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Automatic glasses dispenser: Optician 2.0?

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Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and at strategic locations: vending machines have a leading position in the retail transformation in the era of point-of-sale digitalization. True culture in Japan where we find everything in these automata, the phenomenon seems to have reached the French optical market. Focus on Eyes Corner , a vending machine for glasses and 100% French optical products that upsets established codes!

Japanese streets …

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Japan is the country with the most vending machines per square kilometer in the world! With an endless variety of products of all kinds, it is logical that it was born in 2012 the first concept of vending machine glasses . Precursor, the brand JINS had indeed put on sale its range of anti-blue light glasses in automata placed in shopping malls . These machines were similar to those found today in some pools to buy swimming goggles and caps.

… at French airports!

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However, it was in France that the first real vending machine for optical glasses and optical products was created with Eyes Corner – Optic to Go ! The concept, still in the testing phase, is that of Ambre Garcia , an optician and entrepreneur who revisits the optics to go .

Strategically installed at the Bordeaux airport , Eyes Corner high-tech eyeglass dispenser is not intended to walk on the flower beds of traditional opticians! It is rather a complementary service which makes it possible to troubleshoot with an offer of about forty references dedicated to people in transit. Whether they are dizzy or clumsy! Mixed sunscreens for adults and children rub shoulders with reading glasses (the automaton also offers a reading test to optimize diopter selection) and maintenance solutions for contact lenses, as well as optical accessories. The offer is accessible, qualitative and promotes French products !

The optical market is constantly evolving and must adapt to new retail trends such as phygitalization. Concepts presented at the Guangzhou International Optics Fair optics fair went in this direction. Mini-shops autonomous (without personnel) of some m² were presented there. These could immediately deliver corrective glasses pre-mounted after virtual fitting and payment via smartphone. Halfway between physical shops and online sales, could these concepts adapt to the particularities of the French market?