What is VRM?
“Project VRM is a research and development project of the
Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Its purpose is
to study and support the development of tools that provide customers with both
independence from, and engagement with, vendors. Think of VRM as the way
customers relate to vendor CRM (customer relationship management) systems.” The project is headed by Internet legend Doc Searls.
Whilst offering online prescription eyewear is perhaps not a
pure VRM tool, we think there are some parallels.
One of the main objectives we have is to put power back into
the hands of the customer by sharing information about the glasses industry in
Australia.
We hope that once customers expect and demand high quality
prescription eyewear at prices that better reflect the true cost then the
average prices of glasses will fall from the current level of around $300.
We’d love it if customers got together to suck the massive
profit margins out of the glasses industry. We’re not asking you to necessarily buy from us – do a Google search to
find other online glasses companies in Australia and around the world.
What we are asking is that you think twice about buying from
opticians and think hard about buying your glasses online.
If we can get to a situation where people use their optician
for checking the health of their eyes and use online stores for buying their
glasses then that should add real value for everyone involved.
And as vendor in that chain we’re always open to customer
engagement.
We think that makes us a bit of a VRM initiative.
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