Table 1: strategic characteristics of the industry players                                                                                                                Advertisement Company (market share)  strategy               price          Breadth of products  Quality/styling  Number                                                                                                                       of stores  ($M)                                                                                                                                       Glasses Direct          Broad differentiation  Below average  limited              superior         1390       1.5           25%                                                                                                                          Boots                   Low cost               Below average  range                good             1300       6             10%                                                                                                                          Vision Express          Broad differentiation  Above average  limited              good             300        6.2           6%                                                                                                                           Specsavers              Low cost strategy      Below average  limited              good             700        9             16% market                                                                                                                   Dolland & Aitchison     Broad differentiation  average        limited              High quality     400        1.23          23%                                                                                                                           Glasses Direct exercises a combination of strategies that makes it exceptional within the eyeglass retail industry. Its focus is provision of high quality products under differentiation strategy, yet at a price below the industry average. In addition, Glasses Direct benefits from the extensive customer coverage through online stores. However, the company is constrained by the fact that its products are of limited variety. The above table illustrates how the industry players compare and differs in terms of different strategies as it will be discussed in this paper (Bemowsky, 1992). Specsavers and boots operate under similar business strategies, in that they both exercise low cost strategy, and offer their products at prices below the industry average. As such, they are both placed above success likely and success highly uncertain, particularly because the consumers tend to become attracted by retailers who sell good quality products at low prices as they increases value for their money. Dolland and Aitchison is a remarkably successful retailer, perhaps as a result of its differentiated strategy and very high quality products (Lindblom, 1959). Even though their products are sold at relatively high prices compared to the likes of Boots and Specsavers, they seem to have mastered the art of creating strong customer royalty. This is however irresistible considering the superiority of their products. As such, Dolland and Aitchison are placed above success likely and success highly uncertain (De Wit and Meyer, 2004). Fig