LensCrafters
Case Study

Edwaurdo
King

Strayer
University

BUS
430 Operations Management

January
28, 2018

 

LensCrafters Case Study

LensCrafters
operations began in February of the year of 1983. It began as an optical business
chain that offered eye exams and delivered customized glasses for an individual
in just an hour, all within one building(LensCrafters). Today, LensCrafters has
approximately 860 locations in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Hong
Kong. The mission of LensCrafters is to be the best in the eyeglass industry by
not only delivering top-quality eyewear with speed but also by providing their
clients with an unprecedented customer service experience, and delivering the
best overall value with each product they offer.

             LensCrafters seeks to gain a very competitive dominance
by providing a one-stop source for their customers. LensCrafters focal point is
to be equally on the core blocks of the foundation of their business; eyewear,
eye exams, and one-hour service. This attention to the primary goods and
services, along with a great extent offering of peripheral goods such as modern
equipment, professional staff, convenient locations, contact lenses and
accessories, 30-day unconditional service guarantee, and other eyewear accessories
allows LensCrafters to create a one-of-a-kind experience for their customers. The
client benefit package sets them apart from your traditional optometrist’s
office where the client receives an eye exam, selects and then order frames in
one visit; but then have to come back in a couple of weeks later to pick up
their new glasses. LensCrafters prompt response to their client’s needs through
their one-stop-shop approach, and quick product customization has given them an
upper hand against the competition. This method provides LensCrafters a path
for long-term sustainability and growth because they can meet their clients’
needs now.

             The refinement that LensCrafters operations
management have been a driving force in their success as long as the company. Ascribable
to the number of locations and the distance between all of the locations,
LensCrafters concentrates on making sure that information flows freely between the
companies’ various departments. This information affects inventory levels,
merchandising, reporting, cost, efficiency, and the overall quality of
everything LensCrafters does. Two of the greatest challenges facing
LensCrafters operations management today are consumer expectations and economic
sustainability.

            Customers
expectations are rising every day when it comes down to LensCrafters. Over 77
percent of American adult’s own smartphones. Smartphones along with other
platforms such as tablets, laptops, or desktops have given consumers instant
access to shopping from anywhere in the world, at any time, within seconds. Information
is to be accessed and  has also caused
consumers to become more educated and therefore giving them higher expectations
of products. Consumers today demand choice within products, as well as a choice
within costs. Meanwhile LensCrafters have improved their style, offering being
over the past few years, they’re not known for providing cost-efficient
eyewear. This is due to their parent company Luxoticca whom owns, manufactures,
and “controls up to or a little over 80 percent of the major brands which is
$46 billion global eyeglasses industry. Online companies like Warby Parker are
upsetting this exclusive possession with stylish, cost-effective eyewear
because of their upright integration; allowing Warby Parker, which causes the
middlemen and retailers to be bypassed, passing the cost savings directly to
the consumer. As online companies like Warby Parker, FramesDirect, and Zenni
continue offering quality eyewear at one-third to one-half of the price of
LensCrafters, they will not be able to sustain themselves long term with the
discerning customer who demands quality at a lower cost.

            LensCrafters
prides themselves in giving customers “a total LensCrafters’
experience” For LensCrafters continued growth, their operations strategy
has to remain focused on adding value to everything they do for their clients.
By adhering to their core values and mission statement, they are striving to
remain leaders in the industry.  Many
optometrist offices have doctors and eyewear choices within the same location. This
part is nothing original or relating to LensCrafters. The major dissimilarity
that LensCrafters brings to the industry is the skill to assemble lenses onsite
and have them ready in an hour or so. 
Customers can watch the assembling process, and upon completion, receive
a customizing fit for their new eyewear. Producing the lenses in-house saves
LensCrafters money versus ordering them through another supplier. This
service-delivery system allows them to remain more profitable, as well as
maintain quality control with their products. It also provides customer
satisfaction by giving their clients a level of comfort because one location is
handling their needs from start to finish, on the same day.  This focus on the value chain reinforces
their goal of creating customers for life.

            LensCrafters
applies a variety of performance measures to accurately determine the
challenges of their service-delivery system, and the development of their
current, and future endeavors.  Their
ability to improve performance measures over the company’s history has pushed
LensCrafters to be a leader in the eye care industry in both employee and
customer satisfaction. There are several ways LensCrafters can continue to
measure their performance to understand better how clients and staff view their
services.

            One
measurement that could be offered is an interactive app that LensCrafters
clients could use to interact with the company. This app would add value for
the firm’s clients by allowing them to schedule appointments or eyewear
adjustments, view products, shop for new accessories, order new eyewear, as
well as rate the services the client received during their visit to the actual
location.

            An
alternative way LensCrafters should measure the performance from clients would
be through the company’s social media sites. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
are several outlets that LensCrafters could use to interact with their clients
in real time. With various social media outlets, LensCrafters may also offer
special promotions, seek feedback about new trends, show how the eyewear is
produced on site, and answer questions about their products to customers around
the world.

