Heroes in Business - Eldad Rothman, CEO Glasses USA, Americas leading online eyewear brand retailer

Episode Date: September 11, 2022

See clearly now. Eldad Rothman, CEO Glasses USA, Americas leading online eyewear brand retailer is interviewed by David Cogan founder of Eliances entrepreneur community and famous host of the Heroes Show.  

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Eliance's Heroes. Eliance's is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups, where our heroes in business align. Now, here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. That's right. That's right. I'm back. And again, always, always, you wonder why I'm so happy is because the opportunity that I get to share stories with you that help you, our listeners, viewers, watchers, to be able to learn and grow. No matter what level you are at, we can always, always learn from somebody who's doing, who's made an impact, who's helped others.

So that's why you watch and listen to the show on over now 50 outlets, including AM and FM. So I'm thankful of everything and thankful of our listeners. And by the way, too, thank you for the recent feedback that we've had when I had on the CEO of Consumer Cellular. So make sure again that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com, the only place where entrepreneurs align. All right. I'm going to share a little secret with you. If you see me squinting a little bit, well, it's because I found out that I'm going to need to have glasses. That's right, prescription glasses. It's a secret. I really haven't shared it with anybody else. So the timing could not be better to have on our next guest, are you ready for this? His name's Eldad Rothman. He is the co-founder of GlassesUSA.com.

We're talking America's leading online eyewear brand retailer. And where can you reach him? At GlassesUSA.com. Eldad, help me see, where do I even start? Do I first get a prescription and then order from you or how does that work? Oh, first of all,

thank you very much for inviting me, David. I really appreciate it. Actually, you need a prescription if you want to have like prescription glasses to see better. So you will better start with your ophthalmologist or eye doctor for getting the prescription. And then you are more than welcome to join our 4 million active customers from the U.S.

and buy prescription glasses and get it within 72 hours from GlassesUSA.com. 4 million customers. All right. Take me back. Like, how did you even start this as being the co-founder? Where did the concept come from of, hey, let's start this. Let's build it to one of the largest online sites for it. Okay. So basically, we have me and my two co-founders. We don't have any optical background. We started the business. We came from the online marketing world and we wanted

to have some kind of e-commerce operation. We came to the optical world actually by accident, but we understood very fast that it's a product. First of all, it's a huge market. It's $150 billion industry with a very high penetration, 64% of the adult population wear glasses. So we're addressing, and if you add the people that wear sunglasses, we're addressing 100% of the adult population wear glasses. So we're addressing, and if you add the people that wear sunglasses, we're addressing 100% of the market. Second, we understood very fast that if we would be vertically integrated and we control the whole chain and the quality of the product

and the level of service, we should actually create great value to our users. So we positioned ourselves as a department store. We carry all kinds of optical solutions, all kinds of brand price points. So we are addressing the whole market. And we are trying to do it very best. We're giving great customer service with no risk at all. You can always return the glasses

and getting your full money back to your account immediately. So this is the way we started. Today, we are almost 300 employees selling millions of pairs of glasses every year. We're doing quite well, doing very well. Like I said from the beginning, we position ourselves as a department store. We believe that in order to disrupt the industry, you should focus on all the industry and actually addressing all of them. And again, and we're talking with that, not only can they get prescription glasses from you, but they can get sunglasses from you, right? I mean, you carry across the board.

Also contact lenses and goggles and sports glasses. Contacts? Yeah, actually contact lenses and goggles and sports. Contacts? Yeah, actually contact lenses. All the contact lenses, the well-known brands, and of course our own private label, the Vista Plus, and it's going very well. But all kinds of optical solutions you can find in our store. That's phenomenal, phenomenal.

And again, we're talking with Eldad Rothman, co-founder of GlassesUSA.com. We're talking America's online leading brand retailer.founder of GlassesUSA.com. We're talking America's online leading brand retailer. Go to GlassesUSA.com. Of course, don't go until after this interview, but you listen to the whole thing, but go to GlassesUSA.com. Sounds like he's got the whole scope of all of it so you can get your contact lenses. Now, also too, is tell me, can people also buy prescription sunglasses then too? Yeah, of course. And it's becoming more and more popular these days. Excellent. Great. So where do you get your glasses? Oh, my glasses, the fact that you

see them, they're very unique if you want to know the whole story. Please, share. Yeah. So actually it's a new innovation that we have. We actually believe it's going to change the market. What you see here, it looks like a frame, but it's not really a frame. It's printed on the lens itself. So we call it Unica, and we're going to present the new product until the end of the year, offline and online.

It's the first time in the history that you actually fully customize glasses. It's not only that it's, you know, it's a rimless. So it's light, it's thin, it's flexible, it's eco-friendly. But the most important that it's fully customized glasses. So for example, I can show you this pair, for example. You never saw, you know, usually you see a solid color in glasses. But this time you can do actually any pattern, any color,

or any design that you want and actually to adjust it to your face and to your personality. So I'm happy that you asked this question and you noticed my glasses. But I think it's a very cool product and I wish it will be a great success. Aldar, how do you even come up with that to expand? I mean, you became one of the largest America's leading online eyewear brand retailer. Everything's going along. You're cooking. You've got 300 plus employees. Why, I guess, is the first thing. Second, how do you come up with even to expand something that is not within your direct scope initially?

I think the most important is to be vertically integrated. Once you understand the product that you're selling, to know exactly how to, we control everything. We design the product, we produce the glasses, we produce the lenses. Of course, we're doing the pre and the post sales and the service behind it. So once we control it, it's always, you know, once you control the product itself, you know to surprise the customer, you know to give him a great experience

and, of course, a great quality of product. So this is the way we expanded ourselves. Of course, behind it, you know, behind the scenes, of course, it's the way we are analyzing and using the data, the way, you know, the way we know to forecast the latest trends in the market and to adjust our designs of our inventories and our offer to the audiences. What kind of secrets can you share with other companies that are out there that may be kind of at a static stage right now, right?

