Eyebuydirect, Inc. is an

online retailer Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of t ...

of prescription glasses, based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. Eyebuydirect also sells prescription and non-prescription sunglasses, sport sunglasses, and computer glasses designed to reduce glare. Eyebuydirect was founded in 2005 by Roy Hessel, who was succeeded by Sunny Jiang,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

in 2017. Majority-owned by

Essilor Essilor International is a French multinational corporation specialized in the design, manufacture and sale of ophthalmic lenses, optical equipment and instruments. It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses. Founded in 197 ...

since 2013, it is now a subsidiary of

EssilorLuxottica EssilorLuxottica SA is a Franco-Italian Vertical integration, vertically integrated multinational corporation, multinational holding company registered in Charenton-Le-Pont and headquartered in nearby Paris. It designs, produces and markets opht ...

since Essilor's merger with

Luxottica Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian glasses, eyewear multinational corporation headquartered in Milan. As a vertically integrated company, Luxottica designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails its eyewear brands through its own subsidiaries ...

in 2018. The company has operations in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and sells its products worldwide.

History

Eyebuydirect was founded in 2005 by Roy Hessel, a former venture capitalist. The company launched Eyebuydirect.com in March 2006. In 2007, Eyebuydirect added EyeTry, a "try-on" function, to its site. The function allows users to upload photos and then superimpose Eyebuydirect's glasses overtop their photos to "try on" the glasses. The company later launched the "Wall of Frame", a social network that allows customers to share their created pictures and interact with other site users. In February 2010, Eyebuydirect began incorporating facial recognition technology to its site to give users the ability to measure their pupillary distance using user-submitted photographs. In 2013, French lens manufacturer

purchased a majority stake in Eyebuydirect. Essilor had previously purchased Framesdirect.com in 2010. Hessel was retained as Eyebuydirect CEO. Eyebuydirect redesigned and relaunched its website in April 2014. Eyebuydirect introduced EyeZen digital screen protection lenses from Essilor as an option to customers in 2016. The company still sells EBD Blue lenses. Eyebuydirect sells only EBD Blue Lenses as of 2022.

Operations

Eyebuydirect is an online-only retailer and designs and custom-makes most of its glasses in-house. They carry primarily affordable eyeglasses, but also offer three premium brands. Ray-Ban, Oakley, ARNETTE and Vogue Eyewear are their outside premium brand offerings, while RFLKT is their in house premium brand. According to the company, 50 percent of its revenue came from repeat customers in 2013. Customers must have a valid prescription prior to purchasing prescription eyeglasses from Eyebuydirect. The company sells multiple types of lenses, including bifocal, progressive, and Transitions lenses. As of January 2020, Eyebuydirect has launched their 2-day delivery within the United States.

References

External links

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Eyebuydirect Canada

Eyebuydirect France
{{Eyewear retailers Essilor Eyewear retailers of the United States American companies established in 2005 Retail companies established in 2005 Internet properties established in 2005 Online retailers of the United States 2005 establishments in Texas