The Specsavers Partnership

Introduction

Partnership has been at the very heart of Specsavers since it was founded in 1984.

Though no one at that time could have predicted the success of Specsavers, there was a clear belief in what mattered: a business that would provide local practitioners with exceptional support services; sharp 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.

The Specsavers Partnership has flourished because roles are clearly defined. Specsavers provides support to each store by delivering world-class product via an agile supply chain, award-winning marketing, reliable IT systems and a wealth of training and development. This frees up store teams to focus on what matters most – providing the very best clinical care and service to customers.

In turn, store businesses prosper, as experienced and commercially minded individuals can profit from their own hard work.

Today Specsavers is the number one optical retailer in eight of our 10 markets and is driving business growth across the group despite tough economic times.

Our global success story continues. Contact us today to discuss how you can be part of it.

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4 Facts about the Specsavers Partnership

6 Partnership

8 World-class product

11 Championing professionalism

13 Partner communication and feedback

14 Passionate about people

16 An award-winning brand

18 Our success story

22 First-class business support

24 The joint venture partnership model

28 Joining the Partnership

Contents

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Specsavers is the world’s largest private optical retailer, selling a pair of glasses somewhere in the world every six seconds

Specsavers is the market leader in both Australia and New Zealand – with more consumers choosing to have their eyes tested and buy their prescription glasses and contact lenses from Specsavers than from anyone else (source: Roy Morgan Research)

In 2013/14 Specsavers in Australia and New Zealand recorded revenue growth of more than 10%

From a zero start in 2008, Specsavers in Australia and New Zealand recorded revenues of more than AUD 610m and NZD 90m respectively in 2013/14

Specsavers’ annual marketing budget in Australia is more than AUD 35m – in 2006 the combined marketing spend of the entire optical industry was just AUD 6m

Specsavers has won a range of awards in Australia in the past two years – including Australian Retailer of the Year, Franchisor of the Year, Retail Employer of the Year, Multichannel Retailer of the Year and Retail Innovator of the Year

Specsavers’ Port Melbourne glazing lab dispatches more than 70,000 pairs of glasses each week to our Australian and New Zealand store networks – almost 4 million pairs each year

Specsavers Optometrists in Australia and New Zealand raised more than AUD 1m in 2013 and 2014 for eyecare charity The Fred Hollows Foundation – stores also give ongoing fund-raising support to local good causes and community groups

Facts about the Specsavers Partnership

Total revenue 2013/14

£

Total number of partners

Total number of employees

Total number of optical stores and hearing centres

% increase on revenue 2012/13

Total number of contact lenses sold 2013/14

Total number of hearing aids sold

* Hearing care services are also available in 586 of our UK optical stores, 30 of our ROI optical stores and 110 of our Dutch optical stores.

UK

ROI

Netherlands

Sweden

Norway

Denmark

Spain

Finland

Australia

New Zealand

Total revenue end of 2013/14

optical hearing

UK

ROI

Netherlands

Sweden

Norway

Denmark

Spain

Finland

Australia

New Zealand

*

*

*

Number of stores at end of 2013/14

1984

1990

1997

2004

2005

2005

2006

2007

2008

2008

UK

Specsavers

Opticians

ROI

Specsavers

Opticians

Netherlands

Specsavers

Opticiens

Sweden

Specsavers

Optik

Norway

Specsavers

Optikk

Denmark

Louis

Nielsen

Spain

Specsavers

Opticas

Finland

Specsavers

Optikko

Australia

Specsavers

Optometrists

New Zealand

Specsavers

Optometrists

Firs

t st

ore

Total number of frames sold 2013/14

£1,070m

£63.7m

£84.8m

£72.2m

£368.2m

£84.4m

£50.5m

£29.3m

£4.2m

£89.7m

112

74

77

8

47

292

53

46

692

118

138

10

44

2,700+ 30,000+ 15.4 million+

1.9 billion 1,711 7.8% 203,000+

380 million

Purchasing and distributionSpecsavers purchases millions of frames each year. This enables stores to obtain stock at very competitive prices, so they can profitably provide the value-for-money service for which Specsavers is renowned. Buyers travel worldwide, regularly updating the overall range of more than 1,500 frame styles. Our state-of-the-art warehouse uses sales information supplied electronically from the stores. This enables ranges tailored to each geographic market to reach stores at the right time.

