34069_CSB_094-095_Specsav 4/6/2007 06:55 Page 94 Specsavers Opticians is the largest privately owned opticians in the world and one of the UK’s most successful retailers (Source: Retail Week 2005). Nearly one in three people who wear glasses in the UK buy them from Specsavers. Run by husband and wife founders Doug and Mary Perkins, Specsavers is also a success abroad, where it has 270 stores in Europe, plus a rapidly expanding supply chain in Australia. which were through the NHS. A further 252,000 eye examinations were conducted in Republic of Ireland stores and 14,000 in the Channel Islands where there is no NHS. Much of Specsavers’ success can be attributed to its joint venture concept. Stores are owned and run by more than 1,000 optician joint venture or franchise partners, while a full range of support services, from accounting to marketing, are provided by a team of professionals, freeing the optician to do what he does best – provide the highest quality customer service. Achieving exacting standards in a high volume business requires state-of-the-art operations, so Specsavers has invested heavily in new systems and equipment to ensure that its supply chain partners attain world-class standards. Market record like-for-like increases in 2007 and Product The current UK market for eyecare products record sales of £16 million in one week. Specsavers Opticians has maintained the and services is estimated at more than Expansion in Europe, where Specsavers is Perkins’ philosophy of providing affordable, £2 billion, with less than 40 per cent still one of the few British retail success stories, fashionable eyecare for everyone. The being provided by small independent continues to be brisk with a move into company keeps its prices low but does not opticians (Source: Mintel February 2006). Finland and more stores opening in Spain. stint on quality, investing in new technology Specsavers currently has a 29 per cent share and continuing to scour the world for of the total market – three times that of its Achievements fashionable frames to suit all ages. nearest competitor Dollond & Aitchison Specsavers turnover reached a record Specsavers offers the customer more (Source: GfK December 2006). £891 million in 2006/07 across all markets. than 2,000 styles to choose from, including While most opticians suffered a decline In the UK, more than £8.1 million was invested several designer brand names, such as in turnover in 2005 as the number of eye in 25 new optical stores, creating 400 new Tommy Hilfiger, fcuk, Red or Dead, Roxy, examinations dropped and consumers jobs. Specsavers now employs nearly 16,000 Quiksilver, Bench and its own best-selling deferred buying their glasses (Source: Mintel people throughout the business. designer range Osiris. Furthermore, it is soon February 2006), this did not affect Specsavers, The optical company performed 5.1 million to add an exclusive range by Jasper Conran which continues to expand, celebrating eye tests in the UK in 2006, 65 per cent of to its collection. 1984 1997 1999 2002 2004 2007 Specsavers Optical The first overseas With 350 UK Specsavers Specsavers celebrates The retailer establishes a Group is founded by Specsavers Opticians stores, Specsavers expands into 20 years of business new product supply chain Doug and Mary Perkins, opens in Haarlem, opens its flagship hearing, acquiring and record profits with in Australia and expands who open the first Holland followed store in London’s the Midlands expansions into Sweden, into Finland while celebrating Specsavers Opticians in by Breda and Gouda Tottenham based Hearcare Norway and Denmark as record sales with turnover of Guernsey, Bristol, Bath, in 1998. Court Road. chain. well as the opening of the £891 million for the financial Plymouth and Swansea. 500th store in the UK. year 2006/07. 094 34069_CSB_094-095_Specsav 4/6/2007 06:55 Page 95 All Specsavers glasses now include Pentax lenses as standard and pricing is kept as simple and clear as possible so there are no hidden extras, proving that high quality and low price can go hand in hand. Specsavers also offers a store voucher for employers, meaning companies can now offer their staff more affordable corporate eyecare. The largest retail provider of home delivery contact lenses in Europe and one of the top two retailers of continuous wear lenses in the world (Source: VisionTrak September 2005), Specsavers was one of the first optical retailers to introduce a direct debit scheme for contact lens wearers. Its own-brand easyvision lenses include daily disposables, monthly disposables and continuous wear lenses, which can be worn for up to 30 days and nights without removal. Recent Developments Specsavers is bringing its core offers to its rapidly expanding hearing service, which is now doing for hearing what the retailer has already achieved in optics – dramatically reducing prices and waiting times and making audiology services more accessible Indeed, Specsavers has been the largest Its in-store magazine View – published three for everyone. Specsavers is already the advertiser in the optician sector for many times a year – is available free of charge in all largest retail dispenser of digital hearing aids years, with a total gross spend of more than stores and is mailed out to 600,000 customers. in the UK and will offer a hearing service £25 million to promote its special offers and from more than 300 locations by the end build its brand. Brand Values of 2007. In 2006, the company won a The company’s ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers is still very much a family run Marketing Society Award for Marketing Specsavers’ campaign was the first to win business with family values to match, and Excellence (in the Brand Extension category) Retail Week’s Marketing Campaign of the Year over the past few years, the company has for its hearing business. Award two years running and the phrase has donated more than £1 million to various The future continues to look bright for been adopted by the nation. Its sponsorship of charities. Recipients include Guide Dogs, Specsavers’ core optical business: a new football and rugby referees has also attracted Deafness Research UK, Fight for Sight and store opens somewhere in the UK or Europe much support as it reflects a sense of humour Vision Aid Overseas, for whom stores collect every week and turnover is anticipated to appreciated by consumers. and recycle unwanted glasses to send to the exceed a billion pounds well before the end Specsavers also runs an annual ‘Spectacle developing world. of the decade, when the company expects to Wearer of the Year’ competition to find the Every two years the company also have more than 1,000 stores worldwide. UK’s sexiest specs wearers and the nation’s nominates a national eyecare charity to favourite specs-wearing celebrities. support – their current relationship is with Promotion The company also respects its duty of Diabetes UK for whom they are raising Specsavers’ marketing has helped to care to inform people when their next eye £100,000 to fund vital research and raise revolutionise the optical market with its Two examination is due, which is done through awareness of diabetic retinopathy. for One promotion and Clear Price policy that more than 350,000 letters to customers other opticians have struggled to replicate. each week. www.specsavers.com Things you didn’t know about Specsavers Opticians Specsavers carries out more than five million eye examinations each year in the UK – more than a quarter of all the sight tests carried out in Britain (Source: Mintel). 7.4 million frames and 15 million Pentax branded lenses were sold during 2006. Specsavers sells a pair of glasses every six seconds. If all the glasses Specsavers have ever sold were laid end to end they would wrap around the world three times. 095.