Hubble has evolved from a simple startup to a promising brand in the contact lenses industry. In its initial years of inception, the company generated more than $20 million in annual sales (Avery & Israeli, 2018). Hubble’s growth has been attributed to its social media strategy, enabling the company to interact directly with the customers, thus making direct sales through Facebook ads. The company had to recruit its optometrists where its customers would go for lens prescriptions. This is in accordance with the law that requires the customers to have genuine prescriptions from a recognized optometrist before purchasing the lens.
At the time of Hubble’s inception, the US industry of contact lenses was dominated by four major companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Valeant, Novartis and CooperVision. These companies controlled more than 70% of the market, making it hard for new entrants to survive (Avery & Israeli, 2018). There were three major types of contact lenses sold in the market. They include the conventional lens, extended wear and daily disposables contact lenses. The conventional lenses were worn during the day and removed at night. These contact lenses are usually stored in a disinfectant liquid and can be replaced up to four times annually. The extended wear lenses were worn throughout without removal for a month. Lastly, the daily disposables were worn in the morning and disposed of at night. These were among the most commonly sold lenses in the US market, accounting for 41% of the sales.
Considering the medical risks associated with contact lenses, they were regulated as medical devices by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The lenses needed to be fitted by a licensed optometrist. Optometrists were required to make prescriptions with details of the brand and the curvature of the lens. Various studies revealed risks associated with a lack of proper wearing of risks. The significant risk included the development of a bacterial infection. It was, therefore, necessary for the customers to follow the optometrists’ prescriptions to avoid suffering the associated risks.
Understanding the industry dynamics were necessary for the founders of Hubble, Cogan and Horwitz to develop a suitable product that would address the problems in the market and meet the customers’ expectations. One of the significant problems that Hubble aimed to solve involved poor packaging, high costs, and inconvenient access. The company could not compete with the leading brands in producing advanced lenses. Instead, it focused on encouraging healthy practices among its consumers. One way of encouraging healthy use of contact lenses was by making the daily disposable lens more available to the users than the other lens categories. According to clinical studies, scientists established that daily disposable lenses were healthier to use than conventional and extended wear lenses. By making the daily disposables available, the company discouraged the users from over-wearing lenses, which is often considered one of the risky behaviors that can lead to the development of a bacterial infection.
To effectively deliver the dailies to its customers, the company made deliveries at a monthly subscription cost of $30 per supply with a monthly transportation charge of $3. This sales mechanism enabled Hubble to interact directly with its customers, thus avoiding the intermediaries that made the lens prices significantly increase (Avery & Israeli, 2018). As a result, Hubble sold its lenses at significantly low prices, which gave it a competitive advantage over rival companies. The company’s marketing strategy proved successful and presented Hubble as a unique company in the market. As a result, Hubble partnered with Athletics, a branding agency, to create a unique brand that customers would associate with. Part of the branding involved digitalizing the company’s platform into a user-friendly website that will meet the users’ preferences.
Hubble needed to recruit optometrists to comply with the FTC regulations. Optometrists often acted as intermediaries where they obtained the contact lenses from the distributors and sold them to customers at a profit. Therefore, it was not easy to get optometrists easily because thriving optometric viewed working for Hubble as a challenge that would restrict the number of customers they serve. However, since most of the online platforms charged optometrists for patient referrals, Hubble took that opportunity to offer patient referrals to doctors for free. In exchange, the optometrists were supposed to carry the Hubble fitting kit. Although there were concerns about the quality of Hubble’s products, the company upgraded their prescription verification process and trained its optometrists on the best way to present the products to the customers.
In its first year of operation, Hubble most of its products to households generating more than $50000 in annual income. Most of the customers during the first year were averagely aged 28 years. At least 68% of the customers were using daily disposable lenses, making it the company’s best-selling product (Avery & Israeli, 2018). Additionally, at least 52% of the customers had heard of Hubble from a social media platform, including Facebook and Instagram. The success of the social media marketing strategy enabled Hubble to focus its advertising on Facebook. Later, the company ventured into other social media channels, including Pinterest, Snapchat and Instagram. The desire to grow and more potential customers saw Hubble involve other offline advertising channels, including radio, television and podcasts. Hubble used these channels to track the most effective channel that reached the targeted consumers. The company then used the most effective channels to design ads that would appeal to the potential consumers using those channels.
As the company continues to grow, the need to expand in various aspects became a reality. Firstly, the company was considering broadening its products so that it does not only deal with contact lenses but beauty products such as makeup. This is because a survey revealed that most female customers tend to buy contact lenses for cosmetic reasons rather than for medical purposes. Secondly, the company contemplated extending its distributional channel by partnering with retailers and optometrists who would buy Hubble’s products in stock and resell them to the consumers at an agreed price. Lastly, the company considered expanding geographically to enter the international market, especially in Europe. The company had already ventured into the Canadian market, which proved successful. This was a starting point to venture into other markets.
However, for the expansions to succeed, the company had to have enough funds to finance the new projects. As the company continued to source funds, the management analyzed various mechanisms to enable the company to succeed in its new objectives. Most of the previous projects had been successful due to the adequate market research and practical mechanisms that Hubble approached the market. Relying on social media was one of the effective ways that Hubble managed to reach its target, especially by connecting directly with the consumers. Additionally, social media provided the company with an affordable advertising strategy to reach the targeted market. Therefore, through effective marketing research, Hubble will succeed in expanding its operations.
Reference
Avery, J., & Israeli, A. (2018). Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing – Case – Faculty & Research – Harvard Business School. Hbs.edu.