August 11, 2025
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Should Warby Parker Be Ending Its Home Try On Program?
Warby Parker is ending its Home Try On program that helped build its reputation as it was founded in 2010, as a digital-only retailer.
The program, to cease at the year’s close, allows customers to pick five pairs of frames on Warby Parker’s website and try them at home for five days, for free. Returns are free, and there’s no obligation to make a purchase.
Consumers can get tailored suggestions after taking a quiz.
Warby Parker said in its 2021 IPO, “The Home Try-On program is very unique to our business. It is a viral brand awareness program that pays for itself as we maintain an exceptionally high conversion rate from Home Try-On purchases.”
The program was designed to overcome apprehensions around buying eyeglasses online.
Warby Parker’s Home Try On Program May Have Become Less Relevant, co-CEO Suggests
On Warby Parker’s second-quarter analyst call, Neil Harris Blumenthal — co-founder, president, co-CEO, and co-chair — said Warby Parker was launched without stores at a time when less than 2.5% of glasses were sold online.
He said, “Our first-of-its-kind home try-on program offered a unique, convenient way for customers to try on 5 glasses for 5 days at home, completely free of charge. For many years, and especially during the pandemic, home try-on was a novel way to help customers shop for glasses online.”
However, he also said the offering has become less relevant as Warby Parker has opened stores to reach 300 locations. He noted that the vast majority of recent Home Try On customers live within 30 minutes of a Warby Parker store.
The retailer also, in 2019, introduced an “industry-leading first true-to-scale virtual try-on” via mobile app that’s increasingly being used to support online purchases.
“As we’ve scaled and home try-on has become a less meaningful driver of our e-commerce business, and as we have seen strong growth from customers directly purchasing glasses online and in our stores, we’ve decided to sunset the program at the end of this year,” said Blumenthal. “We’re confident we can serve customers effectively and efficiently through our stores, our leading digital experience, and by leveraging proprietary AI-powered technology.”
Home Try On Costs Could Be Reallocated to Other Marketing Efforts
Blumenthal also said that given home try-on costs are included in total marketing spend, those resources will be reallocated toward brand awareness and customer acquisition.
The Home Try On program could, in some ways, be compared to a practice called bracketing, where customers buy multiple versions of a product (e.g., different sizes or colors) with the intention of keeping only the item they prefer and returning the rest.
Consumers excessively using the practice are increasingly facing bans. The move comes as retailers are seeking to reduce the costs of returns by tightening return policies, including charging for mailed returns and reducing return windows.
Warby Parker’s program would differ substantially inasmuch as its program was wholly endorsed and promoted by the brand, but potential cost layouts related to returns could be substantial regardless.
BrainTrust
DeAnn Campbell
Head of Retail Insights, AAG Consulting Group
Carol Spieckerman
President, Spieckerman Retail
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Does Warby Parker’s decision to end its Home Try On program likely have more to do with the expansion of store base, or increasing confidence in virtual try-ons?
Do you agree with the decision?
Poll
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Try-at-home is an expensive service. However, for a purchase as personal and style sensitive as eyewear, many customers want to see exactly how a product looks before purchasing. Arguably, ending try-at-home carries risk. However, Warby Parker’s calculation is that advances in AI and virtual try-on technology allows customers to visualize frames without having the physical product. For some retailers, this approach would not work. But Warby Parker’s customer base is younger and more tech-savvy. From their data, they’ve seen this solution become more popular.
Warby Parker is retiring yesterday’s innovation to fund tomorrow’s growth. The company initially utilized Home Try-On to address the “experience gap” in online eyewear retail—similar to how Zappos employed free returns to break into the online shoe market. The younger, tech-savvy customer base they’ve cultivated increasingly trusts algorithmic recommendations and AR visualization over physical sampling. Competitors like EssilorLuxottica are doubling down on AI-powered personalization, so the resources freed up can now fuel Warby Parker’s customer acquisition instead of subsidizing trial for customers who already have convenient store access.
Bottom line, Warby Parker is betting that superior digital experiences, combined with strategic store placement, can deliver better customer outcomes more efficiently than shipping glasses nationwide. At the speed of retail, yesterday’s differentiator can easily become tomorrow’s cost center.
This is what it looks like when a smart retailer discontinues an outdated program because both the tech and the access to brick and mortar have evolved. Not unlike when people quit renting DVDs from Blockbuster after Netflix perfected streaming.
Clearly, the management of Warby Parker knows its numbers better than we. However, even not knowing all the KPIs of the Home Try-On program the decision seems justified, One of the key indicators, and mentioned in the foreword, “Home Try-On customers live within 30 minutes of a Warby Parker store” seems to indicate that Warby Parker won’t be losing many customers due to the end of the Home Try-On program. Not having access to other indicators this appears to be the one that justifies the decision.
As a rule, I like choice – doesn’t everbody? – so AEBE > less choice = less good…er, bad; but in this case, all else isn’t equal, since there are now stores – that weren’t there originally – and there will be some cost savings (with the money perhaps more productively deployed). So while I’m not overjoyed by this, I don’t see it as traumatic, either.
In my opinion, Warby Parker’s decision is likely to be influenced by both factors. In addition to the expansion of their store base, customers will now be able to try on glasses in person, reducing the need for home trials. The advancements in virtual try-on technology have likely increased consumer confidence in making online purchases without requiring physical samples.
