Specsavers Annual Report 2012

Introduction
A very warm welcome to the 2011/12 Specsavers annual report.
Once again, we find ourselves reflecting on turbulent world
events that have taken place over the past year. The quakes in
Christchurch, New Zealand, the aftermath of the Queensland
floods in Australia and continuing financial turmoil across the
globe – a snapshot of events that have affected our people, our
communities and the Specsavers business.
But despite the challenges, we have a huge amount to be proud
of. Last year we continued to drive business growth across all
our markets. We are the number one optical retailer in six of
our 10 markets – the UK, ROI, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand,
and most recently in Australia where we assumed market
leadership in 2011. And we are now carrying out a sight test every second in our UK stores.
These facts are testament to the commitment of our people and their passion for Specsavers,
no matter what: Christchurch store staff getting to work against all odds to serve their
customers; a London store manager ringing customers in the wake of the UK riots to reassure
them that the store is still open for business; our people living by our values, always being
there for our customers and being prepared to go the extra mile. Stories such as these are
both humbling and hugely gratifying.
Though we could not predict just how successful Specsavers would be when we founded
it back in 1984, we believed firmly in the ingredients for its success: a business based
on partnership, combining local optical professionals with first-class business support services;
unfaltering customer focus to deliver the very best price, service, quality and choice; and an
unrelenting drive for results, keeping it simple, getting it done and delivering on our promises.
And, as Specsavers enters its 29th year of business, it is these ingredients that will continue to
set us apart and help us in our vision to passionately provide best value eyecare to everyone,
simply, clearly and consistently, exceeding customer expectations every time.
We hope you enjoy the report.
Doug Perkins
Chairman, Co-founder
and Joint Managing Director
Dame Mary Perkins
Co-founder
Our Vision To passionately provide best value eyecare to everyone, simply,
clearly and consistently, exceeding customer expectations every time.
Our Values Treat people as we would like to be treated ourselves.
Passionate about:
• Our customers – the lifeblood of our business
• Our people – supporting our staff to be the best they can be
• Partnership – at the heart of everything we do
• Communities – giving back to and working with our local communities
• Results – keep it simple, get it done, deliver on our promises
Contents
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Specsavers at a glance
Our Vision and Values
Customers
People
Partnership
Communities
Results
Conclusion
Contact details
Specsavers at a glance
2,000 +
30,000 +
12 million
290m+
Total number
of partners
Total number
of employees
Total number
of frames sold
Total number of
contact lenses sold
£
£1.7 billion
1,648
10.9%
240,000+
Total revenue 2011/12
Total number of optical
and hearing stores
% increase on
revenue 2010/11
Total number of hearing
screenings conducted
Number of stores at end of 2011/12
ROI *
23
108
112
Sweden
Norway
73
Denmark
77
6
92
Finland
53
optical
hearing
£946.5m
ROI
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Spain
Finland
£61.5m
£71.7m
£80.8m
£66.8m
£74.3m
£3.0m
£37.0m
Australia
New Zealand
£282.7m
£39.8m
*Hearcare services are also available in 375 of our UK optical stores,
19 of our ROI optical stores and 86 of our Dutch optical stores
2007
2006
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Total revenue end of 2011/12
UK
2008
ain s
Sp ver as
a
cs tic
pe Op
261
Australia
New Zealand
nd s
alaver ts
e
a
s
Z
w ecs tri
Ne Sp ome
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Op
a
ali rs
strave sts
u
A ecs etri
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ec t
Sp Op
9 42
Netherlands *
Spain
2008
669
124
UKrs
e
av ians
s
ec tic
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First store
UK *
We are the
world’s
largest
privately-owned
optical group,with
more than
1,600 stores
operating across 10 countries
04 / 05
Our Vision and Values
We must continue to innovate
and inspire to anticipate
changing customer demands
and stay ahead of the game
Richard Holmes
Group Marketing Director
The Specsavers culture is unlike any other. We are a family-run
group, entrepreneurial in spirit and dynamic in delivery, with
family values at the centre of the way we work.
