Coastal.com

History

Coastal Contacts was founded in 2000 by Roger Hardy who bought the keyword "contact lens" from AltaVista, which meant that all searches for “contact lens” were accompanied with Coastal Contacts’ banner ads. In the first day, they had 30 orders; within the first month, they had $68,000 in sales. In addition to their lower pricing, the firm provided same day fulfillment of online orders. In 2004, Coastal Contacts raised $6 million in an initial public offering, which they used to expand into the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. In late 2004, they acquired a mail order contact lens business in Europe, LensWay. In 2006, they acquired two more companies: one in the Netherlands and one in Japan. By 2009, the firm increased their revenue to $140 million. They moved into the eyeglasses market in 2008. They source parts for eyeglasses from independent manufactures across the globe, but maintains control over final assembly. In January 2012, they shipped over 80,000 prescription eyeglasses, setting a service record for online sales of made-to-order prescription glasses in any one month. The company has sold more than $1.2 billion in retail eyewear sales over the internet since inception and served more than 5 million customers. The firm owns or operates Clearly.ca, Lensway.com, Lensway.co.uk, Lensway.se, Clearly.com.au, Clearly.co.nz, Contactsan.com, and Coastallens.com.

In 2014, French lens manufacturer Essilor acquired Coastal.com and appointed Roy Hessel as CEO. Hessel, a former venture capitalist, founded discount eyewear retailer EyeBuyDirect in 2005. When Essilor purchased majority stake of EyeBuyDirect in 2013, Essilor retained Hessel as CEO for Essilor's e-commerce arm including EyeBuyDirect, previously acquired FramesDirect.com, and now Coastal.com.

Products

Initially, Coastal.com exclusively sold contact lenses. In 2008, they added eyeglasses, sunglasses and eyeglass accessories to their product line. Today, Coastal.com is one of the largest online retailers of contact lenses, generic eyeglasses, and name brand eyeglasses.

Contacts

Coastal.com provides customers with contact lenses and eye care products direct from manufacturers such as Johnson and Johnson, Ciba Vision. Currently, they carry over 100 types of contacts, including contacts from Acuvue, Focus Dailies, Freshlook, Proclear and PureVision. The company also provides daily and extended wear lenses, and coloured contact lenses.

Eyeglasses

In 2008, the firm introduced related vision care products, such as designer eyeglasses and sunglasses. They currently sell eyeglasses and sunglasses from over 100 brands,and sold more than one million pairs of eyeglasses in 2012 making them the largest online seller of eyeglasses in the world, brands including Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Nike Vision, Gucci, Hugo Boss.

Once a customer places an order with their prescription, the firm assembles the combination of frame and lens for shipment. The company currently has one of the most technologically advanced labs in North America and has reduced error rates to below 1 percent.

Philanthropy

In March 2011, Coastal.com started their own philanthropy called the Change the View Project. The project aims to donate one pair of eyeglasses to charity for every pair of private label eyeglasses purchased from Coastal.com. The ultimate goal of the project is to donate 2 million pairs of eyeglasses to those in need globally by 2020.

Awards and Accolades

- 2014 Business in Vancouver's Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in BC

- 2014 Excellence in Retailing in Large Size Retailer category

- 2014 Georgia Straight's Best of Vancouver #3 in Best Eyewear Store

- 2014 Internet Retailer's Hot 100 for Mobile Commerce

- 2013 Canada's 10 Most Admired Culture in Mid-Market Category

- 2013 Georgia Straight's Best of Vancouver #3 in Best Eyewear Store

- 2013 Best in the Biz Most Socially Responsible Company of the Year (Silver)

- 2013 Retail Touchpoints Customer Engagement Award in Video Category

- 2013 Internet Retailer #3 Social 300 Award

- 2012 Hub Prize Gold Winner in Marketing

- 2011 Canada's 100 - BC's Top 100 Employers

- 2010 Canada's 10 Most Admired Culture for Best Emerging Company

- 2010 Canada's 100 - BC's Top 100 Employers

- 2009 Digital Marketing Award in Social Media Category for Craft & Experience

- 2009 Digital Marketing Award in Social Media (Silver)

Social media

Coastal.com uses social media, with both Twitter and Facebook pages where customers can give feedback, share photos and learn about company promotions. Today Coastal.com has more than 2.1 million global Facebook Fans ranking it as the clear leader in social media among optical retailers. Internet Retailer magazine ranked Coastal one of the top 3 web retailers in social media in January 2013.