Specsaddict to rebalance, recalibrate optical industry

Our Correspondent / EMIRATES BUSINESS

Specsaddict.com is a UAE-based online platform that provides consumers with 5,000 designer and homegrown eyewear pieces, such as sunglasses, contact lenses and eyeglasses, at reduced prices.
Since launching in 2016, the site has gone on to introduce a raft of technology solutions to enhance the online shopping experience for residents in the UAE, including the virtual glasses try-on tool.
With market-first technology and a mission to revolutionise the designer eyewear space, specsaddict will act as a crusader for the consumer, by abolishing the current pricing monopoly that has customers paying over a 100 percent mark up to most retail stores. With their model of ‘less is more’, the innovative eyewear brand will rebalance and recalibrate how the industry works in the region.
They plan to rationalise the margin that is made on sunglasses and eye wear. Both are essential items worn by the majority of the population, yet they are so often overpriced, usually by a staggering amount.
DJ Sengupta, founder of specsaddict.com said, “Technology is a huge component of our overall business model,” he added, “We are the pioneer in introducing MIT technology to the UAE market. We take pride in bringing this technology to the country. This is a great example of forward-thinking approach that the company has adopted as it continues to provide an innovative, personable service to eyewear consumers in the UAE.”
Their pricing structure allows customers the opportunity to purchase genuine, latest collection eyewear pieces from both designer and in-house brands, at affordable prices. This is more than just a business venture, it’s a mission, to fill a huge gap in an extensive market. Eyewear is fashion, and should be affordable enough to allow customers to own a wide selection of eyewear, as they would shoes and handbags. High prices don’t always allow this flexibility, which is why they have aligned their vision to democratise the purchasing of designer eyewear brands to allow mass consumption.
The Dubai based web platform has a plethora of pave-the-way initiatives looking to change the way UAE residents access their favoured eyewear brands, whilst leaving competing brands behind.
Adding to their aggressive pricing strategy, customer convenience is paramount for specsaddict’s positioning and the fast paced market within which we reside. Portable eye testing allows the company to visit consumers at their homes, providing the region’s first ‘at-home testing technology’ from MIT. Adding to the convenience list, is 24-hour delivery, as well as a ‘7 pairs for 7 days trial run’ which asks for no commitment or upfront payment plus a 90 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee.
In a bid to help employers across the UAE improve the welfare of their employees, specsaddict.com has launched its eye tests in the workplace service using market-leading technology from MIT.
The service, which has been described as the Uber of opticians, means employees no longer need to leave the office for hours at a time to visit an optician. Instead, an optician will come to your workplace, upon request, and do mass testing for all that request.
With employee welfare a top priority for most employers in the UAE, HR managers will be particularly interested in the new service, which provides eye test results in just a few days.
Improving your employees’ quality of life and work environment is one of the top priorities of any company’s human resource policy. This is even more significant with the ever-increasing use of digital technology.
By bringing eye tests into the office they hope to help firms further cement their commitment to their workforce and their welfare.
A market first in the UAE, the newly launched mobile eye-test device, developed by MIT spinout EyeNetra, is visually similar to a binocular-like headset, which displays the refractive powers, axis of astigmatism, and pupillary distance required for eyeglasses prescriptions.
Technology is a huge component of specsaddicts’ overall business model, with specsaddict using it to improve the welfare of workers across the Emirates as a logical step.
It, too, enhances the company’s mission to provide an innovative, personable service to eyewear
consumers in the UAE.