Customer focusWe want Specsavers customers to be customers for life, which means building their trust and offering the very best in value – not just low prices but first-class quality, great service and exceptional care.

At the Specsavers Partnership, we are passionate about best value for everyone. There are now around 29 million registered customers worldwide – a fantastic endorsement of Specsavers’ retail offer.

Our ‘green blood’ cultureSpecsavers is an entrepreneurial business with partnership at the centre of the way we work. We are part of a fast-paced industry and, to stay ahead of the competition, we must anticipate challenges, act quickly and never become complacent.

The Partnership is based on trust, understanding and mutual respect, working together to achieve shared goals. Our values include treating people as we would like to be treated ourselves, passion for customers, the Partnership, the communities in which we operate and passion for results.

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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

‘Do everything you can to experience the Specsavers culture first-hand. Visit a store, talk to the partners, mystery shop if you like. Research your options, but do it now. The symbiosis of professional eyecare and retail excellence is brilliantly represented in the Specsavers model.’Chris Papatheodorou, Castle Hill store, New South Wales, Australia

The growth of Specsavers around the world is in large part down to the way the Partnership works.

Stability and growthThe Specsavers Partnership has seen increased revenue year after year. Specsavers’ core strategy of value for money and outstanding customer service has allowed us to continue to deliver revenue growth despite ever-fiercer competition and a turbulent global economy.

Standing still is not an option for us. To protect and build on our success, the Partnership remains vigilant about the competition and strives to continue to grow in all markets.

Business supportA variety of support services is on offer to partners to help them make their store a success. See pages 22 to 28 for more information.

Protecting partner profitsSpecsavers places a priority on maximising long-term store profitability and the value of each and every business. This means that, as one of the largest retailers in many of our markets, we are in a position to make significant cost savings in a number of critical areas (for example, product purchasing, marketing and property), which are passed on to our joint venture partners.

Partnership

Joint managing director John Perkins addressing more than 1,000 partners at the UK Partners Seminar – an annual partner seminar is run in each of our markets and constitutes the most important partner event of the year with strategic updates, rousing presentations and interactive

Our new business wear, designed with input from store teams and worn by store staff in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Nordics, Australia and New Zealand.

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‘Specsavers is the future of optics, in my view, and I was certain that the concept was going to be just as successful in Norway as in England. There is professionalism at all levels in Specsavers, right down to the smallest detail, from the head office to frames. Specsavers is a chain that knows what it is all about, so if you get the chance – take it.’Tore Syvertsen, Øvre Slottsgate store, Norway

Delivering more choiceDeciding which designer frames to offer in which market is a collaborative process between our global buying team and local product managers, with input from partners through our frame user groups.

The Specsavers Partnership offers customers in all markets an exclusive range of well-known designer brands including Replay, Karen Millen and Quiksilver. We also stock a selection of locally-relevant brands such as Gok Wan and John Rocha in the UK, Bruuns Bazaar and Tiger of Sweden in the Nordics, Collette Dinnigan and Alex Perry in Australia, and Spijkers en Spijkers and Francisco van Benthum in the Netherlands. And we offer a number of kids’ brands, depending on the market, including Disney Princess, Star Wars, Moshi Monsters, Lego and The Gruffalo.

We invest heavily in our own-brand range of frames. Offering value for money at a range of prices, the Specsavers range includes frames for men, women and kids and comes in a variety of colourways, styles and sizes. Our buyers attend major optical fairs, conduct research and draw inspiration from the very latest fashion trends to ensure the range stays fresh, exciting and relevant. The sheer scale of our business allows us to offer more than 1,500 frame styles to our stores globally, with new stock typically arriving every six to eight weeks.

In 2013/14 the Specsavers Partnership sold around 380 million contact lenses. Continuing investment in contact lens technology ensures the latest products are launched as early as possible. Since Specsavers introduced the world’s first range of silicone hydrogel contact lenses in 2011, they have proved so popular they now account for more than 75% of the Group’s monthly lenses sales. Our own contact lens brand, easyvision, is the most known on the UK high street, with good brand awareness in our other markets.

World-class product

Daily disposable easyvision magic, the world’s flattest contact lens, which launched in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordics in 2013.

Exclusive brands available globally

Championing professionalism

Lab staff checking quality at one of our manufacturing and distribution

sites in Kidderminster, UK.

