[javiramos]

What kind of competitive advantage do you have compared to other similar companies (e.g. Hubble [1])? Is contact lenses just a race to the bottom in terms of pricing? Other than cost, are there any other elements that differentiate you?

[1] https://www.hubblecontacts.com/

[alaskamiller]

Hubble is going the Warby Parker or Dollar Shave Club route, by vertically integrating manufacturing and branding.

This is just ecommerce automation in a niche vertical. Here, they draw in buyers, they stock inventory, and they fulfill.

Maybe he's able to upgrade and use better software to get rid of 15% of "waste" or maybe he's just eating into his margins and it's too early yet for him to realize, either way he's marketing it as a "savings" passed on to the consumer.

Which doesn't mean it's not interesting. If he can prove that his software mix really is contributing to lowering costs and if the niche doesn't sustain/support the business then most likely he ends up finding another niche or selling access to his software tools to help other ecommerce businesses thrive. E.g. sell shovels in a gold rush.

[dpandya]

This is a really important question and @alaskamiller has got the right points other than the selling software to others bit - we're pretty confident the stuff we're building is impactful in our space since we're seeing the results.

In comparison to Hubble: we don't require customers to get a new prescription. Just order from us, save money.

Long term, the process improvement software that we're building as well as the intelligence around actually acquiring customers will be defensible because it is hinged on customer and supplier data. Happy to talk about this more - [e-mail].

[javiramos]

Do you think this approach could work in other verticals/products other than contact lenses?

I will give your website a try next time I order contacts. Best of luck!

[brianbreslin]

Hubble is super risky as they aren't verifying prescriptions and are also selling old tech (off-patent).