Coastal Contacts’ Business Development in the North American Online Retail Eyeglass Market

The following paper is an analysis of Coastal Contacts Inc. and the North American retail eyeglass industry. Coastal Contacts is an online retailer of contact lenses and prescription eyeglasses. At the time of writing the company has recently entered the eyeglasses market. This industry has an underdeveloped online retail channel. The reason the channel has not developed as quickly as other products such as contact lenses is because eyeglasses are a more complicated purchase. As more purchases move online, retail market share for eyeglasses is expected to shift online. This paper looks at how Coastal Contacts can best position itself in order to maximize its benefit from this market shift.