Web sales are up significantly year over year as the widespread coronavirus still keeps many shoppers at home and away from physical stores. E-commerce is one of the key industries seeing increased demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Many consumers are turning to the internet shopping during the crisis, opening up new opportunities for online retailers, supermarkets and other sellers of consumer goods.

The online shopping landscape is expanding beyond retail goods like clothing and household items. Consumers are increasingly using the internet to purchase necessities including eyewear. The eyewear market is projected to have 11% of its total revenue generated through online sales by 2021 worldwide. This presents a tremendous opportunity for online retailers.

Eyewear frames and lenses have become a fashion accessory while vision correction is still an important segment. With the imposed lockdowns in 2020 due to Coronavirus, the prescription eyewear products have entered the ‘essentials’ segment. The annual growth of 2.2%  in the Eyewear market and the Eyewear Frames segment constituted 25% of worldwide revenues and 6% of the volume sales in the Eyewear market in 2020 (Source: Statista).

Trends That Drive the Digital Commerce in Eyewear

  • Guided Selling of Eyewear Through Optical Glasses & Contact Lens Store WordPress

Online stores incorporate functionalities that guide customers through step by step selection process of products on a WordPress Optical Glasses & Contact Lens Store based on their lenses & frame preferences. These functionalities are very popular and essential at the same time for the busy millennial as they research their optical products and simplify their purchase decisions online. The websites guide the users and provide very precise suggestions on custom configurations for Spectacle Lenses.

  • Chatbots

A vast majority of end users prefer considering chatbots as their primary choice for customer service inquiries. Especially in the context of eyewear selection, chatbots are typically used to assist visitors to a WordPress Optical Glasses & Contact Lens Store with site navigation, search facets, prescription-related queries, and other essential aspects that constitute a great user experience.

  • AI-based Recommenders on the WordPress Optical Glasses & Contact Lens Store

Since eyewear is a deeply personalized product and depends on the style preference of an individual, facial analysis and product visualization are key components that are considered for recommendation of eyewear. Incorporating customer preferences, customer assistants’ feedback and past purchase or past search history provides more precise and personalized recommendations to the customer. This enhances the visitor experience on the website and more often than not culminates in a purchase.

  • Mobile-Optimized WordPress Optical Glasses & Contact Lens Store

In a world of on-demand one-click shopping, the mobile approach is the way to go. Mobiles have become extremely personalized devices and people prefer shopping from their mobile phones through an app or a mobile-optimized website. For the constantly connected consumer, shopping happens in hundreds of micro-moments throughout the day when the customer is at leisure to make purchase decisions. The “mobile-first approach” is being pursued by many retailers to support this trend.

  • Smart Search

Site search is an integral part of a customer’s journey and analysis all the way up until a purchase is made, and it is a key element for conversions. The customers research extensively prior to the purchase.

Better navigation through the store to show them precisely what they are looking for, and incorporating plugins such as WordPress prescription plugin or WooCommerce prescription plugin go a long way in making the customer experience on the website better. These plugins help narrow down the research and directly show products that a customer would prefer and be interested in. Including recommender auto-suggestions, popular searches, synonym and full text search, personalized search, relevant facets/filters and using a high degree of relevance are all keys to enhancing the search experience.

  • Virtual Try-ons

Especially in the case of an e-commerce store for eyewear, this is an essential feature. This feature enables customers that are fashion-conscious to make a choice that they are comfortable with, and decrease the number of products that are returned because they did not meet the customer preference when they saw or used it physically.The customers can easily refine their choice based on a very real store experience that this feature guarantees.

  • Dynamic Customer Experience Thanks to WordPress Prescription Plugin

WordPress prescription plugin or WooCommerce prescription plugin help the customer have a great dynamic experience on the store. He is able to provide information about his optical prescription to the store and receive options that match his criteria for choice of eyewear. The WordPress prescription plugin or WooCommerce prescription plugin is easy to incorporate within the online store and bring immense benefit to the shopper and the business owner.

The WordPress prescription plugin or WooCommerce prescription plugin help build a highly functional website that not only looks good, but is extremely user-friendly and easy to use as well.

In order to succeed as an online business in the eyewear industry, the business owner needs to be flexible and open to new recommendations and developments in the field – thus channelling a dynamic attitude. This is important because this is an ever evolving field and the business owner cannot afford to be complacent – especially not when the industry is expanding at such a fast pace.

Online optical business owners need to find a way to be genuine. There is so much noise out there, and consumers these days are savvier than ever – business owners have to really believe in their product and have an honest commitment to their customers to find a message that resonates.

Innovations like WordPress prescription plugin or WooCommerce prescription plugin really go a long way in building a great e-commerce store. All that is required is for the business owner to be receptive of latest advancements and adapting to the ever-evolving consumer preferences.