January 2008
The New Year kicked off with the relaunched German optical exhibition Opti Munich reporting that it had attracted around 18,000 visitors at the show, down from the 35,000 who visited the previous year. Show organiser GMH had repositioned the event for the German speaking countries and reduced the number of halls from four to three. Meanwhile, optical practices from around the country reported that they had had a mixed trading period in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Some outperformed sales from the previous year, while for others business was sluggish, an Optician news poll revealed. At the end of the month, the sector received an unexpected boost when the Italian company behind recently appointed England manager Fabio Capello’s frames announced it was to launch its range in the UK after a surge in demand for the company’s eyewear. Zerorh+ said it had been planning to launch the eyewear in the UK but Capello’s new job had ‘catapulted things forward’.
February 2008
It emerged this month that wholesale retailer Costco could be forced to reconsider how it provides general ophthalmic services (GOS) after it lost an appeal against the refusal of its application to join the list of Milton Keynes PCT. The judgement at the Royal Courts of Justice found that in providing GOS, Costco would be in contravention of regulation 13A of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 in not being open to all individuals. Costco only allowed members, who pay a £25 annual fee, and their guests to shop at its premises. On a positive note, a change in regulations by the Department of Health allowing businesses owned by dispensing opticians and lay people to be able to contract with Primary Care Trusts to provide NHS sight tests was welcomed by ABDO. Prior to this change, practices owned by DOs or lay people that were not registered with the GOC as corporate bodies had to work through a ‘grandfather’ who is listed with the PCT as the contractor.
March 2008
As part of its strategy to gain market share from competitors, Tesco embarked on a promotional campaign claiming its prices for prescription frames and glazing were the lowest on the market. The supermarket giant said that its starting price of £20 for complete spectacles far undercut that of its rivals and scratch-resistant coating was included in the price. Meanwhile, it was announced that legislation that requires all optometrists and dispensing opticians to register with a new public body in order to protect children and vulnerable adults would be phased in the autumn. Under the scheme, anyone working with vulnerable groups must be registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). The ISA would enable information to be shared between employers, local PCTs and the police about their registrant’s cautions, investigations and criminal convictions. Optical employers would be required by law to check that their staff are registered with the scheme.
April 2008
The UK’s first ever Vision Strategy which aimed to unify all bodies involved in a patient’s sight loss journey and promote the importance of regular eye tests was published this month at a conference in London. This long-awaited strategy had a remit to establish a unified framework for action on all issues relating to vision across the UK. Goals for improving the co-ordination, integration, reach and effectiveness of eye health services were set out in the document, as well as improving the diagnosis of eye health conditions and early intervention. On the licensing front, Luxottica Group and Stella McCartney Limited announced a six-year exclusive licence agreement for the design, production and global distribution of sunglasses under the brand Stella McCartney from January 2009. Stella McCartney Limited - a joint venture between Stella McCartney and Gucci Group - switched to Luxottica from rivals Safilo, which makes all of Gucci Group’s other brands. Meanwhile, Black & Lizars, the largest independent optical group in Scotland, set its sights on expanding throughout the UK after its acquisition by a European investment consortium for a sum believed to be around £20m.
May 2008
Inaccurate use of prescriptions, poor fitting frames and poor customer service were some of the pitfalls highlighted to consumers following a Daily Mail (May 20) trial of buying spectacles on the web. The investigation was undertaken by reporter Vincent Graff who charted his experience of buying spectacles from five online sellers. These were then shown to three industry experts for expert assessment. On the continuing education front, members of the Association of Optometrists Ireland (AOI) voted in favour of compulsory continuous education with the first rolling cycle to start in August 2008. The announcement followed after the Council put forward a motion to allow for the introduction of compulsory CPD as a condition of membership of the AOI. Meanwhile, legal arguments commenced at Hendon Magistrates Court in a General Optical Council prosecution over the alleged sale of contact lenses without supervision. Vision Direct UK of Ballards Lane, Finchley, London faced six summonses brought under Section 27 of the Opticians Act.
June 2008
There was good news for practitioners after local independent optical practices outperformed some of the leading optical chains in the 2008 Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey. The survey was carried out across 16 European countries with nearly 300,000 votes cast in 38 product categories. Over 2,000 votes were cast in the UK optical category. Mid-month leading lens supplier Essilor announced that it had signed a share purchase agreement to acquire the shares of Satisloh, the world’s biggest optical solution and prescription laboratory equipment manufacturer, from its parent company, Schweiter Technologies. Meanwhile, the European Sunglass Association said it was researching the effects of ultraviolet radiation on the human eye and taking the findings to Brussels in an attempt to secure European Union research funding. Also this month, the Department of Health came under fire for the lack of official data available on the provision of vision screening of school children and initiatives to encourage early detection of eye problems in young people.
