehealth: A quarter-trillion-dollar post-COVID-19 reality?. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/telehealth-a-quarter-trillion-dollar-post-covid-19-reality#
3. Contact Lens Spectrum, Volume: 35, Issue: January 2020, page(s): 18, 19, 21-25
4. GfK Optics Review YE 2018”, page: 10

 

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