Dive Brief:
- Warby Parker is implementing a new ERP system as part of a slate of digital capability investments.
- The company has spent around $5.1 million in 2022 and this year combined to implement its ERP system. The company previously hired an implementation partner to assist in the ERP rollout.
- The vision care retailer invested around $1.9 million in the implementation of cloud-based software last year and up to Sept. 30 of this year.
Dive Insight:
Warby Parker is pursuing a stronger tech stack and productivity gains. The company has more than two million active customers and brought in nearly $170 million in net revenue over the past three months, according to its Q3 earnings call presentation.
While the company raised its full-year outlook this quarter, it also faced challenges. Since Warby Parker went public in September 2021, it has yet to record an annual profit. Adjusted EBITDA has remained steadily positive on an annual basis since 2018, despite decreasing this quarter.
“We are confident in our strategic direction and continue to believe we are in the early innings of delivering longterm, profitable growth,” co-founder and co-CEO Dave Gilboa said in the company’s Q3 earnings release.
During 2022 and in the first half of 2023, the company developed general IT controls to manage access and program changes across key systems as well as to support improvements to application controls within the proprietary system.
The team has also leveraged machine learning and AI over the last few years to support virtual try-ons and vision tests, according to Gilboa, speaking during the company’s Q2 earnings call in August.
“We are excited by the rapid evolution of AI and believe we are uniquely positioned to bring this innovation to the optical industry, given our digital heritage and our technology investments,” Gilboa said.
“We are particularly encouraged by the productivity gains our engineers, product managers and designers are seeing from the expanding use of generative AI as well as early applications of this technology to create easier, faster shopping experiences for our customers,” said Gilboa.
