Eyewear Industry: Google vs Luxottica

Eyewear Industry: Google vs Luxottica: Before 3 years none would place Google near to Luxottica. They were providing different products and services. So different that the onl...

The hidden factors for fashion trends

          "Vintage style" usually refers to clothing that imitates the style of a previous era. But in eyewear it is something beyond old fashion. It is the recycle of materials!

          Have you notice that each fashion trend in eyewear is based on a different material? If you are a final consumer you can barely see this. But if you are an insider of the industry you definately see clearly the facts.
          The materials that are used  for each trend and fashion style each decade in the recent past was a clear mirror of the values of the society.

          In 50's and 60's the main material for eyewear was plastic. But why plastic? It is the period with the fast expansion of new oil products like plastic. The industry is based on this cheap raw material. During this period the trend makers try to improve the eyewear products by giving new styles and making combinations with the clothes.
          In 70's & 80's oil gets more expensive therefore the manufacturers are heading for other raw materials and mainly for metal alloys with materials of easy supply and strong durability like steel and nickel. The metal fashion is expanding in order to achieve a lighter and more modular product. Many patents have been invented during this period as the metal parts give more opportunitites for research.
          In 90's the freestyle design give the opportunity to combine metal and plastic. China enters the international economy and from the late of 90's becomes the #1 manufacturer worldwide. The same problems that occured in other markets like clothes and shoes started to show in eyewear industry. The low cost production becomes the cheap quality production. Quality is sacrifized for internaitonal profits taking advantage of the low cost labour in China.
          In the new millenium the ecological problems are taking strong position. Now the material has to be eco-friendly. New materials take more share in the market like wood, natural plastic with less oil share in the alloy. Less chemical and more ecological coatings.
          After 13 years in the millenium today we have the plastic raw material to rule the marker so far. Oil is still in fashion, but in order to achieve high quality which is the issue of these days, the material that is used is not made only from oil. Wood, oil and other friendly chemicals are combined to create a known material from the past but in high demand nowadays, Celluloise Acetate.
          After this short historical review it is obvious that fashion trends are guided by other factors than fashion that the end consumer does not know at all.

         What could be the next fashion trend till 2020? Oil heads up and gets more expensive. If we study the circles of fashion materials chronologically we will notice that metallic materials are expected to show up soon. But what could be the reason for this to happen? Is it only the cost of oil?
         
          No it isn't. The main reason for this change would be technology. Electronics is the future of eyewear industry and electronics used conductors and semiconductors. In order to be compatible and energy sustainable the materials that should be used cannot be plastic. As we all know plastic is suffering from high temperatures. So the electronic industry is expected to change the way eeywear industry is thinking!
          The best example is Google's the Glass Project but i am sure that they will follow more high-end brand names.

Google vs Luxottica

Before 3 years none would place Google near to Luxottica. They were providing different products and services. So different that the only common thing between these companies was the fact that they were in the Wall Street Stock Market in different indexes.

This has changed a couple of years ago, since Google has announced The ProjectGlass!  Of course when they announced the new product none would also say that these companies were going to meet each other. But how will they react when it's time to face each other?

I think that the first answers have come recently when we heard the intention of Google to team up with Warby Parket e-commerce rival of Luxottica and bring to life The Project Glass with a fashionable way!

Luxottica has not sit with crossed hands. Oakley, a division of Luxottica and a well-known brand name worldwide and especially in US, has already started to develop paraller technology to The Glass of Google, in order to stand the future competition and follow the new hi-tech trends of eyewear.

Of course it is obvious that for Google is easier to team up with Warby Parker who are a small but with potential eyewear company, rather than Luxottica who is the giant of Eyewear industry.

Googlehas 265 billion in market capitalization and Luxottica is 10 times lower to 25billion.

But what about the high-end brand names? Armani, Versace, DKNY and many more fashion designers will they stay outside the Augmented Reality trend? Does Luxottica know how to do it with Oakley or still they will have to make an agreement with Google?

One thing is for sure. The Project Glass will create as big impact in the eyewear industry as the trend will go on. For Luxottica this is the second hard bunch since Warby Parker has entered the eyewear business.

What should be the strategy of Luxottica to defend their monopoly? They have already takes actions some years ago! They go massively to retail since 2002 by making several acquisitions and mergers with medium to large retail chains, like SunglassHut, Specsavers, Pearle, Aspen and recently to Salmoiraghi  & Vigano in Italy.

What are your thoughts on Luxottica strategy?

Social Business: The Production Department

It sounds weird but it is possible. The production is always the secret of the business. We need to keep secret every move we make in order to produce our products.

In the Social Business this is not possible, to keep away the secrets from the social contributors. What we can make is an extra fee for the participation in this procedure. So if someone wants to know the resources of the production and be able to decide for them, the quality, the production stages and the outsourcing cooperations, should be able to contribute some more than money. He should contribute his knowledge and his PR.

But how it works in order to have the final product ready to sell? All the production stages should be clear and easy to define from the design department and the supplies department. After these specifications the department should search for outsourcing contributors. Yes we need the outsourcers as contributors. So in this way the outsourcers should have the interested to join as contributors. By this way they promote their job and their product or services through the social business.

The idea is to attract in each social business department, contributors who need of self promotion and public validation. A positive recommendation from the social contributors might be one of the best prizes for the contributors.

