Buying glasses and fun

By Mark Melnicoe

Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, April 17, 2008
Story appeared in BUSINESS section, Page D3

Buying glasses and fun

Some cool new features make buying prescription eyeglasses not only cheap but fun on a Web site that Sacramentans apparently love.

Eyebuydirect.com was launched in 2005 and is beginning a marketing push in Sacramento on Friday after determining the local market is tops in the nation for making purchases on the site.

"Feedback from our customer service team shows that customers from Sacramento County are more comfortable with the EyeBuyDirect.com offering of online prescription eyeglasses, and generally buying online and mail ordering," said Alissa Pink, a spokeswoman for the site. "This could be due to the fact that 60 percent of the population is between the ages of 30 and 55 – ages that are proven to be online shoppers and eyeglass wearers."

Another reason could be that buying glasses on the site can be an experience. Users can upload their photos and virtually "try on" any of thousands of different frames to see how they look.