Our values are much more than carefully-constructed words
on paper. They guide the way we work from day to day;
treating others as we would like to be treated ourselves;
a passion for our customers and our people; a passion for
the partnership and the local communities in which we work;
and a passion for keeping it simple and getting results.
Our unique culture leads to engaged employees, successful
partners and happy customers. How do we know this?
Through their own words.
There is a positive spirit, culture
and atmosphere in the company,
which inspires me every day to
do my very best on the job
Comment from Insight, our global
support staff survey
There is professionalism in all
areas, down to the smallest detail at
Specsavers – from the main office to
the frames. Specsavers understands
what it is all about so if the chance
comes your way – grab it!
Comment from one of our
store partners in Norway
The customer service at
Specsavers is second to none
Customer letter to the Specsavers
office in Melbourne, Australia
It’s thanks entirely to the
generosity of companies like
Specsavers that enables us
to provide more guide dogs
to those who need them
Guide Dogs for the Blind representative
on donations from our UK stores
It is truly great that a company
like Specsavers makes time for
us charities. You can say whatever
you want, but there’s nothing
commercial about this
Charity spokesperson on Market Days,
held in towns around the Netherlands
to help charities promote themselves
to the public
The staff gave me an outstanding
experience in the store, they were
incredibly service minded and very
aware of how I wanted my glasses to
look. They took the time to offer me
really good and thorough guidance
Top to bottom: staff from the
Netherlands, the UK, Denmark
and New Zealand
Email from a customer about our
Odense, Denmark store
It’s great to work for a company
that never stands still – and
that certainly keeps my job
interesting and varied!
Comment from Insight, our global
support staff survey
The experience I had in your
Top Ryde store recently is,
in my mind, the epitome of
excellent customer service
Customer letter to the Specsavers
office in Melbourne, Australia
It must be very difficult to
maintain the standards and levels
of focus achieved over the last
number of years, but the board
continues to do so. Well done.
I feel my business is in safe hands
Comment from UK partner survey
06 / 07
Passionate about customers
The lifeblood of our business
We are constantly
seeking ways to deliver
better value and service
to the customer in
all our markets
Derek Dyson
Group Retail Director
We remain committed to giving our customers
the absolute best in value and service. This has
never mattered more than it does in today’s tough
economic conditions and so we continue to raise
the bar for value and service ever higher.
Frames – the stars of the show
Value is not just about great prices. It is about
delivering outstanding quality and offering the latest
in fashion. Over the course of the year, we brought
our customers an even greater choice of frames at
every price point.
In the UK and ROI we launched the Timberland and
Karen Millen brands. The Karen Millen range later
launched in the Nordics along with the iconic Tiger
of Sweden brand. And in the Netherlands we added
to the very successful designer range Kassandra.
The Gok Wan range, which exceeded all sales
expectations in the UK and ROI, was launched
in Australia and New Zealand. Australia and New
Zealand also introduced a range from fashion
designer Alex Perry which, in its first week,
contributed to a 40% increase in like-for-like sales.
Technological advancements
Significant news for the year was the expansion
of our digital retinal photography service which
is now offered in our stores across the UK, the
Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. As the
only opticians worldwide to offer this vital health
check free to customers, the service clearly sets
us apart from the competition and underlines
our commitment to putting the customer first.
A number of new technologies have been
launched across our UK stores during the year.
The introduction of iPads has significantly cut
waiting times and allowed staff to serve customers
wherever they are in the store. New hearing
screeners nationwide enable us to offer a hearing
screen to all our over-60s customers. And a
virtual dispensing IT system helps store teams
demonstrate Specsavers’ lens products so that
customers can make a more informed decision
about their glasses; the system will be introduced
in stores across the globe in 2012.
In March we launched our online cost calculator
in the Netherlands – designed to help people work
out the cost of their glasses before visiting a store.
It has been a huge success, with 52% of people
finding prices to be lower than expected.