The Specsavers supply chainTo meet the ever-evolving needs of stores, the Specsavers Partnership has developed a robust supply chain by investing with partners in a variety of manufacturing and distribution sites.

These sites provide a dedicated service to meet the ophthalmic lens requirements of Specsavers stores. Surfacing laboratories are equipped to a high specification to supply Specsavers stores with quality surfaced PENTAX lenses at competitive prices. Prescription lenses can be treated in-house using the latest technology. Barcoding and computerised chasing systems contribute to high service levels.

The geographical spread of the supply chain, which includes some of the largest manufacturing and distribution sites in Europe and Asia Pacific, allows the Group to supply product to stores across our markets quickly, reliably and competitively. All our established sites are now accredited with the Carl Zeiss Vision three-star standard of operational excellence – an unparalleled result in the industry. And our rigorous quality and service-level guarantees continue to ensure outstanding service to our stores, with less than 0.2% of glasses now being returned to our sites due to error or failure of quality.

Our hearing aid suppliers are approved to ISO 9001, with all products CE-marked and guaranteed for seven years from the time of manufacture.

Assuring the highest standardsWe make no compromises on the safety of our product. Specsavers’ quality assurance team, based in Hong Kong, works closely with manufacturers to ensure quality and safety standards are met at every stage of frame development. To see this through to completion, every one of our frames is hand finished to exacting standards.

Specsavers’ buying team works with leading optical manufacturers across Europe, Asia and North America to source, design and develop the Group’s frame ranges. Many of these suppliers have worked with Specsavers for over 25 years. It is because the Group has forged such strong business ties with our suppliers that we can enjoy ready access to their design teams, giving us some of the shortest lead times in the industry.

Our ethical trading policy demands high standards of suppliers, often exceeding the requirements of local law. Suppliers globally are regularly audited by an external company on a range of issues from management of industrial processes to minimising impact on the environment, to living and labour conditions for staff.

As a business founded by optometrists, we are proud of our reputation for professional and clinical excellence. We recognise that customers’ needs differ but we aim to deliver the same high standards of clinical care to all, through a commitment to continuous improvement.

Pushing the agendaThe Specsavers Partnership has representation on major professional bodies, including the European Council of Optometry and Optics, which allows us to contribute to industry debate and decision-making. In the Netherlands, where the optical profession remains unregulated, we are leading a campaign to improve professional standards of eyecare by protecting the title of optician.

Professional communications Our flagship professional advancement conference, established 18 years ago, is the largest of its kind in Europe. Now adapted and launched in other markets, this annual event offers Specsavers practitioners the chance to hear from leading industry experts about the very latest developments in their profession, as well as to network with peers.

Our global professional journal, ProFile, is published monthly. ProFile includes news, views, training updates and clinical articles of relevance and interest to a professional audience.

Featuring sections for both optics and hearing care, the publication also includes specially commissioned articles, linking in with our online learning system, that lead to continuous education and training (CET) points.

Guest speaker at the 2014 Clinical Conference in Australia.

‘I started with Specsavers as a partner at Knox in 2011, having been with the Optical Superstore for some years. We had 70 square metres and one consulting room. Less than two years on we have moved into new premises at Knox with 145 square metres, three consulting rooms open and a fourth ready to go. Having the new store is just unbelievable. We can now take our store forward with a real prospect of reaching AUD 5m annual sales in the next couple of years. A year ago we wouldn’t have believed that possible – now it’s our goal.’Sanja Babic, Knox City store, Victoria Australia

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Partner communication and feedback

Continuing partner involvement ensures that stores remain close to customer needs and can react quickly to changes in the market. Our partners’ insights, thoughts and views on what happens in store are absolutely critical to the Partnership’s ongoing success.

Regular regional meetings are offered to partners in all our markets to share updates and discuss new initiatives. These meetings give partners the chance to network, share best practice, discuss product, marketing and training issues, and have their say on the direction of the Specsavers Partnership through brainstorming and feedback sessions. An annual seminar is also held in all our markets, bringing together partners for an invigorating day of presentations, strategic updates, hot topics and interactive sessions.

To maintain regular feedback on specific aspects of store business, regular user groups are also held with a cross-section of partners. Whether it be discussions about new frame styles or retail initiatives, IT

infrastructure or business wear, the user groups are an effective forum for feedback and an invaluable sounding board for new product, ideas and strategies. In addition, surveys are also conducted on a regular basis with partners to find out what is working well in the partnership and what could be improved.

