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Thread: What is in the Future for the Canadian and USA Optical Retail business ????????????

  1. #1
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    Blue Jumper What is in the Future for the Canadian and USA Optical Retail business ????????????

    With the acceptance of the European Council, to let the two worlds largest optical corporations, in the optical lens and frame manufacturing merge into one company, the last hurdle to block it has evaporated.

    Both corporations have worked hard over the last many years for total control of the optical eyeglass sector on a worldwide basis, through takeovers and acquiring other manufacturers around the globe, as well as expanding into the eyeglass retail field.

    With the big merger now going to be a fact, all optical professionals will have to be seriously thinking what is going to happen in the near future to the optical retail sector, and at what speed.

    Both corporations are actually very active to already own and operate a good part of online and retail opticals, as opticians and optometrists.

    The most visible retail area of corporate takeovers, are the oil companies.

    Your small service garages with a couple of gas pumps around the block, are gone from coast to coast, and have been replaced by corporation owned service stations.


    .........we will have to seriously think about it.


    What are your comments now.............................

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Ryser View Post
    With the acceptance of the European Council, to let the two worlds largest optical corporations, in the optical lens and frame manufacturing merge into one company, the last hurdle to block it has evaporated.

    Both corporations have worked hard over the last many years for total control of the optical eyeglass sector on a worldwide basis, through takeovers and acquiring other manufacturers around the globe, as well as expanding into the eyeglass retail field.

    With the big merger now going to be a fact, all optical professionals will have to be seriously thinking what is going to happen in the near future to the optical retail sector, and at what speed.

    Both corporations are actually very active to already own and operate a good part of online and retail opticals, as opticians and optometrists.

    The most visible retail area of corporate takeovers, are the oil companies.

    Your small service garages with a couple of gas pumps around the block, are gone from coast to coast, and have been replaced by corporation owned service stations.


    .........we will have to seriously think about it.


    What are your comments now.............................
    Their plan of global vertical integration is now official. There are two sides of the coin...they are a behemoth and will conquer the world no doubt. They cannot be defeated and will continue to grow, with or without the traditional ECP avenues.

    Traditional is now dead - no such thing anymore. They pave their own in-roads to achieve their forecasts. It's all about who is the most aggressive and prepared for the future - and certainly isn't the little guys. They have vision and money, boat loads of it.

    They will most definitely hold the power and advantage - they are the bank so money isn't an issue for consumer advertising. They may someday dislodge Budweiser from their Super Bowl slot. Their brand power such as Ray-Ban is one of the most recognized brands globally. If they ever block the sale of those brands to the ECP, say buh-bye to most little guys.

    IMHO, with the acquisition moving forward, I would expect there also will be some casualties due to their synergies, especially in sales reps. Lens reps are more technically trained, frame reps are just case flippers. Perhaps lens reps will now carry the frame bags also???

    Their will be huge overlap also in management so it will be interesting what cuts are made there to save on payroll dollars. I would expect a rash of acquisitions for smaller companies including wholesalers and retailers to help strengthen their mission while diminishing competition. Some of the best talent out there comes from small business owners and large corporations love to tap into that.

    As for the little guys, the only benefits you have is you can turn your business model on a dime and change quickly to adapt - large companies are unable to alter their course quickly. And, the little guy can establish their own brand and provide a level of service that large corporations can never match.

    I think I'm ready for retirement......

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    Redhot Jumper Be ready to counter that proposition..................................

    Quote Originally Posted by [COLOR=#3E3E3E
    Lab Insight[/COLOR]]

    As for the little guys, the only benefits you have is you can turn your business model on a dime and change quickly to adapt - large companies are unable to alter their course quickly. And, the little guy can establish their own brand and provide a level of service that large corporations can never match.

    ............a perfectly fitting opinion.


    The days of the conventional markup made by retail opticians forever, will soon have official competition by the 21 of the largest online opticals that will be merged into the deal.

    Be ready to counter that proposition.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Ryser View Post
    ............a perfectly fitting opinion.


    The days of the conventional markup made by retail opticians forever, will soon have official competition by the 21 of the largest online opticals that will be merged into the deal.

    Be ready to counter that proposition.
    Question is....are the little guys prepared or willing to operate without those brands from those companies? I don't want to say the 'b' word here or the thread will get shut down.

    So far, I've yet to meet one that has taken their spend somewhere else.

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    Redhot Jumper Even if I am to repeat myself ...........................

    Even if I am to repeat myself, a possible solution will be for individual opticians to be better craftsmen than big box employees, and be able to make a good profit on service charges and not on a resale of the laboratory charges.

    This should be practised already now with online purchased glasses that come straight out of production and are not fitted to the patients head.

    With LensCrafters closing down their on site labs the trend will probably be something like that,

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    Redhot Jumper So far, I've yet to meet one that has taken their spend somewhere else...............

