By Jean-François Venne
Specsavers
recently unveiled its intentions for the Canadian market. The British optometry
giant hopes to have more than 200 offices in Canada by 2024 and eventually have
a presence in all Canadian provinces.
Specsavers has begun in British
Columbia, following the acquisition of Image Optometry last spring. “We’ve been
talking with Image for a long time and we think their business is a great base
for our Canadian venture,” says Bill Moir, General Manager of Specsavers
Canada. “We like their values and people model, which fits well with our
approach that values quality and accessibility of products and services.”
Two former Image Optometry
stores were opened under their new Specsavers banner in November in Nanaimo and
Coquitlam, with 14 more to follow by March 2022. The company also has a lab in
British Columbia and may open more to support the company’s growth across the
country.
“We’ll be
developing the B.C. market in the coming months, but we want to expand into all
provinces eventually,” says Bill Moir. Canada is a relatively complex market,
as the regulations governing eyecare professionals vary from province to
province. But we are used to adapting to new jurisdictions.”
The company plans
to grow organically first, allowing optometrists and opticians to join its
franchise network, but also remains open to acquisitions. Founded in the United
Kingdom in 1984, it now operates in 11 countries, serving more than 41 million
customers.
A
Partnership Model
“One of the things that sets
us apart is that our stores are owned and operated in part by the optometrists,
opticians and retailers themselves,” explains Bill Moir. We want to offer them
a low start-up cost and high-quality support.” Each store may offer the
services of an independent optometrist, but the product sales portion is
jointly owned by an optometrist/optician or optometrist/retailer duo. The
start-up cost for a franchise is approximately $25,000 for each partner (so
$50,000 per store).
Franchisees receive what Bill Moir refers
to as “full service.” This includes, for example, management services such as
marketing and accounting, IT and technology services or procurement. In
particular, Specsavers plans to have an integrated supply chain for all its
franchises. “We want eyecare professionals to be able to focus on their patient
services, so we provide a lot of support,” summarizes Moir.
Specsavers has a history of becoming a
dominant force in the countries it enters fairly quickly. It was founded just
as Margaret Thatcher’s government was deregulating optical services in the UK.
This allowed Specsavers to use advertising and marketing approaches previously
prohibited in that country. Specsavers now has half of the market share in UK.
In Australia, the company opened 100
stores in 100 days when it arrived in 2008. It now has about 40% of the
Australina market share.
Specsavers maintains that there is no
truly dominant national force in the Canadian optical market. It sees this
fragmentation as an opportunity to make their mark fairly quickly. They plans
to invest heavily in advertising and marketing to become a major player in the
Canadian optical and optometric industry.
A Major
Competitor
The British company becomes a
new competitor in a market that has seen the arrival of Bailey Nelson, Warby
Parker, Mujosh and Oscar Wylee, among others, in recent years. Specsavers will
certainly be a challenge for Luxottica (owner of LensCrafters, Pearle Vision
and Sunglass Hut), New Look (which owns its own stores and also the Vogue
Optical, IRIS and Greiche & Scaff chains), FYidoctors and their new
acquistion, Bon Look, among others.
These competitors remain very discreet
following Specsavers’ announcement.
As for the independents, it remains to be
seen whether they will perceive Specsavers as a threat or an opportunity to
join forces with as a new partner.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the
head of one buying group called Specsavers’ acquisition of Image Optometry a
“trial run” and recalled that independents are already competing with chains,
many of which are in consolidation mode. He added that “customers continue to
prefer the attentive service and care of an independent, locally involved
professional who tailors his or her offerings to regional differences.”
Bill Moir believes that the Canadian
market will benefit from the Specsavers model. “We offer high quality,
affordable products and services, while at the same time providing an
attractive partnership option for eyecare professionals,” he says. “Doug and
Mary Perkins, optometrists, started their company with these two goals in mind
and we think Canadians will like this approach.”
JEAN-FRANÇOIS VENNE
Freelance journalist
Jean-François Venne is a freelance
journalist based in Montreal. He has been covering news in
the optical industry for over ten years.