             The feedback of employees is an important
performance measure for a company. LensCrafters should frequently be open to
hearing feedback from all employees. This feedback would allow the firm to make
improvements or changes where necessary to continually better the LensCrafters
culture and brand satisfaction. LensCrafters must also be committed to the
continual development of staff members, allowing team members to grow within
the company. By giving the staff the opportuny to advance, they are showing they
care about the livelihood of each team member. When employees feel they are
valued by the company the work for, they tend to be loyal and retention is better.
These systems allow for frequent involvement and interaction from both staff
and customers to ensure that satisfaction remains at the forefront for both
groups, showing that LensCrafters is serious about how clients and employees
perceive the company and overall brand.

            Over the 33-year history,
LensCrafters has developed many different technologies. Clarifye Digital Eye
Exam is one of the newest technologies being implemented by LensCrafters.  The Clarifye exam is a digital exam that is
significantly more accurate than previous technologies used before. Clarifye
takes a digital like fingerprint of the client’s eyes by mapping their corneas;
resulting in a more precise diagnosis, the ability to track and measure changes
to the eyes over time, and a better understanding of each concerning the health
of their eyes. In addition to these advantages, Clarifye is capable of
analyzing the customers vision with or without corrective lenses they normally wear,
as well as be compared to their new prescription with their prescription they are
currently utilizing.  All of these
results are then sent to a tablet, allowing the optometrist to explain the
changes to the patient’s prescription immediately.

             Another technical factor that LensCrafters
uses is AccuFit. AccuFit is a digital measurement system that is five times
more accurate than traditional measurement methods, resulting in adjustments
within one-tenth of a millimeter. This imprecision ensures the best vision work
possible for each customer because the lenses are properly aligned with the
patient’s eyes. These technologies and systems strengthen used by LensCrafters chain
value and operations by shortening the time needed to properly diagnose a
patient, reducing diagnostic errors, and improving the selection and fit of
frames. The advanced technology will continue to allow the company to provide
new glasses within an hour, giving the patient same-day service to keep them
seeing their best in a timely and customer friendly fashion. 

             LensCrafters also allows their stores to
perform like a factory for clients. The optical lab is within the store and it
is visible due to the glass partitions around it. Customers can watch their
eyewear be in production the entire time while they wait. This optical
laboratory also serves the company as a showroom, because the customer can see
the complete delivery process, allowing for greater satisfaction. 

             LensCrafters employees have various
technologies for team members as well. LensCrafters has been automated as many
processes as possible to ensure each employee information and has the ability to
perform and manage their job correctly. The POS (Point Of Sales) systems ensure
that the daily operations to flow smoothly within the office, enabling staff to
interact easily with clients. Information such as payments, billing, patient
forms, and prescriptions flows to complement the natural flow of the store,
products, and people within it.  The
company email systems allow employees to deliver and to interact valuable
information with one another.  but with
customers in a timely fashion. 
LensCrafters successfully turned their stores into an on-site factory as
well which allows the staff to change the custom lenses needed for an
individual client on site, saving the customer time and money along with the
company.  

             LensCrafters continues to be the leader within
the optical retail space for providing custom eyewear in about an hour. Their
convenient locations, excellent customer service, state-of-the-art technology,
streamlined process, allows them to provide prompt and accurate service for
each patient. Their customer benefits package protects their clients by
ensuring they receive the best service the first time and offers their
customers an unconditional 30-day return period if they are unsatisfied with
their product for any reason. The mission of LensCrafters’ is to be an industry
leader which have proven to be that any industry can continuously improve their
chain value by using technology to their advantage. These are essential components
to achieving with a competitive advantage into any business avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Collier, & Evans.
(2013). Chapter 6: Goods and Service Design. In Operations Management                      (4th ed., pp. 126-128). Mason, OH:
Cengage Learning.

Forbes, &
Denning, S. (2016, March 23). What’s Behind Warby Parker’s Success?
Retrieved January 23, 2018 , from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2016/03/23/whats-behind-warby-parkers-success/#57cebcee411a

 

LensCrafters. (2018). About LensCrafters.

Retrieved January 23, 2018,  

from https://www.lenscrafters.com/lc-us/about-lenscrafters

 

LensCrafters. (2018).
Clarifye: Digital Eye Exam New in Eyecare | LensCrafters®. Retrieved Janu,
from https://www.lenscrafters.com/clarifye

 

LensCrafters. (2018).
AccuFit Custom-Made Prescription Lenses | LensCrafters. Retrieved January
23, 2018, from http://www.lenscrafters.com/lc-us/accufit

 

Schaefer, M.,
VanTine, L., & IBM Instutute for Business Value. (2010, January). Meeting
the Demands of the Smarter Consumer. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from
https://frankdiana.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/meeting-consumer-demands.pdf

 

Swanson, A., & Forbes. (2014, September 10). Meet the
Four-Eyed, Eight-Tentacled Monopoly That is Making Your Glasses So Expensive.
Retrieved January 23,2018 , from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-four-eyed-eight-tentacled-monopoly-that-is-making-your-glasses-so-expensive/#8fd636c4dc83

 

 

 

 

 

 

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