Essilor is controlling Vision Source
Recently, Essilor issued a new action, which has been probably testified by the Vision Source meeting last week. In brief, Essilor has much probably taken a 51% stake of the Vision Source, gaining a controlling status. This can simply be considered as a buying movement or acquisition. For most of the reporters in the optical field, it is just a logical step taken by Essilor, who has long aimed to become the largest monopoly in the optical community. Currently, Essilor is maintaining the largest lab network in the world. Earlier before, Essilor bought FGX and gained direct access to consumer chain for reading glasses and sunglasses. In addition, even the largest online glasses website Framesdirect.com has close partnership with Essilor. Some people guess that the final purpose of Essilor is to buy the website. Over the years, products from Essilor have been considered pricey. All these movements thus are believed by some customers to build Essilor as the only leader in the optical industry.
Except for the fact that Essilor has never cracked down on grey lab sales, this group continues to cover all fields of the optical mafia by controlling Vision Source. Essilor is buying up everyone that has been considered as any barrier to its continued growth. It has also been reported that Essilor had an attempt to buy independent labs and then shut them down, as part of its strategy. This is aimed to gain a greater market share for its ELoA labs. This new action of buying Vision Source is widely believed to be a tiny step of this strategy.
Who is Vision Source? Owning 4,000 independent optometry practices, Vision Source is the largest independent optometry buying group in the world. The company works much like Amway. There are words in the field that “Vision Source is the optical equivalent of Amway”. Its long term members make profit while the company is still recruiting new members.