Warby Parker Marketing Strategy

Warby Parker is an eyewear company, which sells prescription glasses and sunglasses. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in New York City. Warby Parkers story starts with a college student who couldn’t afford new glasses after his old pair broke. Long story short he and other college buddies started the company and made WP’s corporate social responsibility part of their branding. The way the program works is, for every pair WP sells; a pair is given to a child or organization that needs one. The program is called, Buy a Pair, Give a Pair. I heard first of the company through a blog post on GQ. I remember the article focusing on the CSR portion of the company. It really came off as if the company’s sole purpose is: to give pairs of glasses to those in

While this still holds true, I feel now that the company has grown and actually made profits, they have some how abandoned what made them special in the first place. After looking at their website and blogs, I couldn’t find a post, a blog post or picture of where those Buy a Pair, Give a Pair glasses are going. I figured two things could be going on here. Either A) they don’t want to rub it in the publics face that they do good, or B) they might be going through some subtle rebranding. According to The Wall Street Journal, Warby Parker is valued at $1.2 Billion, “Warby Parker one of only a handful of online retail startups to grow beyond a $1 billion valuation before going public or getting acquired.” Once they do go public and expand their target market, I can only assume they’ll sell more glasses, but will they still be able to match a free pair to each sold? Overall, I think the company’s intentions are good. Yet, they shouldn’t forget what service helped them get to where they are at now in the marketplace. Also, I have Warby Parker glasses. My opinion might be subjective but fans are usually the harshest