Specsavers made the top 10 in a
customer satisfaction survey of 154
Norwegian companies; the write-up
gave a special mention to Specsavers
Specsavers signed a deal with Danish
retail giant Dansk Supermarked to
open Louis Nielsen stores in their
Bilka hypermarket chain, bringing
our best value offer to hundreds of
thousands more people across the
country; six are open to date
Responding to our customers
MAZE, a customer research system which was already
live in our Nordic stores, was rolled out in the UK, ROI,
Australia and New Zealand. MAZE enables each store
to receive online feedback from its customers within
24 hours of their visit. Almost half a million of our
customers have responded through MAZE, with 85%
rated as ambassadors for the brand. The system will
be live in all our stores within the coming year, with
rollout in the Netherlands beginning in March 2012.
The insight from MAZE is incredibly important to us.
It is vital at the individual store level, where customer
feedback, good and bad, is discussed at the morning
team huddle. Any customers who have had a lessthan-perfect experience are followed up, helping to
build closer relationships between the store and its
customers. It is also crucial at the national level, giving
us an intimate understanding of what matters to our
customers, helping us to develop our retail offer and
come up with new initiatives to help customers, and
driving our annual plan.
Specsavers launched the
world’s
first
siliconE hydrogel
daily disposaBlE contact lens,
enabling
customers
who have astigmatism
to wear lenses for longer
and with more comfort
Clockwise from top: using an iPad to
help customers at a UK store, dispensing
glasses at a Louis Nielson store and
testing eyes in one of our Spanish stores
08 / 09
Passionate about our people
Supporting our staff to be the best they can be
We recruit and retain the best
people and partners to keep our
unique Specsavers culture alive
Pauline Best
Group Human Resources Director
Our unique culture is nothing without our people. And
in an increasingly competitive market, it is vital that we
recruit the best people and continually invest in their
development to keep driving the business forward;
high-performing, skilled and motivated teams who
are supported to be the best they can be.
Almost nine out of ten support staff globally completed
our annual Insight survey, and our engagement score
was within a couple of points of the world’s highest
performing companies
A new dimension for learning
Our new online learning management system, Connect
Learning, was introduced last year to provide stores with
a ‘one-stop shop’ for retail, management and laboratory
training. The system is available in the UK, ROI, Australia
and New Zealand and is to be introduced into our other
markets in the coming year. Connect Learning gets up to
11,500 hits each month and feedback has been fantastic
with one partner in Australia commenting – ‘This system
has blown me away; it’s miles ahead of the competition
and so easy to use.’
Developments across our markets
In the UK, more than 650 store managers attended our
management seminar in Birmingham, making it the
largest yet. The partner seminar in November, with
retail consultant Mary Portas as guest speaker, had over
1,000 delegates. And to ensure we continue to be the
UK’s largest employer of opticians, we joined Careers in
Optics, a working group which runs workshops in schools
and sixth form colleges to attract the next generation of
eyecare professionals.
In the Netherlands, we continue to champion
professionalism in an industry that remains unregulated.
Working closely with Dutch colleges, we now offer an
official MBO qualification for all in-store roles from
opticians and audiologists to contact lens specialists, sales
specialists and lab managers. Currently there are well over
100 people undertaking a qualification of this kind. And
the Specsavers Superclass initiative, based on the concept
behind Jamie Oliver’s 15 restaurant in the UK, saw 16
unemployed people graduate from a government-funded
two-year optical course and welcomed a new intake of 26.
We continued to develop a training toolbox for the Nordics
with the introduction of a number of global workshops
alongside the core career development programme.
An in-store training programme was introduced and
management development programmes in three of our
four markets have had some great results with further
activity planned for the coming year.
In Australia, we completed a thorough review of our core
development programmes to ensure staff have a clear
learning and development journey from induction through
foundation and intermediate to advanced courses.
Connect Learning, our new online
learning management system,
gets up to 11,500 hits each month
Investing in our support staff
We introduced a new globally-consistent
corporate induction in our support offices to
give new starters the best possible introduction
to Specsavers. We also continued to develop
the Specsavers Academy which offers a range
of programmes from more formal training to
learning through experience. And the performance
review process, launched last year, ensures that
employees have regular one-to-one meetings with
their managers, are clear on their roles and are
offered the right opportunities to learn and grow
at Specsavers.
