Contact Lenses

Minimum Pricing on Contact Lenses: A Win for Independent ODs

By Maria Sampalis, OD

Alcon just launched its new product, DAILIES TOTAL1. It’s a daily replacement lens, and I must say I’m excited. It’s the only water-gradient contact lens that allows for superior comfort and breathability. Making the lens involves Lightstream technology, which enables the creation of the water gradient. I have tried it and by the end of the day still feels great! As clinicians, we will be able to bring back the contact lens wearers who have dropped out over the years and get them into a comfortable lens even if it’s part-time.

Besides being a premium product, the pricing model Alcon is using for DAILIES TOTAL1 is going to be a huge factor! Patients won’t be able to find this lens for much less than $95 for a box of 90. Alcon has come up with a new marketing strategy for this premium product.

Everyone selling this lens will be under contract to not sell this product for less than $95–yes, you read it correctly, for no less than $95 for a 90-pack. If Alcon discovers that someone is charging less for DAILIES TOTAL1, they will pull the product from that retailer. We will see how this new model of contact lens pricing works, and, who knows? Maybe Alcon will manage pricing on all future new products the same way. This will be a game changer for all eye doctors, especially independent ODs!

This new pricing model enables optometrists to more easily compete with online retailers and make more money selling contact lenses in their offices. Turning contact lens sales into more of a profit maker for ODs is only fair. After all, we did do the work of fitting the patient in the lenses. Setting minimum pricing on contact lenses allows the contact lens to be treated as what it truly is; a medical device, not a cheap consumer good.

What do you think of the new pricing model used by Alcon for its new product, DAILIES TOTAL1? Do you think minimum pricing on contact lenses is helpful to independent ODs?

Maria Sampalis, OD, is the owner of Sampalis Eye Care in Warwick, RI, and North Dartmouth, Mass. To contact her: msampalis@hotmail.com

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