Buying Eyewear Online versus Buying Eyewear from a Local Store

New to buying eyewear online? Now is a good time to size up the comparison between buying online and buying from a local optical store. When you look at the convenience factor alone, it’s clear that buying eyewear online is miles ahead of any local store experience. Not convinced? Here’s a quick comparison:

Buying eyewear online gives you better prices: Most local optical stores have high overheads, making their product prices higher than what an online store can offer. Since an online store doesn't have any such issues, their prices are much lower, by an easy 20-50% even, offering you the same branded quality products at a fraction of local stores' rates.

Compare brands with the click of a button and get what you like: Gone are the days of preferring brand specific eyewear stores. Picture this: You want a pair of Reebok sunglasses, so you visit a Reebok showroom. But what happens if you aren’t happy with the stock? Will you step out of that store, trudge along, and find the next store half a kilometer away through hawker zones or three floors of a mall? Maybe not. You’ll end up settling, if wallet permits and time doesn’t.

In comparison, buying eyewear online makes it easy to compare brand prices, look and feel, styles and accessories. All you need to do is click till you pick. What’s more, each brand’s sales, discounts and giveaways are sitting in one place, waiting for you to choose between them.

More choice and quicker purchases as online stores are better suited for larger stocks: How many times have you asked for a particular brand and not found what you’re looking for? Or how many times have you been asked to come back in a week or two to pick up your contact lenses? Online stores have better stocks and brand collections, simply because all stocks come straight from the source. There’s no in-between brick and mortar interface that delays the order.

Assured quality with warranties and brand seals: While most well-known local optical stores do offer warranties and brand seals, some others do not. No such ambiguity in an online store.

Share with friends and family who aren’t with you: Everyone needs second opinions. And even in this world of smartphones and tablets, sharing from a physical site is still a tad inconvenient. For starters, the people you’re sharing with need to have the same technology or, even better, know how to use it. Buying eyewear online makes this easy. Since your purchase isn’t time-bound or dependent on who is physically present, you can mail your preferences to someone whose choice you trust. Await reply, and then buy at your convenience.

Easy selection for contact lenses, sunglasses and spectacles when buying eyewear online: Easy ordering systems that let you select prescription and any other particular details makes online buying even more convenient. Apart from first-time or even annual eye health check ups, most people who seek eyewear are already aware of their lens and spectacles prescriptions. Simply select relevant purchase details and you won’t need to re-visit the store to check if the delivery’s come through or worse still, wait for your purchase to reach you with little accountability regarding time needed.

Local optical stores do have their advantages, eye check ups being the most important one, but when it comes to time taken, ease of purchase, brand comparisons and better pricing, buying eyewear online wins hands down.

Anita Kumar is the author of this article on Contact Lenses. Find more information, about Contact Lenses here