July 2008
Expansion was the theme for Specsavers in July which saw the company launch its eyewear collection online. The new online sales portal was incorporated within its existing website (www.specsavers.co.uk) and the service was flagged up as ‘buying glasses online in 6 simple steps’. The site also boasted that over 1,000 frames were available to customers to choose from and that prices started from as little £25. Also this month, in response to a written question from Optician, the Department of Health ruled out investing additional resources to launch a national campaign to promote the importance of regular sight tests, despite several surveys revealing a severe lack of awareness about eye health among the UK population. Meanwhile, two new studies published during July concluded that the risk of eye disease associated with internet/mail order purchase of contact lenses was nearly five times higher than when lenses were brought from an optometrist.
August 2008
The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations added its voice to calls from the European Sunglass Association’s for the Department for Children, Schools and Families to make the use of sunglasses compulsory in schools. Margaret Morrissey, spokesperson for the charity which represents 13,000 PTAs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, told Optician that a collective effort necessary to ensure that the government understood that the issue of compulsory sunglasses in schools needed to be looked at seriously. Meanwhile, supermarket giant Tesco launched its online eyewear collection offering customers prescription spectacles from £15 which the company claimed was the lowest price on the market for dispensed glasses. At launch the online service, only offered single-vision spectacles and enabled customers to book an in-store eye examination for just £10. The news followed the launch of online eyewear collections by Boots Opticians and Specsavers weeks earlier. On the acquisition front, Vision Service Plan announced it had acquired eyewear manufacturer/distributor Marchon for $735m, creating a combined optical company with projected revenues for this year of $3.3bn.
September 2008
The GOC announced that it had formally made the rules required to implement the civil standard of proof in fitness to practise hearings, following the conclusion of a consultation on the proposed amendments. Online contact lenses supplier Vision Direct was back in the headlines after it took a defiant approach on the subject of online sales by insisting it is the customer’s responsibility to use lenses properly just days after being fined around £60,000 for illegal sales of contact lenses. Contributing to an article published in the Daily Express newspaper, entitled ‘Don’t risk your sight for an online bargain’, the company’s UK managing director, Stefan Rygaard, said: ‘We do make checks but ultimately it’s not a nanny state and it’s the customer’s responsibility to use lenses property’. Meanwhile, Optician learnt that hospital-run optometry practices in England could no longer offer NHS sight tests because the new GOS contract, which came into force on August 1 2008, stated that primary care providers were not allowed to contract with secondary care providers.
October 2008
There was welcome news that dispensing opticians may in future be able to order wholesale supplies of prescription only medicines under proposals being consulted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the General Optical Council. Meanwhile, the launch of a new benefit called Employment and Support Allowance, which entitled the receiver to NHS-funded sight tests and optical vouchers, was announced. The reform was part of a number of changes made to the new General Ophthalmic Services contract, which came into force in August 1 2008. Also, this month, practitioners were urged to use the newly launched National Eye Health Epidemiological Model to persuade commissioners to put together realistic budgets to tackle the four common eye conditions - glaucoma, cataract, age-related macular degeneration and low vision. Funded by practitioners, through their contributions to the local optical committee central fund, the data is based on epidemiological and population studies, and split by age, gender and geographical or primary care trust area.
November 2008
There was some good news for independents after a news study commissioned by the Newspaper Society revealed that opticians were one of the least likely retail categories on the high streets to suffer a decline in sales caused by the economic downturn. Meanwhile, visitor attendance at the 42nd annual Silmo optical exhibition in Paris remained steady despite tough market conditions and the non-attendance of regular exhibitors such as Safilo. Of a total of 42,234 visitors, a decrease of 435 on the previous year, 52 per cent were from outside France. Mid-month, eye care practitioners were urged by two leading bodies to warn their patients with macular degeneration that there is a risk of them developing Charles Bonnet Syndrome (visual hallucinations). According to new research findings published by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and The Macular Disease Society this month, as many as 60 per cent of patients with severe vision loss will develop visual hallucinations. On the frames front, Italian eyewear maker Safilo and Gucci have announced the extension of licence agreements for the production and distribution of high end designer brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen optical and sunglass collections.
December 2008
There was the go-ahead for a £50 hike in GOC registration fees up by nearly a third to £219 for individual registration for next year along with financial penalties for registrants who miss retention deadlines. In response the optical bodies urged the Council to allow registrants to stagger payments. The Brulimar Group has reported a record 40 per cent jump in sales of its non-branded eyewear collections, citing the trend towards consumers opting for generic frames in the current economic climate. According to the company, sales of its Carousel and Top Secret ranges for adults and children have grown 40 per cent in the last six months with current sales across these two collections averaging 75,000 frames per month. Meanwhile, Vision Express confirmed it had shut six of the 75 Bateman practices it acquired in May. The company said the closures were necessary as part of its overall programme to strengthen the business and to rebrand the Batemans stores as Vision Express UK.