blumenthal he's cofounder of eye wear company warby parker. >> you came in at completely disrupted an industry that had been there are for a long time. you started out as internet only. when you saw this market, did you think you were creating a new market or fill ago need that existed? >> yeah, i think it was more filling a need, it was our own need, walking into an optical shop getting a pair of glasses. it never made sense to us. >> why do glasses cost so much. >> we think it has most to do with the structure where you have a bunch of very large companies that dominate the market and are able to charge pretty high. >> you've now kind of made the transition where you're not just online. you have 19 different showrooms, did you think when you first started off that you would also be not just online but also somebody who was offering in store? >> not at all. the original business plan was on line only. at the time 1% were being sold online. we thought it was great to be the first there. warby parker model is bypassing the middleman and going direct to consumers and the most inexpensiv

warby parker, they are into to a younger customer. and if they are grading this fun.hing value. it is interesting to watch. they are growing. they are lengthening and deepening. betty: i keep hearing that online retailers are having a hard time, all of a sudden. you have the flash sale model that do not work. runway,rs like rent the which had an article today, talking about how their -- and they are running into difficulty. off-line commerce is already difficult, so what is going on online? pure online- the retail is a difficult place to be. betty: it always has been. >> but if you look at department stores, with many headwinds they have had for years, only now we are looking at a little bit of professionalism on those business models and now they are andraging the mobile catalog to actually get customers. pure play,e just a to have -- to not have that ability to be there any moment anytime, that is the harder proposition. you have to have people like companies like warby parker, doing stores, rolling enrico -- retail. the you do that, customer is likely to shop with

in 2010 warby parker became a generation next phenom. also donated 1.6 million pairs of eyeglasses to low income people around the world. joining us is neil bloomenthal. thank for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> you came in and completely disrupted an industry that had been very stingy for a long time. you started out as internet only and i just wonder when you saw this market, did you think that you were creating a new market or filling a need that existed? >> i think it was more filling a need. it was our own need, walking into an optical shop excited and then walking out feeling like we were ripped off. it never made sense that glasses should cost as much as an iphone. >> why do glasses cost as much? >> just with the industry structure where you have a bunch of very large companies that dominate the market are able to charge high runs. >> you've now kind of made the transition. you have 19 different show rooms. did you think when you first started off that you would also be not just online but also somebody who was offering in

it will be like an eyeglass company or a warby parker. >> it has to be other product categories. consumer has to be drawn. traffic is the metric. conversion is important. if you don't have traffic coming cannot make it work. it comes as a result of consumer.g the think they're recognizing should best buy have a space within macy's? should apple have a space? betty: who knows if apple wants a space? >> the experience is better in their own stores. i don't know. they draw traffic. betty: why didn't this work for jcpenney? >> they had not moved at all. they didn't make it very interesting. emotions are running rampant. it will be a brutal christmas again. inventories are high. pennies never updated their stores. betty: they tried. >> they have 1000 stores. down to it,lly got they couldn't turn it around fast enough. the president was doing a lot of right things. he didn't have the time to execute. betty: since then, it hasn't really gone anywhere. it still makes $12 billion in revenue. it's a shadow of its former self. >> joe is right in that it looks better but not enough to really

and warby parker have done similar things. if they are too busy to go to a physical store, why would they do that? this is our second round. we had a test store in nordstrom's. we wanted to tease it out even greater. are seeing what we are heightened levels of purchasing where people are buying in the shop while they are there. about 40 percent of the people are walking by the storefront and recognizing we are a jewelry store and walking in. and those 40% have become customers. it is changing the dynamics of what we are seeing. we are doing quite a bit of business. we will open three or four stores and bring to market a greater level of experience and testing in this process. emily: all right, harvey kester, ceo of blue nile. that's the retail perspective. i want to talk more about delivery. easy post is an apt platform that bridges the gap between companies and carriers like ups. david from patrick still with us. this is your busiest time of year. what you do to hear up for today? guest: most of the major e-commerce companies

we have seen warby parker by doings say that something good, people have the ability to spread it out with jimmy wales and talk about facebook and the newsfeed. coming up, we will talk to bill ford. i would talk to him about pond hockey. he is addicted. he is facing a cold winter. stay with us. ♪ the only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. tomfrancine: this is "bloomberg surveillance." you are looking at live pictures from hong kong. it is a nice atmosphere out there. it is the first time in six days the chinese stocks rose. it is all about the fed outlook and what that means for emerging stocks. let's get the bloomberg first word news. did a failed repair caused th

eye exams and testing the glasses this they bought at pearle vision and walmart and online at warby parker. all of them accurate. next up sue says just because you have a new prescription doesn't mean you have to buy new frames. >> you take your frames and you can take them to a place like walmart or costco and our readers found this was really high satisfaction. >> reporter: walmart and costco charge between $10 and $0 to bring in outside frames but check out the savings. costco lenses are only $80 and include anti-glare, scratch resistance and uv protection coatings and you don't even have to be a costco member. just go with a friend who is. lastly, sue says, always negotiate. >> if you absolutely fall madly in love with a pair of glasses at your doctor's office then the best thing you can do is try to haggle price. >> reporter: going forward buying online could have the robinsons seeing more than $500 a year in savings. now, as for those eyewear websites a lot offer hundreds of frames which can also give you a broader selection than you would find at the store. >> but you can't do this