Customer feedbackOur customer research system, MAZE, enables each store to receive online feedback from its customers within 24 hours of their visit. The insight from MAZE is incredibly important. It allows partners to discuss the customer feedback with their store team, and contact any customers who were not completely satisfied with their experience in store, to help build closer relationships between the store and its customers. At a wider level, MAZE offers a true understanding of what matters to customers, helping the development of the retail offer and customer-driven initiatives.

‘Once you get the Specsavers bug, you don’t lose it. Seriously, the whole offer is brilliant: a great selection of glasses and contact lenses combined with fantastic support from the centre. In 2002 I took a Saturday job in the Zwolle store. Part-time became full-time and the next thing I knew, the Zwolle store partner encouraged me to take a qualification in optics and contact lenses. The next challenge followed soon after – my own store. I find it hugely rewarding to manage such an enthusiastic team. I am proud of them and the success we have made of the store together.’Bianca van der Weerd, Kampen store, the Netherlands

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The tools of the tradeWe understand that good equipment is an investment, not an expense. Standards of care in optometry are rapidly changing – as is the technology to support this change. With the aid of experienced procurement teams, we offer stores the ability to access the best and latest clinical equipment at competitive prices. The Specsavers Partnership is one of the few optical businesses to offer a free digital retinal photography service to customers, and it is available in all bar one of our markets. This service reflects a significant financial investment in fundus camera technology by our stores, an investment that underlines our stores’ commitment to their customers.

‘To be a franchise partner in Specsavers, which means you are part of a big organisation but still running your own business, is exciting and fun and you learn something new every day. Good quality and right prices – value for money – is a winning concept.’

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The right plan of actionEffective development is rarely achieved through a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Specsavers’ training teams are available to work with partners to assist them in developing a learning and development plan that is right for their store – one that links directly to the needs of their team and to the store’s business plan.

This planning process can be backed up with regular store visits by training managers to support progress and advise on next steps.

Through this consultative approach, we support partners to develop high-performing teams in their stores so that they can continue to provide great customer service and stay ahead of the competition.

Keeping store teams informedGood communication is key to running a successful business.

In addition to printed publications, operational and business news is regularly posted on our intranet alongside a wealth of information and support on all things Specsavers. The intranet also allows partners to share their views and ideas by adding comments.

Passionate about people

Our people set us apart from the competition. In an increasingly competitive market, it is absolutely critical that partners recruit and retain the best staff in their stores, and invest in their development to keep driving forward their businesses.

Our Specsavers support offices offer a variety of services to assist partners in hiring the right people for all their roles in store. Services available to partners include a careers website and placing recruitment ads in trade, local and national press. Our recruitment specialists also offer guidance to partners on recruiting their store staff, including advice on the interview process and market salary

rates, and resources such as template job descriptions and recruitment documentation.

In most of our markets, regular courses are available for partners to attend, on both technical and management skills, such as customer service, product knowledge, staff recruitment and assessment, and financial management. There are also workshops on business leadership and how partners can drive their store’s profits. Spotlight, a two-day event offered to partners globally, explores how strong leadership skills can influence the business for the better, particularly in the current, challenging economic environment.

A retail development manager training staff in one of our UK stores.

‘Having owned a UK Specsavers store in the 90s, I was one of the first to get on board when Doug Perkins announced he was coming to Australia in 2007. The sales growth at Robina continues to surprise me every month. Last year we finished the year as Specsavers’ highest turnover practice, and in the last few months we have been averaging like-for-like growth of more than 30%. The volume of people coming into our store is astounding and relentless.

As our turnover has increased, so has our bottom line and the percentages appear to remain consistent as the practice grows. This means a great bottom line for me as an owner-operator – a fair reward for all the hard work. You don’t get that reward working for someone else. With very conservative budgeting, we plan on turning over more than AUD 6m per year by 2014. I never thought that was possible when I had an independent practice four years ago. With a new five-room store being planned, the sky is the limit. My advice for anyone contemplating a Specsavers practice: do it now. UK JVP waiting lists are several years long and the same will happen here in Australia. Plan big, work hard and Specsavers will help you gain all the rewards for your efforts.’Luke Mathers, Robina Store, Queensland, Australia

Marketing expertiseOur in-house marketing teams produce campaigns across the full range of marketing channels – TV and radio commercials, digital marketing, point-of-sale, direct mail and press ads. Partners can also take advantage of a range of local marketing activities tailored to their store’s needs in addition to the national marketing programme.

