Specsavers

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Specsavers
Type Private
Founded 1984
Founder Doug and Mary Perkins
Headquarters Flag of Guernsey St Andrew's, Guernsey
Revenue £879m (2006/7)
Employees > 16,000

Specsavers is the biggest of the four major UK Opticians (retailers) that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses, having 30% of the market.[1] The company has over 750 stores in the United Kingdom, Spain, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands. Recently Specsavers acquired over 40 existing practices in Australia, all of which will eventually be rebranded as Specsavers Opticians.

Contents

[edit] History and Market Position

Specsavers are a high street opticians, selling spectacles, contact lenses and hearing aids. The group was launched in 1984 by husband and wife team Doug Perkins and Mary Perkins and at the end of 2007 the group has over 1000 stores with 16,000 employees. As well as stores in the UK, they are present in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain and most recently Australia. The company has also ventured into hearing care. Their Hearcare division provides hearing tests and hearing aids within the Specsavers optical stores.[2][3]

Specsavers has a market share of over 30% in the UK and Republic of Ireland, larger than any of its competitors.[4] Its main competitors in the UK are Dollond & Aitchison (D&A), Boots Opticians and Vision Express; see UK Opticians (retailers).

[edit] Advertisements

In 2002 Specsavers spent over £20m on advertising, with television taking 62% of spending. Specsavers supported each of their stores through the use of local media, with local print press taking 16% of spending and local radio 7%.[5]

In 2005 Specsavers won the Retail Week 2005 award for Marketing Campaign of the Year.[6]

In 2006 Specsavers was ranked 46 of the UK's 100 heaviest spenders on TV advertising, spending £27 million.[7] Specsaver's continued high spending on advertising paid off when Readers Digest magazine voted Specsavers the most trusted brand of opticians for the 5th year running.[8] The magazine surveyed people in 40 European Countries

Specsavers long running and successful advertising campaign is famously based on the strapline "Should've gone to Specsavers" which appears on the company's TV advertising. Conceived by Specsavers Creative Director Graham Daldry, the line has passed into the vernacular and has been heard on the lips of Chris Moyles, Jonathon Ross, and children in playgrounds all over the country.

[edit] Recent Controversy

Specsavers, along with other several high street opticians, made an unsuccessful attempt to use legal action and an unsuccessful complaint to the General Optical Council (GOC) to close down Glasses Direct, a UK Internet retailer whose prices, at that time, undercut those of Specsavers considerably.[9]

The feud between the companies continued in 2006 when James Murray Wells the Managing Director of Glasses Direct sought election to the General Optical Council, arguing that Internet retailers and their customers needed representation. In response the Managing Director of Specsavers, Doug Perkins, wrote to Specsavers branches asking the company's opticians to unite to vote for anti-Murray-Wells candidates to protect their own interests: "..candidates with the interests of hands-on, professional practitioners at heart". The leaking of Perkin's memo was followed by a statement from the General Optical Council claiming that its priority was maintaining high standards of eye care for the public, and not members commercial interests. Specsavers refused to confirm or to deny that they were trying to drive Glasses Direct out of business; and Murray Wells withdrew from the election.[10]

[edit] Structure

Specsavers operates most of their stores under a system which is called the 'Joint or Shared Venture Partnership'. This is similar to a franchise agreement between Specsavers and the franchisee; however, unlike many franchises, Specsavers stores work under the policy that 'any Specsavers customer is our customer', thereby meaning that a customer from one branch of Specsavers can expect to get equal service from another branch elsewhere. It also differs in that Specsavers own shares in the franchisee business rather than just providing goods and services under a franchise agreement. In newer territories such as Sweden, Norway and Spain, they operate a normal franchise agreement

[edit] Relationship with Guernsey

The headquarters are based in Guernsey where the founding partners were resident when the company was formed.

Specsavers is the largest employer on the island of Guernsey, where it is headquartered, providing 500 jobs. Guernsey is a crown dependency of the UK and has substantially different company reporting standards to the mainland, greatly reducing information available on Specsavers operations and profitability.[11] Guernsey is considered a tax haven.

[edit] Business Strategy And Future

The Perkins have stated that they intend to maintain family control of the firm, which currently employs all three of their children in senior roles. Continued expansion into Europe is planned with the immediate aim of being the market dominating opticians in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. It is also intended that the company will become a leading supplier of hearing aids. The company has announced that it has a five-year plan to hit £1 billion turnover in 2009, following which the second generation of the Perkins family will take an increasing role. The Perkin's attribute their success to their franchise model (see "Structure" in this article) and the opportunities created by de-regulation of the UK Opticians market by the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980's, allowing them to use previously forbidden advertising and marketing techniques to rapidly take over a market that had belonged to independent local opticians. The Perkins have stated regarding the remaining local opticians that "their days are numbered", and in fact their major competition now comes from large chains such as Boots The Chemist and Vision Express.[12].

[edit] References

  1. ^ nicklouth.com
  2. ^ specsavers.co.uk - "Fact File"
  3. ^ specsavers.co.uk - Annual Report 2006
  4. ^ specsavers.co.uk - "Fact File"
  5. ^ The Newspaper Society - Specsavers Case Study, Sept. 2002
  6. ^ Retail Week Magazine
  7. ^ Brand Republic - "Top 100 Advertisers Spend Less on TV"
  8. ^ Reader's Digest Magazine
  9. ^ Guardian Unlimited - "The man who found specs appeal on the web"
  10. ^ The Independent
  11. ^ Times Online - "The Andrew Davidson Interview: Specsavers founder in the frame"
  12. ^ Times Online - "The Andrew Davidson Interview: Specsavers founder in the frame"

[edit] External links