Things are going along, they haven't really grown, they're not really going down, and they're static. To be able to look at and find what you found to even take it one step further? What can you provide for them? I think they should heavily invest in technology and in data. You know, data is something that, you know, it's nice to talk about it, but when you use it the right way, it can improve the business dramatically, you know,

in every aspect of the business. Not only, you know, be efficient in your marketing spend, but also to analyze and create the right funnel in the sites itself. Know exactly who are your customers and adjust the funnel and the experience during the way when they serve you, when you're visiting your site. So data is a key element. Also for, you know, efficiency, I'll give you an example of financial efficiency.

For example, managing inventories level. So for example, we offer in our site 15,000 different products. The fact that we know to predict and we know exactly what's going to be the demand for every product that we sell based on historical data enable us to manage our inventory in a very efficient way. So we enjoy the fact that we don't have any slow inventories or dead inventories, and it's all reliant on data. Technology, on the other hand,

is something that improves dramatically the experience of the user. So, for example, you can use our virtual mirror to see the glasses on your face. You can use our quiz in order to find the right and the smart recommendation for glasses for yourself. So technology is very important to the experience and to the bottom line. And again, you're watching and listening to me,

David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. Make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-a-n-c-s.com which again you'll be able to see and hear past interviews including once this one is posted also too on that site so don't wait because we have with us aldad rothman co-founder of glasses usa you can reach him at glassesusa.com but again it's not just glasses it's sunglasses also contact lenses in fact aldad um how long have you guys been in business? How long have you been doing this?

12 years. 12 years. Did you ever think when you started at day one that you'd be where you're at now? Like huge and now developing your own? It took me a few years to understand. I knew the size of the market from the beginning, but it took me a few years to understand. You know, I knew the size of the market from the beginning, but it took me a few years to understand and to look at the competition and to know that we positioned ourselves the right way.

We invest heavily in technology and with the customer service and adopted a very generous customer policy, service policy. So I knew we have the, and, you know, we see the way the trends in other segments, in other segments in the e-commerce that, you know, the penetration is getting higher and higher. And the eyeglasses industry was relatively low when we started. So we enjoy the growth of the industry itself. And I believe we're doing a good job. So we have very loyal customers that actually, you know, we are beating the regular behavior in the market. So if an American consumer buys glasses every 26 months, he's buying in our site, let's say, 1.5 pairs a year.

So the fact that we are giving a great value to the end user and a good quality of product, bring them again and again. And keep in mind that glasses became from, I don't know, medical necessity in the past to a fashion accessory in the present. So people buy more and more glasses and I wish they would continue to do so. That's right. Have you seen anything, so I'm looking at possibly probably getting contact lenses. Have you seen any improvements over time with contact lenses? Have those made any progress they made any pro yeah they made progress now today most all of most of all the products having a silicon hydrogel it's more comfortable you can wear it for more more hours or you can sleep with it

um so yeah there is a huge improvement in the contact lenses and one thing i learned is with contact lenses you can't have both near and far sighted, like if you can't write on one lens. Not so true. Today we have also multifocal contacts, so we can wear the same glasses in order to look far and to read with them. I'm going to have to order from you after this. Yeah, go for it.

That's great. Absolutely, I'm going to. Along with other things too. I could use a new pair of sunglasses. And also too, can you order sunglasses from you that are prescription sunglasses, I assume? Sure, sure.

From the well-known brands, the Oakleys and the Ray-Bans with prescription glasses to our own private label with amazing products. It's not only have to be sunglasses, like full sunglasses can be also with transitions or photohormic lenses that become dark

when you go outside and become clear when you get inside. So it's an amazing product, a very, very good one. Aldar, what kind of secrets can you share though for students that are out there that want to really kind of, well, they want to disrupt, right, an industry and make a positive change in the world like you have done for the past 12 years. And I can only imagine what the next 12 years is going to be that you're going to develop and expand into.

I believe that, you know, in order to disrupt the market, you should first address the whole market. So you can't position yourself as a niche brand and facing specific audience. You have to be facing the whole market. And that's why we position Glass, as you say, as a department store. So we carry all the major well-known brands, but we sell like 60% of what we are selling. They are coming from our own private label. We know to adjust the product to the right audience sales. So I believe that first of all, the positioning is very important. And like I said, using the data, using the technology,

bring them online and, you know, give a great service to the end user. And it will come again and again. Do you see as far as who holds the number one spot for orders? So people are placing orders on whether, you know, sunglasses and that. Do you see that changing quite often or does it pretty well hold for strong? You know, in the offline, of course, there are the biggest one, the Lens Crafter and Sunglass Hut and Peril Vision, Walmart Topical. In the online, I think, you know,

there are great players like Wobby Parker, but like I said, they are facing a niche audiences and we are trying to target the whole market. So I think we are the leaders in terms of, you know, full optical solution for everybody. Excellent. Well, I got to tell you, I can't wait to be able to see you better

once I order, because Eldad, you've disrupted an industry and created a better way to deliver my glasses more comfortably, including sunglasses, contact lenses.

Don't wait. Reach out to him. That makes you a hero. Eldad Rothman, co-founder of GlassesUSA.com. That's right. Make sure you go out and reach out to him because after this interview, guess what, folks? I'm going to have to order contact lenses so that I can better see you. Thank you so much.

Well, I thought you had an answer for me. I'll do it.