update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . august 2014 coastal contacts inc. type subsidiary industry internet retailer e commerce founded 2000 2000 founder roger hardy founder headquarters vancouver british columbia canada key people roy hessel ceo products eyeglasses contact lenses and sunglasses revenue cad 217 550 000 2013 number of employees 600 parent essilor website www.coastal.com coastal.com is an online retailer of contact lenses eyeglasses and sunglasses founded in 2000 by roger hardy and his sister michaela . they are one of the largest online contact lens retailers in north america and the largest seller of prescription eyeglasses online in the world . 1 2 in 2013 the company sold more than 218 million of merchandise . 3 contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 contacts 2.2 eyeglasses 3 philanthropy 4 awards and accolades 5 social media 6 references 7 external links history edit coastal contacts was founded in 2000 by roger hardy who bought the keyword contact lens from altavista which meant that all searches for contact lens were accompanied with coastal contacts banner ads . 4 5 in the first day they had 30 orders ; within the first month they had 68 000 in sales . 4 in addition to their lower pricing the firm provided same day fulfillment of online orders . 1 6 in 2004 coastal contacts raised 6 million in an initial public offering which they used to expand into the united kingdom and parts of europe . 2 4 in late 2004 they acquired a mail order contact lens business in europe lensway . 4 in 2006 they acquired two more companies one in the netherlands and one in japan . 4 7 by 2009 the firm increased their revenue to 140 million . 4 they moved into the eyeglasses market in 2008 . 1 4 they source parts for eyeglasses from independent manufactures across the globe but maintains control over final assembly . 4 in january 2012 they shipped over 80 000 prescription eyeglasses setting a service record for online sales of made to order prescription glasses in any one month . the company has sold more than 1.2 billion in retail eyewear sales over the internet since inception and served more than 5 million customers . 8 the firm owns or operates clearly.ca lensway.com lensway.co.uk lensway.se clearly.com.au clearly.co.nz contactsan.com and coastallens.com . in 2014 french lens manufacturer essilor acquired coastal.com and appointed roy hessel as ceo . 9 hessel a former venture capitalist founded discount eyewear retailer eyebuydirect in 2005 . 10 when essilor purchased majority stake of eyebuydirect in 2013 essilor retained hessel as ceo for essilor s e commerce arm including eyebuydirect previously acquired framesdirect.com 11 12 and now coastal.com . 13 products edit initially coastal.com exclusively sold contact lenses . in 2008 they added eyeglasses sunglasses and eyeglass accessories to their product line . 4 today coastal.com is one of the largest online retailers of contact lenses generic eyeglasses and name brand eyeglasses . 14 contacts edit coastal.com provides customers with contact lenses and eye care products direct from manufacturers such as johnson and johnson ciba vision . currently they carry over 100 types of contacts including contacts from acuvue focus dailies freshlook proclear and purevision . 15 the company also provides daily and extended wear lenses and coloured contact lenses . 16 eyeglasses edit in 2008 the firm introduced related vision care products such as designer eyeglasses and sunglasses . they currently sell eyeglasses and sunglasses from over 100 brands and sold more than one million pairs of eyeglasses in 2012 making them the largest online seller of eyeglasses in the world brands including calvin klein michael kors nike vision gucci hugo boss . 17 once a customer places an order with their prescription the firm assembles the combination of frame and lens for shipment . the company currently has one of the most technologically advanced labs in north america and has reduced error rates to below 1 percent . 16 18 philanthropy edit in march 2011 coastal.com started their own philanthropy called the change the view project . 19 20 the project aims to donate one pair of eyeglasses to charity for every pair of private label eyeglasses purchased from coastal.com . 19 20 the ultimate goal of the project is to donate 2 million pairs of eyeglasses to those in need globally by 2020 . 