Clockwise from left: partners of our Mallorca store, Mary Portas, guest speaker at our UK partner
seminar, a member of the Dutch retail training team and Connect Learning promotional graphic
Our global leadership programme continued
with the fourth annual leadership conference
in February as well as the third module of the
Leadership Journey, a two-day event focusing
on customer service. The people review was
introduced in all offices to ensure we make
the most of our people and facilitate career
development at Specsavers.
To bring us closer together and improve
communication, we are rolling out Connect,
our global intranet, to all offices and stores. The
first phase of the rollout is complete, and work
is underway to make it live in all our stores and
offices globally in the coming year.
Throughout the year we organise a number of
social events for our staff and their families from
black-tie evenings to family fun days. These events
are a way of saying thank you for the hard work
and commitment of our employees and reflect a
culture based firmly on family values.
10 / 11
Passionate about partnership
At the heart of everything we do
The partnership is central to our success story
and remains our top priority – supporting our
partners to deliver best value, through their
teams, to every single customer
Paul Fussey
Chief Financial Officer
The Specsavers partnership is the secret of our success.
It is based on mutual trust and understanding, on clear
strategic direction and excellent business support,
and on making sure that our partners are equipped to
provide the best levels of professionalism and service
to our customers.
Without the partnership, we would not be the business
that we are today - the world’s largest privately-owned
optical group, working with more than 2,000 partners
across ten countries.
Partner involvement
We hold a range of regular regional meetings, forums,
user groups and seminars across all markets and
carry out regular partner perception surveys, allowing
partners to share their thoughts on the business and
actively contribute to its development. Continuing
partner involvement ensures that we remain close to
customer needs and can react quickly to changes in
the market, and helps inform and shape our plans and
strategy for the future.
Clinical professionalism remains a key part of the
Specsavers partnership. In October we held the
biggest annual one-day clinical conference to date in
Birmingham which included hearing as well as optical
professionals for the first time and welcomed more
than 1,300 delegates from the UK, ROI and
continental Europe.
We also held an inaugural clinical conference in Finland
in May where more than 100 Specsavers qualified
and trainee practitioners gathered for the day to hear
lectures from leading academics and specialists and
to network with fellow professionals.
Developing leaders
Spotlight, a personal development programme for
existing partners in the UK, continued last year with
594 partners completing it to date. The two-day event
explores how strong leadership skills can influence
the business for the better, particularly in the current
challenging economic environment. As well as senior
management from our UK support offices, partners
from Australia, the Nordics and the Netherlands have
also taken part in the programme and plans are in
place to roll it out to these markets.
One of our biggest priorities is to help partners to focus
on what they do best – providing a professional eyecare
or hearing service to their customers. Our training
programmes develop store staff to take on as much
of the customer store experience as they can, allowing
the optometrist and the audiologist to concentrate on
giving an eye or hearing test that is second to none.
We have also continued to focus on bringing the
partnership to life in our support offices to ensure
the very best support for our partners. Our global
leadership conference mirrored the theme of the
partner seminar, ‘Partnership - our future together’.
Five store partners from across the Specsavers world
joined the two-day event to offer their own insights
on the partnership.
And, following the launch of our Partnership Charter in
the UK, we have focused on ensuring that every single
Specsavers employee, whether in a store or an office,
understands the Charter and commits to it. As part of
this, all new starters in our support offices are now
required to spend a day working in a store as part of
their induction to experience the day-to-day running
of a store first-hand.
World-class
inspirational
leadership
makes us proud
to be able to
represent the brand
at store level
Quote from partner survey
Partners of the future
As we continue to open new stores across the
globe, our quest for experienced, dynamic
opticians to join our business continues. In the
UK, we launched our Partners in Development
programme which introduces outstanding
retailers from other industries to the world
of optics, setting them up with the skills and
knowledge they need to become a successful
Specsavers store partner.
This is a model that is now being rolled out
across the Nordics and Australia. And in the
summer of 2011, Doug and Dame Mary Perkins
boarded the Specsavers bus to tour UK cities
and spread the word about partnership
opportunities in Australia and New Zealand,
our fastest-growing markets.
