Warby Parker is an American Online prescription and sunglasses retailer operating in U.S.

and
Canada. It started off with the simple question “Why do eyeglasses cost so much?”. At the time when
the company started operations, prescriptions glasses used to cost just as much as the $400-500
iPhone. The company was started by four Warton graduates with the idea to make the eyewear
industry most affordable and break the monopoly of the Luxottica Group SpA which at the time
controlled 90% of the eyewear industry.

Initially, the company started exclusively online in 2010, offering home try-on kits where a person
could order 5 frames online for free at home and then decide which ones they want to keep and just
pay for those. The brand’s initial offering put them in the low-cost and frictionless quadrant. Their core
was low prices but their online presence, ease of ordering, home try-on with return shipping labels
made the whole thing frictionless, bring ease to the already affordable eyewear and thus led to its
initial explosive growth. Warby Parker also hired a PR agency at launch to successfully feature in GQ
and Vogue, both magazines ran stories on the brand on February 15, 2010, the day Warby Parker’s
website launched, which also helped it a little in its effort to seem like a credible brand from Day 1,
which was important to shake the presumption of low prices can’t mean quality.

In 2013, the brand opened its first brick and mortar store and has expanded since to capture the
offline market as well as provide the experience that traditional stores provide a wider assortment
across a range of products. In 2018, they operated about 100 stores and in 2015 they had also
partnered with Nordstorm stores, which lead to steady growth and success on the physical
storefronts. These developments put Warby Parker in the brand building and experiential quadrants
while still operating their core online business in the previously discussed low cost and frictionless
quadrant. Association with other quality brands available at Nordstorm further boosted their image.
The brick-and-mortar strategy helped Warby Parker tap into the vast majority of people who buy
glasses in person. Their social entrepreneurship model of “buy one, give one” also helped them
enhance their brand image in the new world of woke-culture and social responsibility, further helping
them build a positive brand image.

In 2019, Warby Parker also introduced a virtual try-on augmented reality app to allow users to check
how they would look wearing a particular pair of glasses which was recognized as “100 best
inventions of 2019” by Time magazine. This further helped the brand further become frictionless and
provide an experience even if the user was online by offering virtual try-on.

While other providers like Zenni, glasses USA have come in and offered similar models like Warby
Parker’s original online model, the brand has built itself steadily over the years and had the IPO on
29th September 2021. They operate out of 120 stores in 2021 and are further looking to expand the
physical stores.
I feel, the company should continue its investments in the physical store and digital ecosystem
for experiential but also enhance its brand image by partnering with social icons, high-end fashion
brands. This will help it differentiate from the competition while continuing to serve a wider customer
base.

Reference –  

Warby parker on the Today show on NBC universal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=AWRF2wvUDxQ&ab_channel=TODAY
Adam ruins everything – The conspiracy behind your glasses - https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=CAeHuDcy_bY&ab_channel=truTV
Home try-on program - https://www.warbyparker.com/home-try-on
Warby parker wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warby_Parker
Warby physical stores - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/as-warby-parker-approaches-100-stores-
other-internet-brands-follow.html
Warby Parker IPO - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/29/warby-parker-direct-listing-wrby-starts-trading-
on-the-nyse.html
https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/6-things-warby-parker-did-differently-that-