Frames

Frames

By Susan Rose Ohneck

Marchon Eyewear offers a four-part seminar series on how to assess your frame inventory, how to sell it and how to work with your vendor to optimize profits. Susan Rose Ohneck, Midwest regional manager, is one of a number of Marchon sales personnel who deliver the seminars in optometric offices.


The frames you sell need to match the image of your target patient demographic. Decide which demographic of patientsis most profitable to market to, then narrow your frame selection down to only those frames that match what those individuals would likely buy.

Actions You Must Take

1) Review your last year of frame sales. What percentage of your sales were in each of these categories: fashion forward, contemporary and conservative? Further analyze this by men, women and unisex sales. Now, one more step,analyze the sales for each category by high dollar, medium dollar and low dollar. You now havean understandingof your current sales.

2) Track the reasons why patients are leaving your practice and going elsewhere for frames and lenses. This data tells you where the holes are in your practice.

3) Create a plan for your frames sales for the coming year. Start with adjusting your frame inventory mix.

Analyze Your Inventory Image…and Adjust Mix

Let’s say you’re targeting an upscale, suburban, Boomer female demographic. You’ve analyzed your sales over the past year, and you believe that group of individuals is the most profitable to target frames sales to.

You’ve calculated that you have 50 frames of a high-end, recognizable brand name we’ll call Brand A. In addition to frames, this brand is known for feminine, affordable high-fashion apparel. You also have 50 frames of a mid-priced-range brand, we’ll call Brand B,which isn’t selling as well. You believe your demographic of upscale, suburban, Boomer women will be more drawn to Brand A.

To better target your key demographic while remaining profitable, try offering 80 frames of Brand A and 20 frames of Brand B. Altering the mix in this way allows you to continue profiting from Brand B as you transition your mix to reflect the image you believe your target demographic will be drawn to. As you would for any inventory adjustment, monitor sales over the next few months, and rebalance the frame mix as needed to maximize profit.

Offer Multiple Colors, Multiple Sizes
Now make sure you have enough selection of each type of frame you sell. You can’t have most of your frames in one size or color because that’s not how people buy things. Think about how a retailer like The Gap typically handles merchandise selection and follow suit. The GAP, like all successful retailers, offers many colors and sizes of jeans, so there’s no need for placing special orders.

ROI Analysis
Six months after purchasing your latest supply of frames, do a return on investment (ROI) analysis. In this case, even though you’re courting a demographic you feel is more drawn tohigh-end framesthanmid-price frames, you may need to make maybe a dozen moremid-price frames available to keep your frame mix profitable as you transition to your new target demographic.

Don’t Wait to Reinvest In More Profitable Frames

1. Use promotions to sell off current product to make room for frames that align better with your target demographic. If you have 800 frames, but only 400 are right for your target patients, sell off the superfluous half of your merchandise by offering marked-down frames as second and third alternate glasses for driving, computer work, safety, sports or other specialty uses.

2. Don’t wait for unwanted frames to sell off before investing in new merchandise. Ask your vendors for delayed billing on the frames you’re eager to display in your office.

Susan Rose Ohneck is Midwest regional manager for Marchon Eyewear. She can be reached at SRoseOhneck@Marchon.com.

Read more on this topic and other frame board management essentials in Marchon’s 4 Keys of Inventory Management.

To read the last article in this series, The Basics of Frame Board Managment: Part 1–Analyze Your Inventory, cilck here.

NEXT INSTALLMENT: How and Why You Should Automate Your Frame Reorders


Marchon’s 4 Keys of Inventory Management

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