Read the article “Eyewear Makers Take a Fresh Look at Smart
Glasses”.
Why did Google Glass fail?
Develop an STP strategy for Essilor-Luxottica smart glasses.
In particular, how would you segment the market and among those
segments which segment/s would you target?
Develop a 4P plan for Essilor-Luxottica smart glasses. In
particular, given the segments you chose above, what branding
strategy and what pricing approaches would you use for the smart
glasses, how would you distribute the product, and what kind of
sales promotion and/or advertising would you run?
NOTE:
Your answers are NOT graded based on what Essilor-Luxottica
does in reality, but rather your own ideas and rational. In
particular, your answers will be graded based on 4 criteria: (1)
application of class materials (defend your rational with what we
discussed in class instead of your own intuition), (2) logic (you
need provide some explanations), (3) consistency (marketing actions
need to be consistent with marketing goals and the elements of 4P
need to be consistent with each other), and (4) be specific about
what your recommendations are; don’t just say I need to increase
demand without mentioning how.
The article: "Eyewear Makers Take a Fresh Look at Smart
Glasses”.
MILAN—Several years after the failure of Google’s smart
glasses, eyewear makers and tech companies—encouraged by the
arrival of a giant new player in the eyewear sector—are taking
another crack at a product they hope can compete in the market for
wearable technology.
The recent€50 billion ($53 billion) Italian-French merger
between eyewear manufacturers Luxottica LUX -0.49% SpA and Essilor
International SA ESLOY -0.67% could revive a market that, according
to bullish estimates, could approach 55 million units by 2022. But
while eyewear groups enjoy an edge when it comes to style and
distribution heft, they may struggle to succeed where even the
biggest tech giants have so far stumbled.
The 2012 launch of Google Glass was largely a flop, sunk by
concerns over privacy, competition from other wearable devices and
poor aesthetics that left wearers looking like cyborgs. Today,
Google sells the product mostly for business use and has put aside
the idea of pitching it to a mass audience for now.
After Google, tech companies ranging from startups to the
likes of Microsoft Corp. and
Seiko Epson Corp. have all tried new versions of connected
eyewear. But none of them has stood out as a major commercial
success, in many cases because the monitor on the lenses are too
intrusive. Their functions are too similar to smartphones or the
designs too nerdy, analysts say. Privacy concerns—such as the
problem of using the glasses to take videos without the subjects’
knowledge—were also a deterrent.
Instead, some tech companies are concentrating on a narrower
audience. U.S.-based Vuzix Corp. , a smart-glasses specialist, has
eyewear aimed at business use, such as allowing remote technical
support or training, while Sony Corp. is providing technology for
developers who
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want to make apps that can be installed in smart glasses.
Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. recently launched glasses that
allow wearers to take photos and videos.
“Phase one...has unquestionably been a flop” in creating a
mass market for smartglasses, said Steven Waltzer, analyst at
Strategy Analytics.
Meanwhile, the eyewear industry—under pressure to feed younger
customers’ desire for new technology—is instead pressing to find
products that could help carve out a mass market that has eluded
smart glasses so far.
Eyewear maker Safilo SpA turned down an offer in 2014 from
Google to make wired frames because “Google’s philosophy was to
bring all the functions of a smartphone into the eyeglasses,” said
Nicola Belli, head of innovation at the Italian company. When his
team tested Google’s prototypes, “the feeling was of too much
information,” he recalled. Google didn’t respond to requests for
comment on the project.
Instead, Safilo is now working on its own smart glasses that
it claims can read brain waves
and help wearers concentrate, with an app that guides the
person through exercises aimed at regaining focus. Other eyewear
makers are working on overcoming basic problems such as making the
technology smaller, the battery last longer and the display inside
the glasses easier to see in daylight.
By combining their strengths, the new Essilor-Luxottica group
is aiming high, seeking to put together “our researchers, our frame
designers, all our strengths,” Essilor Chairman Hubert Sagnie?res
said soon after the deal was announced.
Essilor, a major lens manufacturer, is making lenses that
recognize faces and everyday objects. In turn, Luxottica, which
brings expertise in manufacturing frames and had joined with Google
on Google Glass, is working on lighter materials, such as graphene,
that can hold the technology needed for smart glasses without
weighing them down.
The Italian company, which makes stylish glasses for the likes
of Chanel, Giorgio Armani and Prada, can also make a sleeker
design—thus addressing a major deterrent to the early models of
smart glasses.
“Smart glasses must first be functional, desirable, wearable,”
said Federico Buffa, R&D director for Luxottica. “Then it can
offer useful (smart glasses) functions.”
Luxottica already has launched a smart-glasses model under its
sports brand Oakley, with technology from Intel Corp. , that it
hopes can compete with other sports wearables.
For instance, the technology in the frame helps monitor a
wearer’s heart rate, track routes, give feedback on performance and
provide customized training programs. To resolve the issue of
images popping out on the lenses, a voice drives the wearer through
the information needed. Luxottica’s enormous distribution heft—it
owns Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters—could also help bring smart
glasses into the mainstream, analysts said.