LensCrafters is a global company that specializes in prescription eyewear and sunglasses. It has more than ninety stores in California alone, making it the largest optical outlet in the U.S. The company is one of the subsidiaries of Luxottica, the Italian company that is the world’s biggest eyewear provider.It was founded in the year 1983.
Lens Crafters CBP
LensCrafters Customer Benefit Design is configured to provide convenience in the access of eye examination, a wide range of frames and lenses from which to choose from in accordance with a customer’s design preference at a competitive price, as well as a guarantee of ninety days that is unconditional.
The company offers the most luxurious and fashionable eyewear. The three key characteristics of LensCrafters at this level are service delivery, system design and service encounter design.
Service Delivery
LensCrafters delivers quality service through a couple of strategies. They have a one-year Eyewear Protection Plan that offers repair and replacement of all eyewear purchased within one year. The repair and replacement are only offered in the event of an accidental damageor the normal wear and tear.
The kind of eyeglasses one wears say a lot about them. For that reason, LensCrafters providesa wide variety of frames that complement a person’s style, while at the same time fitting their lifestyle (Diamond 6).
System Design
LensCrafters offers a digital measurement system that ensures that their customers get glasses that are specifically crafted for them. This saves customers of the trouble involved in going through a variety of lenses and frames in search of the one that is fitting and desired. The eyewear design at LensCrafters offers has unique features such as the Virtual Mirror that enables one to take digital images.
Service Encounter Design
The company’s Customer Benefit Design also includes service encounter designs that are fashioned to cater for the customers with special lifestyles. For instance, the Ray-Ban design is a special modification to suit customers that live an active and vigorous lifestyle. The design includes a memory metal material fitted on the spectacles to force the frame into its design shape whenever it encounters pressure of any kind.
Lens Crafters’ Strategy
LensCrafters’ survival strategies involve meeting their clients’ requirements quickly and consistently. For many years now, the company has managed to offer customers the desired eyewear within about one hour. This gives their customers the impression that the company understands that they operate in tight schedules.
This drives a purchasing decision, especially those who do not have the time to shop around. The company has also diversified its products and services making it possible to make purchases at the same retail outlet. The three key characteristics of LensCrafters at this level are differentiation strategy, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Knowledge Management system (KM).
Differentiation Strategy
Differentiation strategy is whereby a company offers a product or service with unique features in the market. At LensCrafters, a lab situated at the premises is used to offer customers a one-hour period to pick a desired frame and lenses and have the ready spectacles.
Whereas many other eyewear companies offer the same, LansCrafters does it at a record short period (Wilson 144-145). If a customer is not pleased with the purchased glasses, they can return them in exchange for desired ones within ninety days.
The differentiation strategy also comes with the benefit of a see-now-pay-later program. The program makes it easy for everyone to afford the products because it provides customers with a twelve months of no interest purchase. The doctors at the company provide eye examinations that are comprehensive.
Customer Relationship Strategy (CRM)
This strategy is used by the company to gather information about the customers’ behaviors, preferences and needs. This gives them the ideas on how to offer better services and products.Customer Relationship Strategy includes automation of the sales force and support of the customers (Zemke and Schaaf 45-49).
The strategy is also used to carry out a marketing campaign and analysis. For instance, the information obtained from the eye examinations conducted on the patients is used to prospect the needs of the customers.
Knowledge Management system (KM)
A Knowledge Management system is an IT system that can capture, organize and disseminate knowledge at all levels of the organization. This enables all the employees to be aware of the company’s facts, such as the patents, strategic operations and other sources of knowledge regarding the company.
The sales force automation systems enable the company to track the lead of sales, forecast and liaise with the management accordingly.
Competing Priorities
LensCrafters operates in a market that is so diverse. This has forced the company to come up with various competing priorities that are logical. As one of the largest retail outlets in the world, LensCrafters has among the best competing priorities. The three key characteristics of LensCrafters at this level are vertical integration, use of the internet and a friendly view of the customer.
Vertical Integration
The company derives some of its competitive strengths from vertical integration applied in all the areas that are key to success. Such areas include product lines, consumers, retail shops, technological designs, promotion and the web.
Their main competitors do not apply the concept of vertical integration and usually outsource some of the functions that LansCrafters own internally (Reese 10). Through vertical integration, the company has managed to provide quality products which keep the customers coming back, making it a great selling point for the company.
Use of the Internet
LensCrafters uses the internet for sharing information about the products, doing press releases, as well as giving information regarding the access to the various outlets. Many other companies use the internet as a tool of being in touch with current and potential customers.
LansCrafters however uses the company’s website to provide the customers with links that can enable them find their desired products and designs. The website also provides the customers with a platform within which they can air their queries, suggestions and compliments. Large-scale retailers and even individuals can make orders over the company’s website, which facilitates huge sales.
View of the Customer
A key strength of LansCrafters is the way in which it views its customers as first priority. If a customer dislikes a company’s product, it loses its survival chances. LansCrafters has come up with various strategies that ensure that they keep up with the ever-changing world through satisfying the customer trends.
Their customer service is also very good. The company has established a culture of treating the customers as king, and this always brings the customer back. They have a way of attracting and satisfying customersbetter than their competitors.
Works Cited
Diamond, Michael. “A Decade Later, LensCrafters Sales Give Skeptics an Eyeful.”Cincinnati Business Courier. 03 May 1993: 6. Print.
Reese, Shelly. “LensCrafters Leader in Eyeglass Retail Race.”Cincinnati Enquirer. 21 March 1993: 10. Print.
Wilson, Marriane. “LensCrafters Polishes Image with Style.”Chain Store Age Executive with Shopping Center Age. 23 July 1998: 144-145. Print.
Zemke, Ron, and Dick Schaap. The Service Edge: 101 Companies That Profit from Customer Care. New York: New American Library, 1989. Print.