Top: partner from the Netherlands and, below, partner from
New Zealand. Right: speaker at the Finnish clinical conference
12 / 13
Passionate about our communities
Giving back to and working with our local communities
We play an active part in all our local communities
and are committed to doing what we can to help.
Everyone who works for Specsavers, whether in
a store or an office, is encouraged to give back to
their community – to live a life that matters and
to make a difference.
4
We support national charities in all our markets
and locally our stores support a huge range of
good causes in their community such as hospices,
libraries, schools, sports teams and youth groups.
Specsavers is about more than just selling glasses,
hearing aids and contact lenses. It is about
changing lives – on our doorstep and further afield
– for the better.
Find out more about Specsavers’ community
involvement as well as our ethical and
environmental commitment in the Specsavers
Corporate Responsibility Report, available at
specsavers.co.uk
1
2
3
5
1 We enter into a five-year partnership with Action On Hearing Loss
(formerly the Royal Institute for the Deaf) in the UK and launch a joint
advertising campaign to break down the stigma attached to hearing loss
and an initiative to test one million people in 12 months
2 Stores raise over A$ 200,000 for the Fred Hollows Foundation across
Australia and New Zealand – enough money to restore the sight of
8,000 people
3 Our Contact centre in Nottingham spends a total of 10 days working
on local parks and gardens and a new policy, launched in November,
encourages all UK office staff to spend a day working with their
local community
4Dame Mary Perkins opens the Dame Mary Perkins Optometry
Training Centre in Zambia in September 2011 which was paid for
by funds raised by Specsavers UK stores. We provide eye tests and
recycled glasses to more than 6,000 people
6
5We sponsor the Helsinki half marathon in Finland with some of our
Finnish staff and partners taking part
6Our Dutch teams hand out discounted glasses and hearing aids to war
veterans on Veterans Day in the Netherlands and our Dutch charity
foundation (Stichting Specsavers Steunt) distribute over €250,000
to local good causes
7 Our Spanish stores form partnerships with local charities, including
donating over 5,000 pairs of glasses to people in developing countries
8We provide eye tests and recycled glasses to more than 6,000 in
Tanzania through our Danish mobile eyecare clinic – our Louis Nielsen
stores in Denmark collect more than 50,000 recycled glasses through
customer donations to help stock the clinic
7
8
14 / 15
Passionate about results
Keep it simple, get it done, deliver on our promises
Our growth is underpinned by shrewd
business development, an agile supply
chain and an unrelenting focus on quality,
price, service and fashion
Nigel Parker
Chief Commercial Officer
Specsavers continues to achieve great results in challenging market conditions. Fantastic sales figures, 55 new stores
opening worldwide, high levels of customer satisfaction, awards won, great media recognition; all results to be proud of.
Some highlights of the year:
• Our markets performing strongly, leading to
• One of our manufacturing and distribution
record sales weeks in the UK in February 2012,
enjoying the highest turnover in one day in
Louis Nielsen’s 34-year history and the highest
weekly sales figure in the Netherlands since
2008 when the recession first took hold
sites being approved by the British Standards
Institute to supply safety specs for corporate
accounts across Europe and the first to pass
the Carl Zeiss Vision three-star standard of
operational excellence – with flying colours
• Clocking up sales of a million pairs of specs since
• Receiving high praise for our retinal screening
we entered Finland in July 2007 and two million
in Sweden since 2004
• Opening a new state-of-the-art warehouse in
Hong Kong to strengthen our supply chain to
Australia and New Zealand
• Our manufacturing site in Hungary boosting
production 150% against the previous year and
a new coating facility in Kidderminster allowing
us to provide more UltraTough and UltraClear
lenses to stores
• Seeing more and more Spanish customers in
by respected Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf
• Opening our 700th UK and ROI store in Belfast,
Northern Ireland
• Our Danish call centre setting a new record
for answering more than 300,000 calls from
customers in the last year
• Continuing to be the number one high street
hearing provider to the UK’s NHS, managing
more than 20,000 patient journeys on
their behalf
our Spanish stores which previously mainly
appealed to expats – 48% of our Mallorca
customers are now Spanish
• Our in-house Creative department winning
• Maintaining our number one position in the
• Being voted the UK’s ‘Most Trusted’ optician
UK, ROI, Denmark, Norway and New Zealand,
and becoming the number one optical retailer
in Australia
eight national awards
brand by Reader’s Digest for the 11th year
in a row
Left: our Mallorca store, which opened its doors in July. Above: the Mayor of Belfast
joins partners of the Park Centre store to celebrate their first day of business as our
700th store in the UK and ROI
Maintaining our
number one
position
in the UK, ROI, Denmark, Norway and New Zealand,
and becoming the
number one
optical retailer
in Australia
16 / 17
Conclusion
When I stop and look back for a moment at the last 12 months
I realise what a year it has been.