The Specsavers website not only promotes our products and latest offers but also provides important information for the customer, such as advice on health matters and what they can expect when they enter one of our stores. Each individual store has its own page with contact details, opening hours and a location map.

Customers are also reminded of our retail offer through recall and relationship marketing programmes, and through customer magazines.

Raising Specsavers’ profileSpecsavers has PR teams in each market, dedicated to raising the profile of our brand at a local and national level.

A coordinated network of press agencies within each market means that every store has access to local PR while also benefiting from a range of national campaigns – raising awareness about health issues and promoting community involvement and fund-raising activities. A strong professional presence in the optical and hearing care industries is maintained through regular features in the trade press and through the production of tailor-made educational publications.

Ultimately, all this helps us drive new customers to our stores – and to ensure they return.

Clockwise from top: model photography promoting our hearing care services in the UK; press ad about Louis Nielsen’s free eye test offer; viral ad capitalising on a news story that hit the international press, where sports officials in China painted a rectangular running track in preparation for a visit by local politicians; a quick response in the national press and on social media about the Suarez biting incident at the 2014 World Cup.

Our success is closely linked to the public’s perception of Specsavers as a trusted name. We have worked hard to build up the reputation of the Specsavers brand, a brand which today is strongly associated with value for money, choice and great customer service.

The facts speak for themselves: Specsavers was voted the UK’s most trusted optician in a 2014 YouGov survey; brand awareness exceeds 90% in all but one of our markets and we hold the ‘best price’ position in nine (source: Taylor Nelson Sofres, July 2013); Louis Nielsen was judged among the top three retailers in Denmark in the country’s most prestigious retailer awards, Berlingskes Detailhandelspris, in 2013; and Specsavers won Australian Retailer of the Year and Australian Retail Employer of the Year at the 2013 ARA Australian Retail Awards, before following this up

with the Retail Innovator of the Year and Multichannel Retailer of the Year accolades in 2014.

Hitting the markSpecsavers probably conducts more market research than any other optical or hearing care business to ensure that our customer offer remains compelling and competitive.

But it is not just the market research that tells us we are getting it right. Specsavers’ marketing and creative teams have won award after award for their work, whether TV or radio commercials, press advertisements, digital solutions or integrated campaigns. Our strapline ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ has become so rooted in British culture that it is often quoted on TV, in press headlines and in social media and is now used in advertising across nine of our 10 markets.

An award-winning brand

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‘It was an immediate success and the first day was really crazy. Specsavers is a really well known brand among the non-Spanish here in Mallorca, but also we were really surprised because we welcomed a lot of Spanish as well who didn’t know the brand but were attracted by the marketing, publicity and all the promotion. It’s really been great.’Andrés Román Romero, Mallorca store, Spain

A still from one of our latest TV ads, featuring British chef Gordon Ramsay and an embarrassed guest who mistakenly enters the hotel kitchen, thinking it is a sauna.

Fredag 17/10 til kl. 23.30

Vi holder aftenåbent

Kig ind i butikken og få en gratis synsprøve (normalpris 149 kr.) og et servicetjek af dine briller. Vi renser glassene med ultralyd og tjekker/skifter næsepuder og skruer. © 2014 Specsavers.

Our success story

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Partners gathering for the first ever UK Partners Seminar.

From humble beginnings on a table-tennis table in a spare bedroom to the billion-pound multinational business that it is today, Specsavers has achieved a considerable amount in its relatively short history.

Husband and wife Doug and Mary Perkins, both optometrists, sold a small optical chain in the south-west of England in the early 1980s. They moved to Guernsey in the Channel Islands, where Mary’s parents lived, and it was from there that they opened the very first Specsavers store, on Bristol’s Bond Street, on 14 February 1984.

That store has since been joined by more than 1,750 stores in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. From just two staff working at that table-tennis table there are now more than 26,000 people employed within the Specsavers Partnership around the world.

Back in 1984, Doug and Mary realised that for optical professionals to really be part of the business, they had to have a stake in its ownership and profits and so they developed the ground-breaking joint venture partnership model.

