Red tape to retailing

There's a distinctly commercial feel looming as we approach the closing days of 2005 and begin to wonder what 2006 has in store for us.

The last 12 months have been dominated by legislative issues such as continuing education and training, the routes to registration, enhanced rights to prescribe therapeutic drugs, the Section 60 changes to the sale of contact lenses and the review of General Ophthalmic Services.

Naturally these are the topics a lot of practitioners, owners and employers have spent their time thinking about.

Many of the trends in the market such as competition from the internet, supermarkets and mail-order companies have also increased apace. optician's own salary survey (see the supplement with this week's issue) shows how far salaries have fallen in some areas and the changing demographics of the business.

This all heralds the changing business models optical practices are having to adopt.

There is no getting away from the fact that 2005 has been a tough year and businesses are steeling themselves for more of the same next year, but success will not be achieved through cost cutting and belt tightening.

Next year is the year that the independent sector needs to develop strategies for ways of charging for professional services and getting to grips with retailing. The multiple sector faces the questions of oversupply, differentiation and countering low-cost competitors. For the whole market there is the chronic missed opportunity of educating the public.

A concerted push is needed to instil in the public the notion that an optical practice is a place they visit regularly for an eye care MoT, whether they wear glasses or not.