Against a backdrop of tsunamis, earthquakes, riots and
revolutionary changes as well as financial turmoil, Specsavers
has continued to deliver a truly exceptional performance.
The ability to succeed in such adversity is all down to our green
blood – living by the values laid out in the pages of this report
and constantly striving for better.
During the next 12 months, ’better’ means continuing to deliver
best value, superb clinical professionalism, outstanding service
and a world-class range of frames to our customers. Continuing
to make sure we have the right systems in place to deliver on
these commitments. And, above all, continuing to develop our
green blood to drive business growth, hold true to our values
and secure our ongoing success.
Our commitment to ‘better’ never stops.
It promises to be another exciting and challenging year for
Specsavers in 2012/13. And, with the hard work and passion
of our people, it promises to be a successful one. I am looking
forward to seeing our green blood culture continue to thrive.
John Perkins
Joint Managing Director
18 / 19
Contact details
Guernsey
Specsavers Optical Group
La Villiaze
St Andrew’s
GY6 8YP
Southampton
Specsavers Optical Superstores
Forum 6
Solent Business Park
Hampshire
PO15 7PA
Nottingham
Specsavers Optical Superstores
Cirrus House
10 Experian Way
Nottingham
NG2 1EP
Tel (UK callers) 0845 2020 241
(International callers)
Tel +44 (0)207 1000 241
Netherlands
Specsavers International BV
Huizermaatweg 320-322
1276 LJ Huizen
Tel +31 (0)35 628 8311
Copenhagen support office
Stamholmen 153
4. sal
2650 Hvidovre
Denmark
Tel +45 (0)36 94 4594
Hong Kong
Unit 1701, 17/F Lu Plaza
No. 2 Wing Yip Street
Kwun Tong
Kowloon
Tel +852 (0) 3719 0000
Denmark
Louis Nielsen A/S
Indkildevej 2A
9210 Aalborg SØ
Tel +45 (0)70 13 0111
China
Specsavers Procurement
Asia Ltd
No. 2163 B/603
Wan Yuan Road
Shanghai
201103
Finland
Specsavers Finland Oy
Neilikkatie 17
01300 Vantaa
Tel +35 (0)810 218 4380
Norway
Specsavers Norway AS
Strandgata 19
0105 Oslo
Tel +47 (0)4830 9040
Sweden
Specsavers Sweden AB
Box 205
SE-401 23 Göteborg
Tel +46 (0)31 771 9800
Australia
Specsavers Pty Ltd
The G
520 Graham Street
Port Melbourne
Victoria 3207
Tel +61 (0)3 8645 0700
New Zealand
Specsavers New Zealand Ltd
Unit A, 26 Triton Drive
Mairangi Bay
Auckland 0632
Tel +64 (0)9 475 0250
Partnership opportunities with Specsavers
UK and ROI
Optical – David Markham
Tel +44 (0)845 2020 241/07776
225284
Netherlands
Optical and hearing
Robin Loke
Tel +31 (0)61 503 4086
Hearing – James Thompson
Tel +44 (0)845 2020 241/07766
498259
Australia and New Zealand
Raj Sundarjee
Tel +61 (0)424 135 485
Nordics
Karin Wikström
Tel +45 (0)2488 1503
Corporate opportunities with Specsavers
specsavers.com/careers
Spain
Jose Angel Moral-Tajadura
Tel +34 637 237 320
James West
Tel +44 (0)7879 430 844
For all other opportunities
please contact Matt Scott
Tel +44 (0)7765 243 107