In the early 1980s, the UK Government made the unprecedented decision to let professional service providers advertise their products and services. This transformed the market. That first Specsavers store offered value-for-money, quality eyecare and clear pricing.

The price tag on the frames included the cost of standard lenses and additional options were clearly displayed. This meant that customers knew exactly what they were going

to pay before they got to the till. Our 2 for 1 offer - two pairs of glasses for one low price – has helped people to see glasses as a fashion accessory, not just a necessity. 2 for 1 was revolutionary in the optics market when introduced by Specsavers in 1990.

Today the Specsavers Partnership is the world’s largest private optical group and the market leader in eight of the 10 countries in which we operate. We are the retail market leader in contact lenses in the UK and the largest provider of home delivery contact lenses in Europe. Our retail roll-out in Australia was possibly the fastest ever for the market, at its peak opening 100 new stores in as many days.

Specsavers Hearing Centres, which operates in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, is now doing for hearing what we have already achieved in optics – offering customers dramatically reduced prices and waiting times and making audiology more accessible for everyone. The introduction in 2012 of AQP (Any Qualified Provider) in England, which gives NHS patients more freedom to choose where they go for their hearing care, provides a fantastic opportunity for our hearing care businesses to expand significantly in the coming years.

The Specsavers Group remains family-owned, led by Doug and Mary with son John as joint managing director, daughter Julie as country director in the Netherlands and daughter Cathy working as an audit manager.

1984 1996 1997

2002

20052006

2003

2007 2008

2009 THE FUTURE...2010

2004

1999

1988

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Opens first Specsavers Opticians in Bristol, England, followed by Guernsey, Swansea, Bath and Plymouth

Opens contact lens centre in Plymouth, England

Opens first international store in Haarlem, the Netherlands

Voted most trusted brand of opticians by Reader’s Digest, an accolade that we go on to win 11 years in a row

Launches in Norway as Specsavers Optikk and buys the Louis Nielsen chain in Denmark

Introduces PENTAX lenses with all glasses Opens in Spain as Specsavers Opticas

Becomes an official ‘Consumer Superbrand’ (source: Superbrands) Opens 500th store

Launches ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ strapline in the UK

Sets up a supply chain in Australia, supplying independent optometrists with frames and lenses

Arrives in Finland as Specsavers Optikko

Opens first hearing centres in the Netherlands

Mary Perkins is made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and wins Most Outstanding Business Woman at the National Business Awards in the UK

Launches in Australia as Specsavers Optometrists, with 150 stores opened by the end of the year

Opens 1,000th store

Opens first Specsavers Optometrists store in New Zealand

Specsavers Optical Group celebrates 25 years in business

Becomes market leader in New Zealand

Expands into Sweden as Specsavers Blic Optik, after acquiring the Blic optical group

Expands into hearing care, opening first Specsavers Hearing Centres in the UK

Opens flagship store in Tottenham Court Road, London, England

Opens 100th store

2011Becomes market leader in Australia

2012Opens 1,500th optical store

Specsavers Hearing Centres wins all 25 contracts offered by the NHS to date, to be a ‘qualified provider’ of hearing care for NHS patients in the UK

2013Acquires UK domiciliary eyecare business Healthcall

• Accounting and administration services, including weekly payroll and accounts payable service for each store, monthly management accounts, preparation of annual financial statements, ASIC, annual returns and profit distributions

• Retail Advancement Meetings at least four times each year to ensure that all store partners have the opportunity for two-way consultation on all new initiatives

PassionIf one word – above all others – describes what the Specsavers Partnership is all about, it is ‘passion’. Our ethos from day one has been to passionately provide affordable eyecare to all. As an optometrist-led business, we have a passion for professionalism.

We believe passionately in regular face-to-face communication meetings between store partners and the support office team. We believe passionately in providing the most advanced planning and support

toolbox. And we believe passionately in the world-class ‘partnership’ philosophy of our store ownership program. It is the passion behind the program that gives us the leadership position in community optometry.

Continuous improvementThe success of our unique store ownership model speaks for itself. Worldwide, we now have more than 1,750 stores. Our in-country support teams include a fast-growing support staff of more than 450 people based in Australia and New Zealand.

