Just six months after launching in Australia, Specsavers has entered the New Zealand market with its purchase of Torga Optical. The purchase of Torga’s six practices took place on 8 August.
Specsavers says it has already established a network of 120 stores in Australia and claims it is generating sales growth of 40 per cent. Peter Larsen, Specsavers Australia Managing Director, says the company has rapidly grabbed second spot in Australia’s optometric market behind Luxottica’s OPSM, by using a “disruptive” strategy of building a retail network blindingly quickly.
“We’re a new brand in the market. Being a marketing-led company it’s important for us to get critical mass as quickly as possible. It is a privately-owned business and as a result the owners have very much a longterm focus on the business. They can make investment decisions that a publicly-owned company cannot,”
Larsen says. Larsen will not say how many stores Specsavers hopes to eventually have, but says the pace of expansion will not slow next year.
