Frames

Simplify Frames Selection with Tiered Pricing

By Larry Golson, OD

A simplified, color-coded system for pricing frames makes it easy for patients to shop—and it keeps pricing and presentation simple for your optical staff.

Earlier this year, my optical staff and I came up with an idea to improve the shopping experience for patients. We decided to simplify our frames pricing system and do away with price tags hanging from the temples of frames on display.

Under our former system, we would multiply the wholesale cost of frames by three to arrive at a retail price, but that created a mess for both our staff to track and our customers to figure out the logic behind. When we computed prices that way, our prices ranged all the way from $80 to $400, with the patient left with little understanding of the thought process behind those prices.To them, it seemedarbitrary.

Upscale Frame Lines Nearer Front Door

The expression “put your best foot forward” applies to how we organize the layout of our optical.

We like to keep our higher-end frames, from manufacturers like OGA, Seraphin, John Varvators and Koali close to the front door of our office so passersby catch a glimpse of them and get lured inside. Those best-of offerings are the first thing the patient sees when they come in for an appointment. These frames are often $250 to $300, or even over $300.

As the patient walks further back into the office, the next group of frames they see are our mid-priced frames, which include collections from Europa, Kate Spade and Prodesign. These frames are priced between $129 and $249.

Our lowest priced frames, such as the Silver Dollar Cafe line, priced at $89, are deep inside our office. We hope patients will see and be tempted to buy one of our higher-priced frames before they see these budget frames.

Frames we are phasing out of our optical are placed in a display stand devoted to 50 percent discounted frames. We are constantly phasing out some frame lines and adding new lines to keep our selection fresh. We also like to provide a deeply discounted frames selection so that patients on very tight budgets can still afford to get a new pair of eyeglasses.

Implement a Tiered Pricing System
We created six tiers of pricing, starting at $89, with each tier separated by $40.So the second tier was $129 and so forth. Instead of multiplying the wholesale cost by three, we now multiply by three and then place the frame in the nearest tier it fits into, rounding up. For example, if a frame costs $50 wholesale, we would first multiply by three, arriving at $150. Rounding up, the nearest of our tiers is the $169 tier, so that is the pricing tier that frame would be placed into.

Frames Color-Coded According to Price

Next we assigned a color to each of our pricing tiers and placed a sticker on each frame with the color of the tier that frame fit into. There is an easily visible sign on our optical wall explaining the tiered pricing system and what tier each color relates to. Our optical staff points this chart out to patients in the optical. In addition to providing a consistency of pricing, the shopping experience becomes easier for the budget conscious shopper. For instance, that shopper (many these days in a struggling economy) now knows that all frames with an orange sticker on them are beyond their means so they can focus on the frames they can afford to buy, making it more likely they will leave our office having made a purchase.

Value of an Organized, Well-Communicated Pricing Strategy

Some might argue that it hurts the profit potential of an optical for patients to be aided in focusing on frames within a certain price range, but it has worked for us. It avoids the frustration of a patient finding that every frame she picks up is beyond her budget. It also creates a more loyal optical customer because the patient can see that we are communicating directly and fairly about our pricing structure rather than trying to trick or underhandedly lead them into purchasing something they can’t afford. We don’t want a patient to fall in love with a frame only to be surprised when the price is given to them.

Stickers Instead of Price Tags

The colored stickers in lieu of the price tags with wildly varying prices also creates a more streamlined, aesthetically pleasing optical. The tags used to get stuck in patients’ hair and often would fall on the floor creating a messy look in the dispensary.

Keep Brand Collections Together

We keep the brands we sell together, with each frame within each brand category featuring a sticker that relates to its pricing tier. That means that while brands are all in one place, prices within the brand categories are all mixed up. We find this a helpful strategy because patients often have favorite brands that they know they want to choose from. With our approach, they can easily find all the frames we carry from the brand they are interested in and then quickly scan what is within their budget with the help of our colored stickers.

Premium Frames in a League of their Own

Frames priced at more than $300 are not placed into one of the pricing tiers, which we explain to patients. By not slotting premium frames into a tier we are making a statement that these frames have a special status, or that they are special enough to be set aside. From a practical standpoint, many of these frames, from vendors such as OGA, Seraphin, John Varvatos and Koali are priced much higher than the rest of our frames so that it wouldn’t make sense to create a category especially for them.

A user-friendly frames pricing system will encourage patients to buy from you and inspire positive word of mouth. Patients will appreciate the convenient, comfortable shopping experience that your optical provides.

Related ROB Articles

How to Succeed with a Trunk Show

Encourage Patients to Choose New Frames with Lens Updates

Use Display Trays to Highlight Frames Options

Larry Golson, OD, is the owner of Envision Eye Care Optometry & Eyewear, an independent optometric practice in Asheville, NC. To contact him: drg@myenvisioneyecare.com.

To Top
Subscribe Today for Free...
And join more than 35,000 optometric colleagues who have made Review of Optometric Business their daily business advisor.