Ocuco offers solutions to help
ECPs compete online
By Denis Langlois
Ocuco’s OptiCommerce platform
provides independent eye care
professionals with the digital solutions
they need to stand out, attract new
customers and compete in the cluttered
and increasingly important online
marketplace.
The website design and digital market-
ing agency, acquired last year by
Ocuco, offers a range of affordable on-
line options, each designed for ECPs.
“Ocuco supports independent opticians
across the globe, which is their core
business, and will be offering independ-
ent Canadian opticians a range of
extremely effective online solutions to
allow them to compete with larger
chains and their larger budgets,” says
Ocuco’s OmniChannel Director, Andy
Chance-Hill.
“An effective online presence for an
independent can increase the number
of new patients, enhance patient
retention and drive bottom line
revenues and is essential for survival
in the future.”
The online solutions include straight-
forward brochure sites, which allow
independent retailers to present their
brand online and entice new customers
to come through their doors, and
comprehensive catalogue sites, which
allow retailers to display their products
online and become a 24/7 showcase
of their brand. Opticommerce also
offers a full e-commerce solution,
which transforms an optical business’s
website into a virtual store and
includes product catalogues and a
34 OPTICAL PRISM | March 2019
reordering system for patients. Opti-
commerce was co-founded in 2008
by e-commerce entrepreneur Paul
Clare and is now the leading provider
of websites and e-commerce services
to the United Kingdom’s eye care
market. Ocuco became the majority
shareholder of OptiCommerce last
April, having worked with OptiCom-
merce in partnership for many
years and adding to Ocuco’s growing
OmniChannel Division.
“Many independents don’t have the
budgets or expertise to create a true,
omni-channel solution for their
practice,” Clare says. “OptiCommerce
provides independents with an
affordable omni-channel solution as
well as the digital marketing services
to bring it to life.”
OptiCommerce websites can be easily
updated by users through an intuitive
Content Management System.
Clare says OptiCommerce also has
omni-channel solutions that allow
the ECP’s e-commerce websites to be
integrated with their practice man-
agement systems, allowing patients
to book appointments online, browse
through available frames, reserve
glasses they want to try on in-store
and even order products. The websites
communicate with the practice
management system to automatically
update stock, sales, orders, patient
records and schedulers.
A popular addition is the contact lens
module, which gives patients and
prospects the ability to request their
lenses online, either to be shipped or
picked up, from a prescription held
on the ECP’s system or uploaded by
the customer.
Clare says about 10 per cent of contact
lens sales are made online and frame
purchases on the web are “catching
up” to that level.
OptiCommerce add-ons also include
a virtual try-on tool for frames.
The company has the digital market-
ing expertise to help drive clients to
the retailer’s website as well through
PCC, Social and email campaigns.
Clare says a few Canadian ECPs are
currently using OptiCommerce solu-
tions and the company hopes to con-
tinue adding more retailers in Canada.
For more information about
OptiCommerce, visit ocuco.com or
opticommerce.co.uk.