The Consumer's Champion
He could well be the Richard Branson of his generation, and is certainly at the top of our nominations for any business of the year awards. By Rachael Hannan.
His story is a modern parallel to the ancient parable of David and Goliath. Utilising the web, James Murray Wells has shaken up the ophthalmic industry, selling prescription glasses at only £15 a pair, whilst the larger high street retailers continue to keep their prices at a premium.
James Murray Wells is just twenty-one years old, yet his three month old business is undoubtedly set for success. He sells glasses via the web at www.glassesdirect.co.uk, for £15 a pair whilst the well-known high-street retailers charge at least three times that amount. His story is one of tenacity, determination and entrepreneurship and reveals a previously unpublicised monopoly, maintained by the high street opticians.
It was in his final year at Bristol University that James discovered he needed reading glasses. He went out to purchase a pair, and returned home £150 lighter. As a student, he found this an enormous sum to pay and began to question whether a thin metal frame and two pieces of glass could really warrant such a high price.
"I made hundreds of phone calls to investigate the manufacturing price of glasses, but all I found was a huge wall of resistance. No one was prepared to tell me the cost of manufacture," he says.
"Then I found one man who took a lot of talking too, but eventually answered my questions. I discovered it costs around £7 to make a pair of glasses and that it was the opticians who were trying to maintain their high street prices at an average of around twenty times the cost of manufacture."
"So then I began looking around for a manufacturer who would supply me, and eventually found one. He was sticking his neck out in terms of the publicity we were about to receive, but it's not the manufacturers who are making the money, it's the high street retailers. The margins in the glazing houses have been driven right down because they have no option other than to go along with the price-gouging by the high street retailers, who have the market firmly established and in their grasp."
James explains: "You see, if you telephone these glazing houses, they try and get you to fill out a questionnaire to find out if firstly, you are a member of the industry, which we are now, or if you are an optician; and secondly if you basically conform to the kind of code the mainstream high street opticians have. All I did was ring enough of them. If it only takes £7 to manufacture a pair of glasses, they aren't the ones making huge amounts of money, so it's in their interests to supply people like me."
I am delighted to find a supplier who doesn't specialise in ripping people off and offering 'bargains' on spectacles that are nothing of the sort by the time they have added in all the extras. Congratulations on your enterprise, and more power to your elbow! H.F.
You are right - the price of frames is outrageous in the UK. I am sure the Consumers Association will approve of you! D.& M. W.
You are to be congratulated in your new venture in bringing down prices to a realistic and affordable level. M.T.
There has been this tie-up between the opticians medical expertise and the commercial selling of the product for far too long. J.F.E.
Hope your business is a great success, any help in cutting the cost of glasses is greatly wanted!!! J.P.
It is seldom nowadays that I feel moved to write letters of thanks or congratulations to any firm with whom I have had dealings. However, in your case I do so willingly. My order placed last Thursday was delivered today and is highly satisfactory, both for the quality of your product and for the speed with which it was delivered. My congratulations, thanks and good wishes for your continued success. J.M.
Want to thank you for your absolutely super service. I ordered a pair of titanium specs on the 16th Aug and they were delivered 24th. The glasses themselves are superb, the packing was excellent, and the speed of service was outstanding. K.G.H.
I must congratulate you on a superb service. The spectacles are first class with a superb frame exceeding our expectations, and the lens quality in use are excellent. As pensioners we of course appreciate the amazing cost [or lack of !!] and will unhesitatingly recommend your service to friends and family.
In due course when my spectacles are due for renewal I shall be placing my order with you. Thank you all once again and good fortune with your enterprise. Regards, T.B.
As a glasses wearer on a very tight income, thought I'd access your site and from what I can see you deserve to go from strength to strength. Good luck for the future. A.A.
Well done for bucking the system and helping the consumer. Your sincerely, B.B.
You are producing exactly what I thought might be possible, but never thought would be commercially viable! Congrats!! D.J.
What you are doing is fantastic and it's a shame other industries don't follow your pioneering example. E.B.
James is pleased his endeavours have highlighted this monopoly and wants to see the consumer with the spending power and choice.
"If you go from one optician to another, from one side of the high street to the other, you aren't going to find much difference in the cost of glasses. The latest market research on the industry indicated that consumers were really quite happy with the price of glasses and had no need to shop around, but that's the thing. All the prices are consistently high so consumers aren't given a choice. There isn't any possibility of shopping around."
"Now that we've given people the choice, I expect the next market research report will show that people aren't happy with the high street price of glasses. Hopefully, people won't put up with it."
It seems people aren't putting up with it either. In their first month of trading, www.glassesdirect.co.uk sold 400 pairs of glasses. Since then, the company has moved to offices in Charlton Business Park, Wiltshire, and is now taking in excess of 100 orders a day, but like any good businessman, James tells me that it is essential to keep it at a level they can manage.
www.glassesdirect.co.uk sell standard glasses at £15, twice the price of manufacture to cover overheads; semi-rimless glasses cost £25 and rimless glasses, £35. To order, all you have to do is fill in your prescription details online, choose your frames and the glasses are delivered direct to your door. Alternatively you can telephone them with the information, or print out the order form and fax it back. Besides the low-price, it's the ease of service that have had www.glassesdirect.co.uk flooded with almost as many thank you letters as they have orders.
"Its unbelievable. We have people writing in saying how happy they are, especially pensioners who, in the past have had to save for their glasses but can now afford them when they really need them. In terms of healthcare, its very beneficial and extremely rewarding. I'm really lucky."
His biggest influence "by a long way," is his father, who will be fifty-four next year.
"Not only did he come up with the idea but he's given me invaluable natural business advice and support on a regular day-to-day basis, and that's what keeps a level of respect to the business without getting carried away by sentiment. He can objectively say this is right or that is wrong, and I respect that. He has also taught me to act on any notions or opportunities that come along. I was going to law school this year but I've had to cancel it. You have to take these chances as they come up. If you have an idea and it looks good, then run with it because not many of them come along."
So will he sell the company when one of the big boys offer to buy him out?
"That's one option but I wouldn't like to say its the only option. I am absolutely committed to growing the company and providing customer service of the highest quality over the long term, and whether in the end the company floats, is sold or goes to generation upon generation of Murray Wells', I don't know."
As for his father, James says he's pretty happy there isn't going to be a lawyer in the family after all, and if www.glassesdirect.co.uk is the result, so are we!