In its short history, the eyeglass brand and retailer Warby Parker has never backed off of a big challenge. After all, it opened its online business against Luxottica, the $8 billion eyewear giant behind Ray-Ban, Oakley, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical and Sunglass Hut.
Warby Parker's business model is simple: cut out the middleman and go right to the consumer. A similar philosophy appears to be in play now that the company is opening physical stores, except this time it relates to the company's POS system. Whereas most merchants select from a host of very fine vendors to fulfill their needs, Warby Parker has decide to build its own POS.
According to an AllThingsD report, Warby Parker management came to the conclusion that the amount of customization it would require to make existing systems work for its needs led to a DIY route.
"Even though we felt like we found the best vendor, we realized it just wasn't going to be a long-term tech partner for us, and the only way we were going to be able to get what we needed was to build it ourselves," Kyle Ashley, Warby Parker's director of retail, told AllThingsD.
According to VentureBeat, although Warby Parker may find building its own POS system an expensive proposition, the retailer will benefit from increased utility while while avoiding "expensive licensing fees to multiple vendors over an extended period of time."