    Quote Originally Posted by Lab Insight View Post

    So far, I've yet to meet one that has taken their spend somewhere else.

    .........the somewhere else are disappearing one by one.

    On my optical website listing there are over 140 websites that are no more active over the last 10 years, since I have taken count of.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Ryser View Post
    .........the somewhere else are disappearing one by one.

    On my optical website listing there are over 140 websites that are no more active over the last 10 years, since I have taken count of.
    And the process of diminishment shall continue, either through acquisition or being run out.

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    Blue Jumper Just got the Del Vecchio statement ...................................

    in Italian and did translation on Google........................

    "We are waiting forthe green light from Chinaand then it is done, if it arrives by March, the merger will be operationalfrom May". Leonardo Del Vecchio, the day after the approval of theAmerican and European antitrust authorities to the Italo-French integration betweenLuxottica and Essilor, is visibly satisfied. Even if the procedure was long,the bet is finally winning, and the union ofthe two groups can open interesting growth spaces. "We have to gain marketshare, then synergies will come. In the last year we have pushed a little lesson growth to favor profitability ", explains the founder of the Agordogroup, which in 2017 managed to cut the milestone of one billion profit (1,038million, plus 24.7%) with a turnover approaching the 10 billion mark (9.157billion, up 2.2%). The French, for their part, have scored less dramatic butstill positive numbers and financial analysts expect that the unionof the two groups will succeed in generating synergies for 600-800 million overa period of 10 years, rationalizing production and services in markets wherepresence is
    double. The Luxottica-Essilor group will invoice approximately 16.6 billion with a market capitalization that will reach almost 50 billion, 140 thousand employees and sales in 150 countries.

    Read also: "Speaks Del Vecchio: In France I will be decisive with 31%. And society is not scalable "

    Del Vecchio has also silenced those who announced the transaction, more than a year ago, at the umpteenth sale of an Italian company to the cousins ​​of the Alps. Instead the opposite happened. The first shareholder of the holding company that will control the two operating companies, Luxottica and Essilor, is in fact Delfin of the Del Vecchio family with 31.4% of the shares, at a safe distance from the second shareholder, a core of employees, with 4%. And governance also ensures Italian control of operations. "I am president of the holding with all the powers - he explains - and I have a power of veto, without my consent in the company nothing is done. To put the Delfin in a minority, which will have 31.4% of the shares, it will take double, that is, 62.8% that should intervene compactly in the assembly, but I do not think that will ever happen ". To counterbalance the powers of the Italians is Hubert Sagnières, the current managing director of Essilor, who will be executive vice president in the holding.

    The only concession to the French is the headquarters of the holding company, which is based in Paris, a capital where Del Vecchio is at home with important property investments in the portfolio through the Foncière des Régions, which merged with Beni Stabili. A well-tested integration model that Del Vecchio is replicating in the eyewear business, where Luxottica stands out in eyeglass frames while Essilor is a leader in lenses.
    Del Vecchio on the threshold of 83 years has not intended to give up the blow and is not absolutely regretted having taken over the reins of his company, in September 2014, after a decade in which he left room for managers led by Andrea Guerra. Since he returned, in addition to Guerra, the company has left the company first Enrico Cavatorta, then Adil Mehboob-Kahn who had arrived with all the good promises from Procter & Gamble but lasted only a year, and finally also Massimo Vian, who had taken in the hand the whole operative part. The only one who grew up inside Luxottica is Francesco.

    tax measures.
    "Yes it is true, Italy has a high debt even if we are used to having it at high levels and then we have to compare it with the assets that are just as high". Already from today, with the electoral result obtained, we will understand a little bit more about the future of Italy, if it manages to ride the train of the global recovery or if it will enter an institutional stalemate that will eventually damage the economy. But from the headquarters of Paris Del Vecchio is ready for a new ride.








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    So how quickly does everyone think this is going to impact smaller opticals and labs? The scary question - how much worse can it get?

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    Redhot Jumper The scary question - how much worse can it get? ..................................

    Quote Originally Posted by Trina View Post

    So how quickly does everyone think this is going to impact smaller opticals and labs? The scary question - how much worse can it get?

    Essilux will storm ahead with their plans of total domination of the optical market from manufacturing to optical laboratory control and the retail market.

    They already have a basic stock of over 5,000 optical retail stores with different chains in the USA and Asia. And lots more will be added.

    The consumer will side with them because of their lower retail pricing and being a master in supplying top quality products.

    The non digital population that has reached old age and is slowly leaving this world is replaced by cell phone swingers that have everything they need to know at their fingertips.

    The genuine wealthy consumers will still prefer the established retail opticians because of the highly personalized quality service, for which they will have to charge instead of putting it on the selling price out front, as has been the way to do it forever.

