Sam's Club/Walmart Introducing New CL Program

Walmart and Sam's Club are launching an online and phone contact lens program as well as reduced prices on many top contact lenses. The offering includes:

• New Online and Phone Contact Lens Program: Walmart customers can now visit WalmartContacts.com or call 1-800-741-LENS (5367) and Sam's Club members can now visit SamsClub.com/contacts or call 1-800-749-LENS (5367) to place contact lens orders and have them delivered directly to their home. Free shipping is available on orders over $50 for Walmart Contacts and $45 for Sam's Club Contacts.   

• Low Prices on Top Contact Lenses – Walmart and Sam's Club have reduced prices on many top contact lenses, such as Acuvue Oasys (2 week), Air Optix Aqua (monthly), Acuvue Moist (daily / 90 pack), Acuvue 2 (2 weeks), and Biofinity (monthly).

This February, Walmart will also launch its own private Equate brand of contact lenses to give customers even more contact lens options at low prices. Read more.

SoloHealth Putting 500 Health Kiosks in Sam's Clubs

SoloHealth and Sam's Club announced last week that they will being installing SoloHealth Station bi-lingual, self-service kiosks in 500 Sam's Club during the next several weeks. SoloHealth predicts that more than 2,500 retail locations by mid-2013.The device provides health screenings for vision, blood pressure, weight, and body mass index, a symptom checker as well as an overall health assessment free of charge.The kiosk will reportedly help connect consumers to local professionals through its databases. Read more.

The interesting question is: Will these kiosks refer individuals with vision problems to optical shops in Wal-Mart stores? It would create a neat little feeding system. So opticians might want to take one of these units for a test ride and find out what the competition is offering.