With its current promotion Dutch optical chain Eyewish proves that it is not very interested in the sales of sunglasses with its limited margins. Everyone who buys an optical frame with lenses now, gets a (rather cheap) pair of branded sunglasses for free. Dutch optical chains seem to prefer to use sunglasses as a tool to attract people and sell more expensive frames and even more expensive sunglasses. Although the promotion is not very logical and limited by a range of restricting conditions, this kind of promotions make definitely clear that opticians need to know which collections are sold where and to which chain. Brands should make a choice whether they like to supply to chains which will use them for promotions (like currently with Ray-Ban for only 29 euro at the ABN/AMRO bank, also in cooperation with Eyewish and now even for free) or sell them to other stores that need to ask a fair and reasonable price for it. Free (sun)glasses become worthless and suppliers should realize that this kind of promotions seriously undermine the credibility of their brands. For (independent) opticians it becomes less and less interesting to purchase brands which are also sold at chains. In order to distinguish themselves opticians are obliged to offer a different collection. Unfortunately the average optician doesn’t pay enough attention to the overall composition of his collection although there are more as enough great alternatives in all price ranges, including a few brands with strong marketing tools and an increasing brand awareness at the consumer.
