Agreement is a Key Step to Raise Consumer Awareness of Contact Lenses as a Vision Care Option
MILAN, Italy and BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 14, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luxottica Group S.p.A. (NYSE:LUX) (MTA:LUX), a global leader in the design, manufacturing and distribution of fashion, luxury and sports eyewear, and drugstore.com, inc. (Nasdaq:DSCM), a leading online retailer of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products, today announced a strategic, multi-year ecommerce alliance to expand online access to contact lenses in the North American market.Valerio Giacobbi, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Luxottica Group, commented: "This agreement is a key step in Luxottica's goal to increase consumers' awareness of contact lenses as an important vision care option. Together with annual eye exams and high-quality eyewear and sunglasses, contact lenses are an excellent alternative for total eye health in a way that suits consumer's differing lifestyles and needs."
Under this exclusive agreement, Vision Direct, Inc., a leading online contact lens retailer and a wholly-owned subsidiary of drugstore.com, will collaborate with Luxottica Group to develop branded, contact lens ecommerce sites for the company's North American business, and provide customer care and fulfillment services. The alliance will enable Luxottica, starting with its retail brands, to offer a comprehensive solution for consumers to conveniently purchase contact lenses in-person, by telephone or online. In addition the two companies will pursue synergies such as purchasing contact lenses on behalf of the alliance and plan to cooperate in a number of other related areas, including Luxottica's North America-based wholesale business.
Dawn Lepore, CEO and Chairman of the Board, drugstore.com, inc., commented: "Luxottica is a market leader and their retail brands are among the best known in the industry - we are very pleased to be able to utilize drugstore.com's ecommerce platform and our strengths in online technology, marketing, customer care and fulfillment on Luxottica's behalf. This alliance represents an unparalleled opportunity to extend our partnership strategy, a key growth driver for the future, to our vision business. Together we will develop a great customer experience that we believe will grow the overall market for vision products."
As of September 30, 2009, Luxottica operated 2,939 optical stores across North America, including LensCrafters and Pearle Vision. The new contact lens ecommerce services are expected to launch in mid-2010.
drugstore.com will incur a one-time advisory fee in connection with entering into this alliance, which will be reflected in the company's fourth quarter earnings.
About Luxottica Group S.p.A.
Luxottica Group is a leader in premium fashion, luxury and sports eyewear, with over 6,150 optical and sun retail stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, China, South Africa and Europe and a strong and well balanced brand portfolio. Luxottica's key house brands include Ray-Ban, the best known sun eyewear brand in the world, Oakley, Vogue, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Arnette and REVO, while license brands include Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany and Versace. In addition to a global wholesale network covering 130 countries, the Group manages leading retail brands such as LensCrafters and Pearle Vision in North America, OPSM and Laubman & Pank in Australasia, LensCrafters in Greater China and Sunglass Hut globally. The Group's products are designed and manufactured in six Italy-based manufacturing plants, two wholly-owned plants in China and a sports sunglass production facility in the U.S. In 2008, Luxottica Group posted consolidated net sales of EUR 5.2 billion. Additional information on the Group is available at www.luxottica.com.
(http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/globenewswire/180169.htm )
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