A survey of nearly 700 optical practices, conducted on www.opticianonline.net, looked at what lab customers consider to be the most important elements of supply and how happy they are with the service they get.
In the group surveyed, half use between three and five glazing labs to manufacture the products they dispense. Just one in 10 uses a single supplier and just three per cent have more than six glazing labs.
The vast majority of labs supply a full range of glazing services despite the fact that only 53 per cent of practices require them from the labs they use.
The important factors for practices are service, quoted by 94 per cent as very important, quality, said by 94 per cent to be very important and reliability, with 90 per cent saying this quality is very important.
Promotions were considered very important by just 5 per cent and price considered to be very important by a surprisingly low 37 per cent.
Despite the emphasis put on speed by many labs, only 56 per cent of practices considered speed to be very important. Face to face contact was also considered to be unimportant, with just 9 per cent thinking it very important. Labs were given a general thumbs up by practices on delivery of these three important traits. When given the options of excellent, very good, good, fair and poor, 47 per cent said their lab provided a very good service. Quality received a very good score of 46 per cent and reliability 41 per cent.
When it came to price, 36 per cent said their lab was very good and on speed 33 per cent said very good. Interestingly, optometrists appeared much less happy with the performance of their lab than other respondents within the practice.
Rimless glazing is an increasingly important area of business and a quarter thought their lab's service was excellent, 34 per cent very good and 26 per cent good. Practices were less positive about frame and lens packages with 10 per cent saying their lab was poor and 24 per cent ticking the 'don't know' box.
Regardless of how they feel about their manufacturing supplier, practices tend to keep the labs they use. Some 28 per cent said they had never changed their lab and 18 per cent only did so over five years ago. Just 7 per cent had changed in the last six months. Quality of work (22 per cent) and poor service (21 per cent) were the main reasons for changing labs, only 18 per cent quoted a change as price.
These results are mirrored in the results on practices considering a change. A high 78 per cent are not considering a change but a fifth are considering a change and 7 per cent definitely say they will change. The greatest proportions likely to change were among practices in the north, independents and practices with more than three labs.
Looking to the future it is the relentless rise of rimless (9 per cent), increases in volume (8 per cent) and the need for more reliability (8 per cent) that are the issues most practices expect in the next 12 months. Optometrists provided some of the most interesting results here with 38 per cent expecting a rise in rimless and 15 per cent quoting the need for more specialised work.
What they said:
DAVID BAKER, optometrist and partner of AA Baker Opticians, Middlesex: 'Quality, consistency and a point of contact for help and advice are the most important things when choosing a glazing lab, followed by price and reliable regular deliveries. Aside from our main lab we use two further labs to make the most of all-in glazing packages and special promotional offers.'
TAREQ MOUSTAFA, optometrist and partner of Seen Opticians, Manchester: 'We use two labs and the most important factors for us are good service followed by quality, price and promotions. Our glazing labs provide an excellent service and quality but could be a lot more reliable.'
GARY SWERNER, DO, Gary Swerner Opticians, London: 'Speed and efficiency are most important factors with glazing labs because our customers want good quality spectacles quickly.'
PHILIPPA BRAMLEY, DO, Bramley Pope Opticians, Bristol: 'Speed is the most important factor when choosing glazing labs because as an independent I have to compete with the multiples. I don't have the buying power of the multiples so it makes it close to impossible to compete and make a profit. Multiples have devalued spectacles so much that everyone seems to think they need to be cheap. Multiples do fall down where customers want something a bit different. Independents will work harder for what customers want and they appreciate they have to pay for that. We mainly glaze in-house but when we do go externally we look for good quality labs with good prices. Glazing lab promotions skim over the top of small independents because we don't buy in bulk. I've started using smaller local glazing labs which promise a better service. They can be more reliable and are prepared to work harder because they rely on smaller independents to fund them.'
JO NOCTOR, practice manager, Centre Vision, Northampton: 'We are part of Rodenstock Club so as members we get special discounts on glazing packages through two lab branches. Quality of workmanship is most important, followed by speed and efficiency to impress our patients. Not to be forgotten is customer service from our perspective. We are customers too and we deserve a good price and reliability. Face to face contact isn't essential although we make the most of Rodenstock roadshows and we have a good relationship with our Rodenstock representative. We have been using Rodenstock for over 11 years. We have a lot of faith in the lenses and the only way we'd leave is if prices went through the roof, the quality deteriorated or if the good promotional packages stopped.'