I’m giving Warby permission to end the try-on-at-home option for the reasons cited by its CEO (not that they need it)! But another rationale strikes me as particularly relevant. Warby’s style range still isn’t that broad. I’m sure that’s intentional, and one reason why the model has worked. There’s a “Warby” look that takes choice overload paralysis possibilities out of the equation. This is particularly true for anyone who has bought Warby glasses/frames in the past or visited one of its stores. More than anything, Warby can pull this transition off thanks to its bold and brilliant business model diversification strategy.
Warby Parker’s true-to-scale virtual try-on works so why not run with it? If people miss the at home try-on they can visit one of the retailer’s brick and mortar stores. That makes sense anyway because glasses are all about comfort and fit.
This move makes abundant sense considering the market they launched into and the market that exists today. They launched with zero stores and long before AI. They had to overcome the “experience gap”. Period. They now have 300+ stores and AI support. The Discovery, Experience and Decision model is completely different today than when they launched. Evolution happens. Lead it, roll with it, or get left behind.
Anytime a leader says a customer program has “become a less meaningful driver”, an important key in deciding its fate is whether the customers feel this way, or executives have decided they don’t want to deal with operational execution and cost. Removing hassles give customers multiple and easier ways to interface with product, and increasing brand loyalty. Trying on glasses at home, with light shining in through windows, pairing with different clothes provides customers a true sense of reality to make good decisions.
Hopefully Warby Parker’s digital experience has taken off and removal of home-try-on is truly a customer-driven decision.
Try at home built the business. Data helps them efficiently grow the business.
Seems they’ve been putting stores right where they need them to be. Undoubtedly driven by what they’ve learned about their customers. Bravo for being willing to evolve.
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Try-at-home is an expensive service. However, for a purchase as personal and style sensitive as eyewear, many customers want to see exactly how a product looks before purchasing. Arguably, ending try-at-home carries risk. However, Warby Parker’s calculation is that advances in AI and virtual try-on technology allows customers to visualize frames without having the physical product. For some retailers, this approach would not work. But Warby Parker’s customer base is younger and more tech-savvy. From their data, they’ve seen this solution become more popular.
Warby Parker is retiring yesterday’s innovation to fund tomorrow’s growth. The company initially utilized Home Try-On to address the “experience gap” in online eyewear retail—similar to how Zappos employed free returns to break into the online shoe market. The younger, tech-savvy customer base they’ve cultivated increasingly trusts algorithmic recommendations and AR visualization over physical sampling. Competitors like EssilorLuxottica are doubling down on AI-powered personalization, so the resources freed up can now fuel Warby Parker’s customer acquisition instead of subsidizing trial for customers who already have convenient store access.
Bottom line, Warby Parker is betting that superior digital experiences, combined with strategic store placement, can deliver better customer outcomes more efficiently than shipping glasses nationwide. At the speed of retail, yesterday’s differentiator can easily become tomorrow’s cost center.
This is what it looks like when a smart retailer discontinues an outdated program because both the tech and the access to brick and mortar have evolved. Not unlike when people quit renting DVDs from Blockbuster after Netflix perfected streaming.
Clearly, the management of Warby Parker knows its numbers better than we. However, even not knowing all the KPIs of the Home Try-On program the decision seems justified, One of the key indicators, and mentioned in the foreword, “Home Try-On customers live within 30 minutes of a Warby Parker store” seems to indicate that Warby Parker won’t be losing many customers due to the end of the Home Try-On program. Not having access to other indicators this appears to be the one that justifies the decision.
As a rule, I like choice – doesn’t everbody? – so AEBE > less choice = less good…er, bad; but in this case, all else isn’t equal, since there are now stores – that weren’t there originally – and there will be some cost savings (with the money perhaps more productively deployed). So while I’m not overjoyed by this, I don’t see it as traumatic, either.
In my opinion, Warby Parker’s decision is likely to be influenced by both factors. In addition to the expansion of their store base, customers will now be able to try on glasses in person, reducing the need for home trials. The advancements in virtual try-on technology have likely increased consumer confidence in making online purchases without requiring physical samples.
I’m giving Warby permission to end the try-on-at-home option for the reasons cited by its CEO (not that they need it)! But another rationale strikes me as particularly relevant. Warby’s style range still isn’t that broad. I’m sure that’s intentional, and one reason why the model has worked. There’s a “Warby” look that takes choice overload paralysis possibilities out of the equation. This is particularly true for anyone who has bought Warby glasses/frames in the past or visited one of its stores. More than anything, Warby can pull this transition off thanks to its bold and brilliant business model diversification strategy.
Warby Parker’s true-to-scale virtual try-on works so why not run with it? If people miss the at home try-on they can visit one of the retailer’s brick and mortar stores. That makes sense anyway because glasses are all about comfort and fit.
This move makes abundant sense considering the market they launched into and the market that exists today. They launched with zero stores and long before AI. They had to overcome the “experience gap”. Period. They now have 300+ stores and AI support. The Discovery, Experience and Decision model is completely different today than when they launched. Evolution happens. Lead it, roll with it, or get left behind.
Anytime a leader says a customer program has “become a less meaningful driver”, an important key in deciding its fate is whether the customers feel this way, or executives have decided they don’t want to deal with operational execution and cost. Removing hassles give customers multiple and easier ways to interface with product, and increasing brand loyalty. Trying on glasses at home, with light shining in through windows, pairing with different clothes provides customers a true sense of reality to make good decisions.
Hopefully Warby Parker’s digital experience has taken off and removal of home-try-on is truly a customer-driven decision.
Try at home built the business. Data helps them efficiently grow the business.
Seems they’ve been putting stores right where they need them to be. Undoubtedly driven by what they’ve learned about their customers. Bravo for being willing to evolve.