Omen writes: Chalk and cheese

Chalk and cheese
Every week seems to bring yet another entrepreneurial scheme to divide the optical cake into even smaller slices presumably with the mistaken idea that there are vast profits to be made. The latest offering from that scourge of optics - Murray Wells of Glasses Direct notoriety - has a certain déjà vu about it.

Optical retail history contains the ashes of many ventures which were based on the supply of spectacles by unconventional means by professionals and unqualified alike. So far there is little evidence that patients or even customers are in the mood to change their habits en masse.

Murray Wells' proposal to have a flying squad of home measurers and fitters, otherwise known as 'Opticians-on-Call', for varifocals would seem to be an acceptance that you cannot dispense by remote control and that professional expertise is necessary. His intention to provide a second visit for those who require 'aftercare' shows that he still has much to learn about the need for the correct fitting of spectacles, particularly varifocals and how to use them.

Great play is made of a 'starting' price of £135 for this service comparing it to £300-400 in the high street. This is like comparing chalk and cheese and I have news for Murray Wells - there are already varifocals being sold in the high street for £135 or less - and they are properly fitted by professionals who will be around to provide back up on a regular basis.

His magnanimous gesture in extending the guarantee period from two to four weeks compares very unfavourably with the 90 days offered by leading lens manufacturers. All in all not a very attractive deal which registered practitioners would do well to steer clear of.

A new image?
Another brainwave about to hit the UK market is being imported from Australia, a national brand for independents. How the British will react to a system that already works well in Europe will be interesting. So far independents have preferred to retain their own identity but there is potential value in creating a national brand awareness. This would require substantial funding to match the impact of the chains. The question then is what the message should be.

Should independents follow the advice of Graham Hutchison and Archie Toppin and try to beat the multiples at their own game or emphasise the added benefits that they can offer. In other words make a virtue of independence, a phrase, which despite Hutchison's views, is far from meaningless.

Both accuse me of not understanding the problem but advance exactly the same solution as I have advocated. This is that independents should not try to play the chains at their own promotional games but to ensure that the public perception of independents is changed to emphasise the value of the service and products that they offer. The reality is that in many cases independents are cheaper than the chains and they offer a better service.