Good Ol Luxottica have done it again
I have been reading through your letters regarding Luxottica, and what they are doing to standard retail outlets.
In Australia, there is a great resentment to the Luxottica Group. Reasons being, no stock, items always on back order. Lack of customer service, no reps to show the product, no catalogues, nobody having answers to important questions, and no back up support. Really, Luxottica is just there to be an annoyance to us, the retailers who purchase and sell their product.
They believe that because Luxottica has the 'big name' brands, optom's will have to purchase their product, and they are right! To really survive, stores need to have these 'name' products to draw the crowds, I know I do.
At the moment they are going through a transition, where even their staff do not know what reps are carrying what brand. I had the experience of a few weeks ago ringing Luxottica and asking for my rep, I was the one who had to tell them that the rep they were telling me about had gone. If there is no communication within the company, how can there be with the retailers.
One of the worst areas is customer service. I think they have around about 6 people in customer service (Just going by the different names I hear) If you ring one person up, you get an answer, and you are guaranteed that if you ring again, you will definately get a different answer. The attitude of the majority of the staff is something to be desired as well. There is only two people that I know there that can give me the answers I want when I want, and how I want, they are the true Customer Service masters. If you ever ring up Luxottica Australia, I recommend you ask for Glen or Shaun, they are the ones who are always willing to help me with my woes.
I do not know what it is world wide, but I am definately sick of items going on back order for 2 - 4 weeks which generally spread over 2 - 3 months. If it is this amount of time, why not tell us. Then you ring, where is my back order? 'Oh that is a week away' A week later, where is my back order 'that will be a week away' Same story every week until you get the item.
At the moment they are using their silence regarding the suspected acquisition of OPSM as a scare tactic for Private optom's. It is saying to the optom's, we are going to buy OPSM and you better watch out, because if you do not sell this much, your gone.
SO it is a mad rush to buy Luxottica product to show the company that yes, we can sell your product, and look we can do it in quantity too!
The announcement of Sunglass Hut's purchase last year sent shock waves through our community and led us to uncertainty of whether we were going to be able to keep our sunglass accounts with Luxottica.
Now the unnofficial reports are that OPSM are about to be 'acquired' by Luxottica. In a mad bid to increase their 'attractiveness to offers' OPSM have been buying everything they can, Laubman + Pank, Eyewear Now etc. To get around the ACCC Luxottica's baby company (Sunglass Hut) purchased the OPSM specialised Sunglass stores. What is going to stop this happening with the rest. You ask anyone, they do not know. Once the acquisition went through, Luxottica would then have a majority chunk of the Australian eyecare market, no need to have us Optom's anymore, because they would have their own stores to look after. I see it now, Sunglass Hut have models before us 3 - 4 months before we can even look at it. I had one rep come and see me about the RayBan product late last year, I asked him about a particular style I saw in SGH, however, he said he had never seen it. 12 weeks later when I saw him again he had it, and had only just got it. They are obviously looking out for one thing and that is themselves. Forget us lonely optom's.
Now I have complained through this whole letter. But with all these complaints there are still a couple of people at Luxottica that do give a damn about us, and are there for us. As long as they are there, us retailers do have some hope to fight the corporate misguidance of one big company. In time it will be them who cannot do without us.
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