Each store learns from the successes of other stores, communicated via the support team, so that the bar is continually being raised with New Zealand and Australian stores benefiting directly from established best practice. And the passion shown by Australian and New Zealand partners has been such that best practice is now being developed here – and exported to other Specsavers countries of operation for adoption in their businesses.

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First-class business support

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Partners can be assured of first-class support from the moment they join their store. This is at the heart of the Specsavers Partnership – combining entrepreneurial professionals with a broad and expanding range of business support services and a successful international brand.

These services include:

• Product, supply chain and procurement including a world-class range of more than 1,400 frame styles and colours, designer brands, PENTAX and Transitions lenses and Specsavers contact lenses; a broad range of optical equipment at the best prices

• Marketing services including TV, radio, press and online advertising, direct mail and recall, public relations, point-of-sale materials and regular local door drops to millions of homes

• IT and in-store systems including software development and ongoing software support

• Training and development services including a pre-launch training program and ongoing professional development for all team members

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So just what is the store partnership opportunity with Specsavers in NZ and Australia? Simply put, if you are a commercially minded optometrist, dispenser or store manager, it is an opportunity for you to take control of your own future; it’s an opportunity to reap the profits of the business you work in, while building the asset as you look forward to life after work.

Before you take the necessary steps to apply for a joint venture partnership store of your own, it’s important you understand what is involved – the structure, the benefits and the costs. Importantly, each new store opened under our store ownership program is established as a joint venture between the participating optometry / dispensing professionals (you) and Specsavers.

The joint venture partnership structureEach Specsavers joint venture store is an individual legal entity. For each store established, a new company is formed for which Class A and Class B shares are issued. Class A shares in the company are owned by the working joint venture partners (the optometrist and dispenser / retailer). Typically you and your working partner split the Class A shares on a 50 / 50 basis – although in some large stores there may be three Class A partners, meaning a three-way split of the shares.

Essentially, Class A shareholders are responsible for the day-to-day management of the store, while we, as the Class B shareholder, are responsible for providing an agreed range of support services to the store. The full benefits and obligations associated with Class A and Class B shareholders are covered in the formal shareholder agreement.

Despite the demarcations, as Class A and Class B shareholders, we are all partners in the same business venture.

What does a typical store turn over?When assessing our store partnership opportunity, it is important you look at typical examples of Specsavers stores across a number of markets as well as our projections for Australia and New Zealand. Australian and New Zealand stores, for example, are still very much in growth mode, while stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland have reached a different level of turnover and maturity. In all stores, however, growth is expected and planned for as part of our continuous improvement philosophy.

Specsavers fees and charges In all Specsavers joint venture partnerships, stores pay us agreed monthly fees to perform our Class B shareholder role. The following itemises what support services we supply in that capacity:

Management fee – intellectual property, brand value, business development, product and supply chain, helpdesk – 8% of monthly turnover

Intellectual property and brand valueThe Specsavers joint venture partnership model has been built over more than 30 years and covers everything that we have learned, implemented and improved since the very first day of trading back in 1984. The power of the Specsavers Partnership is invaluable – it forms the backbone of the relationship between us and our stores.

Without the Partnership, a store is just another optometrist. With the Partnership, a Specsavers practice is part of one of the fastest-growing, highest-volume optical networks in the world.

The power and value of the Partnership go a long way towards explaining why a Specsavers store, once opened, has never been closed – unless, of course, it is to move to larger or better-located premises.

‘I have to say that my initial reaction was ‘Where’s the catch?’ I now know there isn’t one. I have since trained in optics and haven’t looked back. Quite simply this is the best move that I have ever made. My only regret is that I didn’t make it sooner.’Mark Walker, Bristol store, UK

The joint venture partnership model

Core training and retail development fee – 1.0% of monthly turnover

Training and development – All new stores receive the benefit of Specsavers training programs, tried and tested across our international network and modelled to suit the local markets, covering everything from customer service to in-store systems and processes. We believe in continually developing our training and the ‘face-to-face’ Specsavers Training Academy - together with online WebEx training sessions - add more value to the growing curriculum of activity. Beyond this we provide a development program to all stores to help teams and individuals at all levels achieve the highest degree of service available in any optometry environment in Australia and New Zealand.

Communications meetings – At least once every quarter a series of communications meetings is held in key cities throughout New Zealand and Australia. Led by our senior support directors, these meetings cover critical topics of interest to store partners and their key team members. These include best practice, retail advancement, upcoming marketing initiatives and implementation processes, to name but a few. Communication meetings also provide store partners with an excellent forum for networking with other store partners.

