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Luxottica Group S.p.A. (NYSE: LUX; MTA: LUX), leader in the eyewear sector, on Oct 14 announced that its third quarter of 2009 results investor conference call will be available via audio webcast on Thursday, October 29, 2009, at 1:30 PM US ET (5:30 PM GMT, 5:30 PM
BST, 6:30 PM CET).

The audio webcast will be available to the financial community and the media from Luxottica Group’s corporate website at
www.luxottica.com/en/tools/webcast/index.html.

Please note that a slide presentation will be available for download from
Luxottica Group’s investor relations corporate website at
www.luxottica.com/en/investors/presentations shortly before the start of the
audio webcast.

Luxottica Group will report third quarter of 2009 results on October 29, 2009,
prior to the beginning of the investor conference call.

Facing the economic downturn, Luxottica is expected to continue to have sales decrease in the third quarter.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS135849+14-Oct-2009+PRN20091014

Thanks for www.eyeoverheard.com ,which provides some clues for this blog.

From April 2008 to March 2009, the number of complaints to the Optical Consumer Complaints Service (OCCS) reached 2,479, which was 35% higher than the figure in 2007. This increase in complaints has been revealed by the optical watchdog’s annual report, which was published last Friday.

 This nearly one-third higher number indicates that more and more customers have difficulty dealing with optical practices. These reported complaints include ‘buy one and get one free’ offers, failure to require prescriptions as well as refusal by eye doctors to measure the interpupillary distance. 

These complaints were made through different means, that 43% of the total 2,479 cases were received by letter, 9% by email and 48% were reported through telephone. 

The OCCS has also pointed out that some of the resolved cases have also been recorded, which collection method is different from that in 2007. In this case, the 35% increase in complaints could not actually reflect the real condition. Even the watchdog has admitted that this figure should not be considered as an indication of deterioration in optical standards. 

As an administrator of OCCS, Richard Wilshin thought that the increased number only indicated that more people were resorting to the OCCS. Those people just channeled their complaints elsewhere in the past, so that the increase of complaints as a whole in the industry may be not true. 

Wilshin also suggested that customers should keep greater awareness of the literal interpretation while taking advantages of offers. Some complaints actually came from improper expectations kept by customers. They expected to get the free frame with the same quality and price as the one that was to be paid.

www.eyeoverheard.com

It is reported that VSP and Altair have improved their efficiency by using RFID. As a VSP company, Altair has implemented RFID-based inventory management across their operations, using enterprise mobility software provided by MobileFrame, which is the leading provider of configurable mobile applications. Altair has recently acquired the 10,000 optician offices from Marchon Eyewear and its total independent offices are estimated to hopefully reach 25,000. 

Supporting independent eye care practitioners with advanced eyewear technologies and various brands, Altair has benefit significantly from the mobility software from MobileFrame. The software helps associates in Altair pick and ship orders. In addition, the firm also plans to use the RFID technology to keep an accurate inventory of all eyewear frames on consignment at optician offices worldwide. 

In the past, opticians were forced to scan consignment checklist forms in order to find frames that were in stock and those were missing. Now, the MobileFrame software frees their hands from this scanning. With the configurable RFID solution, the cumbersome checklist is turned into a user-friendly mobile application. 

Most application development tools require costly, time-consuming development to create business applications, which are always thought to be inflexible. In addition, these business applications need custom programming once business processes change. With the help of MobileFrame’s software, new mobile applications with any complexity can be provided flexibly. The flexible enterprise mobility software allows Altair to deploy its inventory management project efficiently. Any mix of business processes can be incorporated easily without expensive development efforts. The software can seamlessly deploy new applications to the field. 

According to CEO of MobileFrame, its configurable RFID software can flexibly and quickly deploy across any manufacturing operation. The company also uses the patented 100% Code Free platform architecture to easily implement the RFID technology. The RFID mobile solutions can even be simply deployed without any programming.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com

As Luxottica’s once proud retail chain, LensCrafters was considered as the jewel in Luxottica’s optical crown. However, LensCrafters is on the downturn in many aspects now, such as sales, customer number, quality personnel, Eyenet as well as moral. Some people think that the training that all LensCrafters people go through is a joke. They skip over anything important concerning the how and why of optics. 

The current M.B.E training is particularly considered as a joke that the LensCrafters executives require the associates to stand to sell the lenses to customers. A similar requirement is to take mirrors from the areas where the staff sits, in order to accelerate the process. Another stupid idea from the executives is that the associates are required to tell everyone entering to sign in. What’s more serious, LensCrafters resells returned frames. 

There are many things Luxottica can do if the company wants to turn things around. First Luxottica should return to basics by stopping all the cutesy ads. Some people do not buy at chains now but LensCrafters should do what chains do best. Chains including LensCrafters should always give customers a great deal. 

Products from LensCrafters are thought to charge over prices with old technology. Polarized and photochromic lenses at LensCrafters are also over prices now. In particular, their progressive lenses are extremely subpar. It is time for LensCrafters to lower its prices. 

LensCrafters’ staff actually needs proper training because most of them can not answer a basic optical question at all. They do not know how progressive lenses work. There are many more basic aspects of lenses that should be acquired by LensCrafters’ associates. 

Executives of LensCrafters are advised to get rid of M.B.E, which is believed to be an insult towards customers. Customers should be free to shop around. Chain stores of LensCrafters should bring in better products. Currently, many products in these stores are  outdated such as Vogue. 

Other suggestions for Luxottica include offering an ensured warranty, increasing the salary of associates as well as changing the LensCrafters executives.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com

As the economic downturn goes on, the whole optical industry is stumbling through the year, and will probably march in to 2010 and further.

The entire retail revenue of US optical industry is about $13 billion, with $7 billion from 14000 optical stores, and $6 billion from 16000 optometrist’s offices. The optician stores in US are pretty concentrated, with 50 largest optical chains, such as Luxottica (LensCrafters and Pearle Vision), US Vision and Eye Care Centers of America, hloding about 60% of the market share. But the optometrist’s offices are fragmented. Some many optometrists also handle retail sales to patients.

Now most of the optician stores and optometrists are facing the impact from economic crisis as well as from online retailers. How can we make our industry profitable again? Efforts enough?

From: www.eyeoverheard.com

Silmo Optical Exhibition was held from 17 Sept to 20 Sept in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Recently the Silmo organization released the attendence report, stating a 20% decrease of attendees. The reason of the decline can be attributable to the downturn of world economy and new H1N1 flu. Among the  total 32000 visitors, 49% from France and 51% from other parts of the world. The percentage ratio remained unchanged comparing with that of 2008.

Silmo Optical Exhibition is the big gathering of exhibitors and visitors from the entire optical-eye correction industry. Exhibitors include parts manufacturers, finished goods manufacturers and retail brands of eyeglasses, sunglasses, lenses, contact lenses amd other related products. Visitors include optical industry manufacturers, importers and exporters, traders and general public.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com