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    Redhot Jumper

    ESSILOR CONFIRMS NAME CHANGE

    Essilor will be renamed EssilorLuxottica once the Luxottica merger has been completed
    13 Oct 2017 by Andrew McClean

    Essilor has confirmed that it will be renamed EssilorLuxottica as part of the reorganisation of the company ahead of completion of the £40 billion (€46bn) merger with Luxottica.

    The company has initiated a hive-down of its activities that it expects to complete by the end of 2017.

    A hive-down is a form of reorganisation of a company, whereby a business or businesses are transferred to a subsidiary.

    See all of it:
    https://www.aop.org.uk/ot/industry/e...ms-name-change


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    Quote Originally Posted by Trina View Post
    So how quickly does everyone think this is going to impact smaller opticals and labs? The scary question - how much worse can it get?
    That depends on how people like you will support the smaller businesses. If independents don't start collaborating, they will soon be extinct and then everyone will pay more for everything.

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    The future is in the hands of the consumer.

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    I think that this merger gives things like "genuine Ray Ban lenses". I think this will have a modicum of appeal to, say, whomever fills today's "millenial" niche.

    Lens branding like Transitions, Varilux, and Crizal are going to continue to appeal to the older patients.

    I think their marketing will do everyone a lot of good.

    What I want to see, though, is protection against this big company squeezing out independent labs, frame companies, lens manufacturers. We need choice. I think that's the government's role, so expect Essilux to push the limits and get a smackdown at some point.

    As to their retail locations, I can't see that being a whole lot more than it already is. Malls are passe. Strip malls with Chipotle-like opticals may have some market resonance, but again that only appeals to the younger crowd. They're as likely to see a gee-whillikers YouTube advert featuring Miley Cyrus and shop online.

    I think there's always going to be a medical model optical out there, and I'm sure essilux will try to give that "distribution channel" love. It's just that it's going to be so big as to be unworkable, unless they continue to up their logistical game. Websites crashing, backorders, and goofy labwork will drive independents elsewhere.

    "EyeMed" is organized as a "Luxottica Retail Brand"...http://www.luxottica.com/en/retail-brands. I have no idea how much future this holds. In the benefits to employers/pension plans/medicare extra plans "arena", I think it continues on.

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    I think the solution to the problem is same as it ever was.
    1. expertise
    2. service
    3. personalization
    4. relationship
    5. uniqueness/art

    Optical is an "experience".

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    Quote Originally Posted by drk View Post
    What I want to see, though, is protection against this big company squeezing out independent labs, frame companies, lens manufacturers. We need choice. I think that's the government's role, so expect Essilux to push the limits and get a smackdown at some point.
    Did they not just get the GREEN LIGHT to proceed and do exactly this? No collaborative entity in the entire world will have the authority to spank their bums, let alone give them a Jimmy Snuka Superfly smackdown.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lab Insight View Post
    Did they not just get the GREEN LIGHT to proceed and do exactly this? No collaborative entity in the entire world will have the authority to spank their bums, let alone give them a Jimmy Snuka Superfly smackdown.
    SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT SUPPLIERS ie. LABS, LENS/EQUIPMENT, FRAMES...

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    Redhot Jumper Support your independent suppliers .................................

    Quote Originally Posted by Don Gilman View Post

    SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT SUPPLIERS ie. LABS, LENS/EQUIPMENT, FRAMES...


    .........................that would have been the proper thing to do 10 years ago, when I already saw it coming.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lab Insight View Post
    Did they not just get the GREEN LIGHT to proceed and do exactly this? No collaborative entity in the entire world will have the authority to spank their bums, let alone give them a Jimmy Snuka Superfly smackdown.
    Yes. They are not a monopoly. Now.

    Are you going to harass me, now?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Ryser View Post
    .........................that would have been the proper thing to do 10 years ago, when I already saw it coming.
    Water under the bridge.........Lets start NOW.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Don Gilman View Post
    SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT SUPPLIERS ie. LABS, LENS/EQUIPMENT, FRAMES...
    I say that all the time.

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    Blue Jumper Water under the bridge........

    Quote Originally Posted by Don Gilman View Post

    Water under the bridge.........Lets start NOW.



    You are too late....................it has been displaced by avalanche country and your water under the bridge is now big amounts of snow and ice, waiting to bury everybody in the way.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Ryser View Post
    You are too late....................it has been displaced by avalanche country and your water under the bridge is now big amounts of snow and ice, waiting to bury everybody in the way.
    We are doomed

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    Quote Originally Posted by Don Gilman View Post
    We are doomed
    If independents don't start supporting independent vendors & suppliers, then yes that will be the end result.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lab Insight View Post
    If independents don't start supporting independent vendors & suppliers, then yes that will be the end result.
    Pi----ing in the wind

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