Accounting fee – 1.5% of monthly turnover

Accounting and administration – Preparation of monthly management accounts, annual financial statements, annual returns, profit distributions, accounts payable and the weekly payroll are often cited as the parts business owners enjoy least in their daily routines.

Our support team manages these time-consuming and often complex tasks, allowing joint venture partners to focus on looking after their customers and developing their team’s performance.

Health fund relationship management fee (Australia only) – 0.5% of monthly turnover

Health funds – In the Australian market, health funds have a demonstrated capacity to direct their members to specific optical preferred suppliers and partners. Our dedicated work in developing close working relationships with health funds is benefiting stores by increasing customer flow in response to specially designed ‘no gap’ and ‘low out-of-pocket expenses’ offers.

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Business development – Any network of stores depends on growth and momentum. A key feature of our support service is to continue to develop new partners in new stores. It is important that every Australian and every New Zealander has easy access to a Specsavers store and there is a major ongoing investment made by us to ensure that the right store partners are identified.

Helpdesk – A fully staffed product helpdesk is on hand six days a week, to handle store orders, queries, and customer and product support.

Product and supply chain – We have an enviable reputation for our world-class product range and also for our negotiating skills that drive down the cost of goods. Relationship management with the world’s largest lens, contact lens and frame manufacturers and designers means store partners in Australia and New Zealand have access to more than 1,400 of Specsavers’ own frame styles, as well as designer brands, PENTAX and Transitions lenses and Specsavers contact lenses.

With a focus on innovation as well as cost management, approximately 25% of our range is refreshed in any 12-month period. Worldwide, in the year ending February 2012, we supplied 15.4 million frames and around 380 million contact lenses.

Marketing fund contribution – 6.5% of monthly turnover

Marketing services – Specsavers is a marketing-led business, which gives us an exceptional recognition rating among consumers in the countries in which we operate. All stores make a contribution, based on their turnover, into our local country marketing fund, administered by the Specsavers marketing team on behalf of the stores. We consult with store partners at quarterly communication meetings on marketing plans, which subsequently see a full range of activities undertaken across national, regional and local advertising, direct mail and recall mailings, public relations, and point-of-sale material development.

Software support fee – 1.5% of monthly turnover

IT and in-store systems – Stores receive the benefit of SOCRATES, our own customer and store IT system, including ongoing software development and software support. We have undertaken a complete conversion of SOCRATES - now a touch screen in-store customer-oriented system - to meet the requirements of the Australian and New Zealand markets, and an ongoing program of continuous development and upgrading ensures it will meet new challenges.

Partners networking at a retail advancement meeting in Victoria, Australia – retail advancement meetings are held every six weeks across Australia and New Zealand, bringing partners together to discuss current issues and plans, to hear about initiatives and to network with each other.

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Partnership opportunities With more than 350 stores already operating in New Zealand and Australia, our store roll-out plan remains in full swing. So, if you’ve ever thought about applying for a Specsavers partnership or converting your regional-based independent practice to Specsavers, why not make the move now? A member of our business development team is ready to take your call and get the conversation started…

Interested to hear more about opportunities in Australia and New Zealand?Call: Raj SundarjeeHead of Partner Recruitment ANZ+61 (0) 424 135 485anz.opportunities@specsavers.com

Alternatively, call:Carly ParkinsonJVP Recruitment Manager ANZ+61 (0) 478 201 057anz.opportunities@specsavers.com

Email: anz.opportunities@specsavers.comWeb (Australia): opportunities.specsavers.com.auWeb (New Zealand): opportunities.specsavers.co.nz

For your assurance, all discussions will be informal and confidential. They are designed to give you a full understanding of all issues and enable you to make an informed choice about joining the fastest-growing store partnership program in Australian and New Zealand optometry.

Some of the services described in this brochure may require you to take advice on financial matters. Specsavers does not give financial, legal or business advice to individuals. Prospective store partners should take independent professional advice on all such issues as recommended under the Australian Franchise Code of Conduct and the Franchise Association of New Zealand before entering into any agreement with Specsavers.

Joining the Partnership

SpecsaversThe G520 Graham StreetPort MelbourneVictoria 3207Australia

Tel +61 (0)3 8645 0700

specsavers.com

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