So we need to have outsourcers for all the stages of the production in order to contribute in the production of our product. But who is organizing this? The contributors are able to take decisions correct and fast?

I think not, the platform of the social business comes once again to the top. This software platform comes to create a way of social decision for the important decisions of the production and give the authority to a managing team of the department to take the general directions and negotiate with the outsourcing contributors for the final production procedure.

This sounds angelic, but you might see some problems in the horizon which i agree with you. These problems are first of all the time consuming procedure in order for the contributors to suggest their ideas and discuss the next step. Also when we have arguments how we can resolve them?

These problems seem to be realistic valued, but with the election of a production team management, these problems seem to be less problematic.

I see myself a problem in the production line of a social business, but i believe that the procedure of contribution is able to override these problems and finally bring an innovative product which was produced by an innovative social business. The only thing that is left is to give a shot on this!

Social Business: The Financial department

The financial services of a company is one of the most important one in order to see your business plan move forward. For the social business the financial services are built up of the social contributors. The people who are crowd funding the project.

The social business is a creation of each own social contributors. They take plan, they design, they sell, they take decisions and they fund all these actions with their pre-order of the final product. I suppose this social business department sound more familiar to most of you, as we all have the recent emerging experience of the crowd funding model like Kickstarter and other minor platforms.

But of course we all know that a business in order to operate with stability needs to follow a budget and a cash flow. These 2 important tools should be ensured by the platform that is going to host the social business. It is important for every contributor to know before his contribution where the money will be spend. By this way the contributor comes much closer to the social business, raising the trust and the transparency of the company.

But who is supposed to create the budget and the cash flow? At this point this procedure should be done with 2 ways. Not separate each other, but in contribution. The first way is to start designing the business plan by the person or the team who has the idea. That's fair, but the contributors should be able to make interruptions to the budget and the cash flow mainly in the building procedure.

Therefore there should be a separate fee in order to be payed by the contributors which will grant them access to the scheduling of the company. This method could be used for every department, as the contributor gains the access to the managing team and has his own votes interacting with the other members of the social business.

Finally the financial department in the social business needs support from the platform that will host the social business.

In the case of an eyewear company there should be a clear budget schedule and a clear cost development research. The next department which one of the most difficult to socialize is the Supplies Department.

Social Business: The Marketing Department

As i continue with the series of the Social Business departments i come up with the Marketing department. In our days the Social Marketing is growing fast but is this enough? I say yes, but when i mean social i do not mean only the Facebook/LinkedIn/Pinterest social networks! These are a good start up, but the big deal is in the expert community. The community that has the prestige to recommend the product as a good deal.

At this point the social contribution is taking this role. The people who will express their interest to contribute to this social business are becoming automatically the recommenders of this product. The reason is that they have bucked this product to buy it. If something is good do you bet for it? These people are betting their money!

So at this point social business contributors are becoming a powerful recommender online community. The more they join the more convincing they become. With this power the marketing job is made easier, as these people will spread the idea not only in the social networks of the internet but also to their social life in the real life! Isn't it the final aim to reach the real life?

Lets say that everything is working fine as i said above. Will it work without any management? No. As all great social ideas that have emerged the last years, the social business is in need of a new transparent platform inspiring the contributors to join it. Through this platform it will become easy to organize thousands of contributors in order to make brainstorming and marketing tactics which will reflect in the real life.

In the past i have heard of the Mass Marketing, this new model is the Mass Marketing of the Masses!

I will come back with more Social Business departments until we define the whole business model. There are many details that might miss my thoughts but all these posts are the road map i have to this new business model, the Social Business.

Social Business: The design department

I am going to write a series of all the departments needed to cooperate a business that is running under the social model. The social business.
The design of the product or the service in the classic business model is mostly a one-man show. Generally someone knows how to produce a product, how to find this product and he has all the sources of the product or the service.
In the social business model this becomes opposite. The social contributors are able to help define the product or the service they should cooperate for. This is possible to be done with 2 ways.
The first way is to present different versions and designs of the product and call the social contributors to choose which one they would prefer. In this case in the eyewear industry, we could present 30 different models of sunglasses and the social contributors will come to choose 15 models that they would prefer and make pre-orders.
In the second way the solution comes from the source. We have social contributors that have interest to present their designs and versions of the product and wait for the approval of the other co-contributors.
In each case the approval means a pre-order of the product.
In the social business it's not bad to have organizers and people that have something to say. But the must rule is that the final decision is always taken by the social contributors. It's not bad to have people experts in the production procedure, as this way you help people who have no knowledge of the production to take decisions.These experts are not always coming from the organizer of the social business, but they come up from the social contributors. This is logical as an eyewear industry is expected to attract people from the industry inside.
What does the social contributor has to earn to do that?
1. He is taking product, as they pre-order.
2. He is a social contributor of the business knowing other members of the company that are aware of the industry. Generally the contributors of a certain business are tryin gto have PR in order to open doors to their careers. This model is open to that strategy.
3. If the social business has success, this success is credited to the contributors, who are the direct ones or the supporters. Generally a designer is expected to promote his good skill by contributing a good model of sunglasses in a social business collection.
4. The morale satisfaction that he is contributing into something new and known with other members of the community.

So as you understand the organizers are needed for the good run of th esocial business, but the 1st word always is on the contributors.

Can you imagine your design department contributed by thousands of people? Yes they are too much. But if they support you with pre-orders? Does this social business model in the design department could run?