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Free-form has been around for a decade, so let's get out there and bring it to people and not sit on it, says Nick Browning, managing director of Shamir UK. And this is exactly what Browning has been attempting to do since taking over the top job at Shamir UK a little under a year ago.
But Shamir's entry to the UK market has not been without its setbacks. The Israeli lens maker - based on two kibbutzim in the Jewish homeland - has its history in semi-finished bifocal lenses. By the 1970s it had moved in to progressive lenses, and six years ago it introduced the Autograph free-form progressive. But although Shamir is well known in the international market, it is still building its profile in the UK. Its products were originally distributed through Taylor Lenses in the UK and were well regarded by independent labs but, says Browning, its profile with independent practices was low.
UK launch
'The decision was made to enter the UK in 2004 and to offer the full array of Shamir products. The vehicle that was identified for that was Cambridge Optical, an established supplier,' explains Browing. Cambridge had been a successful supplier of frames and lenses with labs around the country and big contracts with Boots Opticians. Events, however, were to change the situation drastically following the acquisition.
The Boots' business was lost, leaving Shamir with 'a fantastic infrastructure and great products, but no customers'.
'That was pretty scary,' notes Browning. 'Shamir thought it had purchased a going concern, it was really a start-up.'
The UK company also had little in the way of sales and marketing resources, so Shamir was faced with taking on Europe's biggest market with only a small amount of local knowledge. 'That's why not a lot happened for two years,' says Browning.
New shoes
Last year, crunch time arrived, and the company decided it had to do something in the UK, or cease to exist. That led to the appointment of Browning, and a concerted recruitment drive, which saw Shamir pick up sales and support staff from many of the established suppliers. A heavyweight marketing campaign was also launched.
While the loss of the Boots' business was a massive blow, Browning says it gave Shamir UK the opportunity to approach the market in a timely and strategic fashion. The chosen route was to major on free-form progressive products by demystifying the technology for patients and customers and - crucially - taking away the premium price tag.
'In the UK, because of the approach taken, penetration [of free-form lenses] is way below other comparable markets. We have had the opportunity to take a clean sheet approach to it,' says Browning.
By acting as a pioneer for free-form as a mainstream lens, Browning says the firm can grow, offering independents an important point of difference.
Around 40 per cent of progressives Shamir supplies are now free-form products and Browning believes that can touch 60 per cent this year. He suggests the established players have found handling the introduction of free-from more problematic because they have other products to protect, and they have educated opticians to sell free-form products at a premium price.
'They are using established patterns and those are hard to break,' he says. 'We see an opportunity for us to grow through acquisition of market share from our competitors by creating consumer demand through eye care practitioners. We can do this by using free-form technology to provide an upgrade at pretty much the same price as a traditional lens. We have removed the price barrier. We can do a price comparison with their current supplier, that overcomes the price suspicion. Typically, we can offer a 50 per cent saving over other free-form products.'
Changing misconceptions
Shamir has taken a number of routes to diminish the apprehension opticians have about free-form. One strategy involved the creation of an academy at its Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire head office, where dispensing staff are invited to hone their skills on its Perfect Progressives training course.
According to Browning, to fully understand the benefits of free-form practice, staff need to understand traditional products too.
'The primary challenge is to explain the surfacing process and how free-form cuts out some of those processes so there is a reduction in errors and how back surface optics improves vision,' he says.
The course is aimed at all practice staff involved in dispensing to presbyopes, and takes delegates through the history of progressive lenses, matching of designs to lifestyles, trouble-shooting and tips for achieving the perfect progressive dispense. Browning says optical professionals already understand many of these ideas but struggle to get them across to patients.
Selling the technology
Many of the new staff Shamir has recruited are DOs or have a background in retail optics, so they are able to help customers generate business at practice level. Another successful approach has been to get the product on to opticians' faces.
'We offer a wearer trial to the individual. It almost invariably works and it is a big part of our marketing budget,' says Browning. 'Opticians then reach a stage where they want to try them on a patient.'
At this point the Shamir sales team can move on to advising the optician how best to explain, and indeed sell, the technology to patients.
Browning is clearly proud of Shamir's success, but remains realistic about why he has been able to take this approach. 'We have such a small share of the market that to embark upon a free-form project was something we could do. If we were a big company that would be hard. At this stage we can be more competitive, flexible and aggressive. If a small group wants to do something with a lens we can do it because our cost base is low.'
So far Shamir has 650 active customers with about 100 labs providing 40 per cent of the business - and that is a mix Browning is happy with.
'One of the early mistakes Shamir made was to try to bypass the independent labs,' he says. He believes they have a key role to play in this technology if they make the investment in the equipment to produce free-form product.
'The beauty of free-form for labs is that all they need to do is change the software to produce a different design. Those lab businesses that do not invest in free-form will struggle.'
Browning believes the timing for Shamir has been good. The market is getting tighter by the day and is one in which independent practices need the point of difference that free-form provides.
Browning refers to a press report which predicted as little as 13 per cent of the optical market could be independent in nine years.
Patient retention
'If independents are going to survive they are going to have to do something that ensures patient retention,' he says. 'We are helped by the fact that all of the multiples are looking at free-form and how to roll it out.'
Once that happens Browning predicts that patients will be walking into practices and asking about free-form. 'We are saying to independents that they can be at the forefront of that. We are giving them the opportunity to steal a march.'
He also believes independents are ready to give small, more flexible suppliers a chance. 'Independent opticians like to think they have freedom and they like to try something new. If they try us and like us and we give them a new sales message we can retain their custom.'
And that independence is something Browning says Shamir also values. 'We will probably start working with some corporate businesses but it will never be allowed to dominate. We have been down that route before and it nearly brought the business to its knees.'