Alcon has announced the broader U.S. availability of its innovative MARLO digital platform, the contact lens ordering experience patients expect from online retailers, offered within the independent OD practice. The platform allows patients to conveniently order, reorder and track their Alcon contact lens order online and have their lenses shipped right to their doorstep, while keeping the relationship and revenue with their existing eye doctor.
Following a successful pilot in 2019, Alcon scaled MARLO’s availability to reach more Eye Care Professionals (ECPs), and with the rising popularity of virtual health services during COVID-19, Alcon has now accelerated MARLO access to a larger population of independent practices. Alcon also implemented remote MARLO set-ups to support even more ECP businesses during the pandemic.
“Alcon understands the eye care landscape is becoming increasingly complex due to rapidly evolving patient and practice needs, especially during this challenging time,” said Laura Walker, Vice President and Business Unit Head of Digital Innovation, Alcon. “MARLO is uniquely positioned in the marketplace, servicing the ECP, their team and their patient needs, and has been created as a result of feedback from each audience to help ensure we deliver an optimal experience.”
It is estimated that nearly 20 percent of patients go online to initially purchase their contact lenses and the trend of online sales is expected to continue to grow. MARLO is focused on delivering on patient expectations for convenience while ensuring the practice experience is simple and efficient for both patients and staff. With MARLO, 90 percent of patients who ordered through the platform said they are more likely to reorder their contact lenses from their ECP when using MARLO, and 65 percent of patients are likely to recommend their eye doctor because of MARLO.
“My practice has been using MARLO since the initial pilot and it provides convenience and satisfaction to my contact lens patients, efficiency for my office and revenue for my business,” said Jessica Crooker, OD of Scituate Harbor Vision Source in Massachusetts. “With MARLO, my practice can receive orders after business hours, on weekends and even when we were closed during COVID-19. MARLO also helps my team reduce time spent on fulfilling orders and instead increases our opportunities to deliver an optimal patient experience.”
The process for using MARLO includes only a few steps for the patient, ECP and their practice:
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ECPs simply introduce MARLO to their patients either during their annual eye exam or through a unique practice link sent to their patients through email or text, allowing patients to order directly from and stay connected with their ECP throughout their eye care journey.
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Once entered into the MARLO system, patients will receive reorder reminders so they can continue to purchase contact lenses without returning to the office. Patients will also receive exam reminders.
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In addition to online and text ordering, the platform also enables practices to capture and fulfill patient contact lens orders over the phone and ship the contact lenses directly to the patient, making it convenient and easy for the patient.
At the same time, Alcon introduced MeetMARLO.com – the newest way for Eye Care Professionals (ECPs) to learn more about the first-of-its-kind MARLO digital platform and request a virtual demonstration from an Alcon representative. MARLO is available in the U.S. and joins Alcon’s family of innovative products and services focused on best meeting the needs of ECPs and patients.