20 awards and accolades edit 2014 business in vancouver s top 100 fastest growing companies in bc 21 2014 excellence in retailing in large size retailer category 22 2014 georgia straight s best of vancouver 3 in best eyewear store 23 2014 internet retailer s hot 100 for mobile commerce 24 2013 canada s 10 most admired culture in mid market category 25 2013 georgia straight s best of vancouver 3 in best eyewear store 26 2013 best in the biz most socially responsible company of the year silver 27 2013 retail touchpoints customer engagement award in video category 28 2013 internet retailer 3 social 300 award 29 2012 hub prize gold winner in marketing 30 2011 canada s 100 bc s top 100 employers 31 2010 canada s 10 most admired culture for best emerging company 25 2010 canada s 100 bc s top 100 employers 32 2009 digital marketing award in social media category for craft & experience 2009 digital marketing award in social media silver social media edit coastal.com uses social media with both twitter and facebook pages where customers can give feedback share photos and learn about company promotions . 33 33 34 35 36 today coastal.com has more than 2.1 million global facebook fans ranking it as the clear leader in social media among optical retailers . internet retailer magazine ranked coastal one of the top 3 web retailers in social media in january 2013 . 37 references edit a b c harnish verne . 5 ways to get your business strategy right . cnn money . april 6 2011 . a b brohan mark . groupon helps coastal contacts build awareness and sales in the u.k. . internet retailer . march 3 2011 . ayling joe 1 . optician online march 2014 . a b c d e f g h i mitra sramana . building a niche e commerce powerhouse coastal contacts ceo roger hardy . sramana mitra . november 12 2010 . bitti mary . clearly a winning strategy . canadian retailer . august 1 2009 . castle geoff . the 100 mile investor . business in vancouver . october 27 2009 . anderson fiona . doing business in china know your customers . the vancouver sun . february 7 2012 . coastal sets new service standard in online eyeglasses category . yahoo news . february 16 2012 . 2 vision monday . april 29 2014 . 3 fast company . february 18 2009 . 4 vision monday . may 9 2013 . 5 easevision.com . april 12 2010 . korstrom glen 6 business in vancouver . june 19 2014 . our story . coastal contacts . 2012 . contact lenses . coastal.com . a b jordan david . clearly contacts ceo roger hardy . bcbusiness . november 3 2010 . eyeglasses . coastal.com . canada newswire . coastal contacts inc named as one of the top 25 exporters in british columbia . digital journal . october 5 2010 . a b coastal contacts . online eyewear company to change the view for millions around the world coastal contacts . march 30 2011 . a b c coastalcontacts.com launching change the view project . vision monday . april 1 2011 . 7 business in vancouver . 2014 . 8 storefront excellence in retailing awards . 2014 . 9 georgia straight . 2014 . 10 internet retailer . 2014 . a b 11 waterstone hc . 2013 . 12 georgia straight . 2013 . 13 best in the biz . 2013 . hauss debbie 14 retail touchpoints . dec 10 2014 . zaroban stefany . 15 internet retailer . jan 3 2013 . 16 globe and mail . 2012 . 17 canada s 100 top employers . 2011 . 18 canada s 100 top employers . 2010 . a b myers jennifer . building dialogue in the workplace . the globe and mail . november 6 2009 . mcelgunn jim . the biggest lie in business . canadian business . november 1 2008 . lazarus eve . coastal contacts makes online shopping more social . marketing mag . may 21 2009 . burns jackie . virtual mirror helps avoid eyewear trainwreck . msn shopping . august 3 2009 . lim dion . dion s daily deals free glasses shampoo and watch . wcnc . april 13 2011 . external links edit official website united states official website canada official website australia official website new zealand v t e companies based in the metro vancouver area 604 records a & w canada advanced cyclotron systems apparent networks avigilon aritzia army & navy stores ballard power systems best buy canada black box games blenz coffee blueshore financial boston pizza brightlight pictures british columbia maritime employers association broadbandtv corp chc helicopter ctc bank of canada cactus club cafe canada wide media limited canadaupdates canfor canucks sports and entertainment central 1 credit union central heat distribution choices market citizens bank of canada clearly.ca coast capital savings coast mountain bus company commodore books cymax stores 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auctioneers shavick entertainment sierra wireless silver standard resources silver wheaton slant six games softquad software stylus sofas synthetic entertainment t & t supermarket teck resources telus tenke mining teradici united front games univar canada vancity vancouver airport services vancouver film studios versacold vision critical west fraser timber west coast air white spot zulu records retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title coastal.com & oldid 731633883 categories companies established in 2000eyewear retailerseyewear retailers of the united statesonline retailers of canadaonline retailers of the united stateshidden categories wikipedia articles in need of updating from august 2014all wikipedia articles in need of updatingpages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main 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