1-800 Contacts

1-800 Contacts Inc. is an American contact lens retailer based in Draper, Utah. The brands that 1-800 Contacts use includes Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb and CooperVision. The company was founded as the industry's first way to buy contacts online and has since expanded to provide online prescription renewals, glasses, lens replacements, and the in-house AquaSoft Daily contact lenses brand. In 2006, its last year as a public company, the company reported net sales of US$247 million.

History

1-800 Contacts was founded in 1995 by Jonathan C. Coon and John F. Nichols, and was incorporated in February that year. The company held an IPO in 1998 on NASDAQ with the symbol CTAC with an offer price of $27.5M and share price of $12.50. They acquired Lens Express in 2002.

Over the years, 1-800 Contacts has been owned by several companies. In June 2007, 1-800 Contacts was acquired by Fenway Partners for $24.25 per share. In June 2012, 1-800 Contacts was sold to WellPoint (now Anthem). In 2013 Wellpoint sold 1-800 Contacts to Thomas H. Lee Partners and glasses.com to Luxottica. AEA Investors acquired a majority interest in 1-800 Contacts in December 2015.

In 2008, 1-800 Contacts entered into a partnership with Walmart to integrate phone and Internet orders for contact lenses with eye-doctor services and operations in Walmart's stores, The agreement ended in 2013. In June 2013, 1-800 Contacts launched glasses.com, a domain which the company has held since 1999.

In 2020, global investment firm KKR acquired the company from AEA Investors. The sale follows many years of strong growth and technology innovation for the vision brand.

Direct-to-Consumer Business Model

As one of the first direct-to-consumer models in the vision industry, 1-800 Contacts has spent the past 25 years providing direct access to contact lens at competitive prices for consumers. It offers a "Gajillion Percent Promise" on millions of contact lens in stock with a best-price guarantee. The company added ExpressExam, which takes 10 minutes to get a doctor-issued prescription within 24 hours.The brand hopes to make vision access easier for everyone at affordable prices.

Brand awareness

It was hoped that consumers would more easily remember the company's phone number, and thus be more likely to become repeat customers. 1800Contacts.com is also a domain name owned by the company in which a customer may order online. The combined toll-free number and matching domain is called a "Toll-Free Domain" or a " Teledotcom".

1-800 Contacts' mascot is Seymour, the eye guy. He is an eyeball with arms and legs that is often seen in marketing communications and throughout 1-800 Contacts workplaces.

The "My Brand" commercial is 1-800 Contacts' most well known commercial and has become a cult classic due to a gaming meme in 2012. The reenactment of the commercial has the characters Tali and Commander Shepherd from the sci-fi video game series ''Mass Effect.''

Acquisitions

Liingo

In 2017, 1-800 Contacts acquired Liingo, which is an eyewear brand that offers a free in-home try on program and free prescription lenses with every pair. Liingo Eyewear was founded in October 2016, in Draper, Utah. Their business models centers on affordable prices, trendy styles, and free prescription lenses included with every pair.

6over6

In 2019, 1-800 Contacts acquired 6over6, which is a digital healthcare technology that enables consumers to perform their own vision tests from anywhere using a computer or smartphone. 6over6's mission is to democratize access to vision care to help the whole world see clearly and chose to join 1-800 Contacts because of a shared commitment to advancing vision care and increasing access and affordability for people around the world.

Ditto

In 2021, 1-800 Contacts acquired Ditto, a global leader in virtual eyewear try-on technology. Since 2011, more than 60 million people per year benefited from Ditto's technology, which allows shoppers to realistically try-on eyewear and receive insightful frame recommendations.

Lawsuits

WhenU lawsuit

1-800 Contacts sued WhenU over pop-up advertisements in 2002. In the suit against WhenU, which also named Vision Direct as a co-defendant, 1-800 Contacts alleged that the advertisements provided by WhenU, which advertised competitors of 1-800 Contacts (such as Vision Direct) when people viewed the company's web site, as "inherently deceptive" and one that "misleads users into falsely believing the pop-up advertisements supplied by WhenU.com are in actuality advertisements authorized by and originating with the underlying Web site".

In December 2003, Judge Deborah Batts of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction, barring WhenU from delivering the advertisements to some web surfers, on the grounds that it constituted trademark infringement violating the Lanham Act. WhenU appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that WhenU's actions did not amount to the "use" that the Lanham Act requires in order to constitute trademark infringement.

The appeals court reversed the preliminary injunction and ordered the dismissal of all claims made by 1-800 Contacts that were based upon trademark infringement, leaving the claims based upon unfair competition