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  Photo courtesy of RAEN

RAEN is announcing a new business strategy today. The brand has expanded its optical offering, and is selling the frames and fulfillment of the prescriptions directly on its redesigned website.

The company is also offering the service at a reasonable price – $100 for frames and $100 for fulfillment.

RAEN has partnered with Coastal.com, which it says is the largest RX fulfillment lab in North America, on the venture.

RAEN is also promising that prescriptions will be filled within 72 hours.

For such a young brand it seemed like an interesting development so I followed up with Co-Founder and Creative Director Justin Heit.

How does this play into your overall business plan?

Justin Heit: Our beginning goal with RAEN was to develop quality, design-oriented handmade eyewear for a competitive price. Our business plan moving forward is to focus on building the optical side of the business exclusively in a direct-to-consumer model through the website. That’s what the new partnership with the largest online lab in North America will help us accomplish, and why pricing is playing a larger role in the overall messaging.

The global audience of the brand has been growing and we believe this new angle will open RAEN to this new group of individuals who are interested in RAEN’s aesthetic and product, but may not turn to traditional optical stores.

How did RAEN’s optical piece of the business work previously?

Justin: We had a small RX collection offered through optical channels to answer the growing interest from our audience. With the launch of the new website, we have a full optical collection, the Shore Collection, that represents a brand new line of eyewear available for the first time on RAEN.com.

These are exclusively available on the site, with prescription fulfilled for $100 through the site, which we feel is a tremendous advantage to our audience.

Can you share how the $100 for frames, $100 for fulfillment came about?

Justin: The optical world is a highly competitive space. Our goal all along has been to connect with our audience and provide a high-quality product they are proud to wear and share.

With this direct-to-consumer approach, we are removing the middleman and passing that savings onto the end consumer. On the new site, with a prescription in hand, our audience can fulfill their prescriptions for much less than if they had to go the traditional route of optometrist and lab.

 

See Page 2 for the official press release

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Press Release:

RAEN Fulfills Eyeglass Prescriptions in 72 Hours Starting at $200 from New Website

RAEN is partnering with the largest RX fulfillment lab in North America to deliver optical prescriptions direct-to-consumer in 72 hours. Starting at $100 for frames only, and $100 for the fulfillment, the Handmade & Heartfelt optics brand will be evolving their digital presence by providing a new user experience that will surely make direct, long-lasting connections with their customers.

March 25th 2014, Oceanside, CA — With the launch of the new website, Southern California eyewear brand RAEN will begin fulfilling and shipping prescription eyewear direct to the customer within 72 hours. “With frames priced at $100, and prescription fulfillment starting at $100, our customers can now order prescription eyeglasses for much less than if they went the traditional route,” says COO Jeremy Heit. “We’ve partnered with Coastal.com to make the entire process of fulfilling eyeglasses more affordable, without compromising the handmade quality and modern-classic style RAEN is known for.”

Joining a widely successful line of modern-classic sunglasses are the new collection of RAEN Rx eyeglasses, dubbed the Shore Collection, from which were inspired by California surf breaks that RAEN co-founders surfed as kids growing up. Creative Director Justin Heit says he is excited about the launch of the prescription side of the site, along with the comprehensive redesign of the RAEN website as a whole: “Our new site will allow us to better tell the brand’s story and showcase all the amazing creativity coming out of our camp. We have new products and new silhouettes we’re looking forward to releasing, and the new site will help us better connect our customers with their desired frames.”

The RAEN team has carefully crafted the new site to ensure loyal fans and new visitors alike are able to find the perfect pair of sunglasses or eyeglasses while getting to know the brand in a more engaging way. Jeremy Heit says the question the team asked at each stage of the website redesign was, “What would we want as customers?” Every decision made—from the new seven-angle product and on-face images, to virtual try-on, to the ability to filter frames by face shape, to free shipping—was a direct response to internal soul-searching and customer feedback received since the brand was founded in 2008.

About RAEN

RAEN is an independent eyewear brand driven by their desire to create timeless handmade sunglasses and eyeglasses that enhance the active lifestyle of their customers. They are designers committed to bringing innovative products to market, created for and inspired by the lives they live. RAEN is based in Oceanside, CA, and can be reached at (760) 436-7236. See the new RAEN site at raen.com and find your frames.