Luxottica is a leading Australian optical group with brands such as OPSM, Laubman & Pank, Budget Eyewear and Bright Eyes Sunglasses. The company’s heritage can be traced back to the founding of Laubman & Pank 100 years ago, OPSM more than 76 years ago and Budget Eyewear more than 29 years ago. Over the years the company has become synonymous with expert eye care and high quality prescription eyewear.

Luxottica’s world-class business support infrastructure – from marketing and mechanising through to training, continuing professional development, IT and financial systems – underpins their position as a highly competitive provider of optical care, prescription eyewear and sunglasses in the Australian market.

The Challenge

Provide greater range of career opportunities for their optometrists, identify opportunities for the key leavers of store performance to be rewarded and increase points of presence stood as the prime objectives for the Luxottica Group. To compliment its employment model the Group worked closely with the consulting team at DC Strategy to develop two franchise models to meet these objectives. Both models created a substantial investment opportunity for optometrists with a mutual ambition to increasing growth and profitability.

However, as a leader in the retail sale of optical products and services the Luxottica Group would be scrutinized in its ability to encourage the vertical integration of its businesses.

It was crucial that formal documents be drafted so that the franchise network would operate within a legal framework, allowing it to access the law to enforce its rights and protect its business. More importantly to avoid any issues of non-compliance with the regulatory bodies was paramount. The franchise models were unique and required the documents to reflect the intent of the parties in a manner that would be easily delivered to prospective franchisees. The key challenge was to ensure the model complied with the relevant laws and could be simply activated by the Group for roll-out in Australia and New Zealand.

The Solution

The development of comprehensive franchise documents, legal structures and legal advice pertaining to compliance with the Corporations Act and Trade Practices Act and ensuring the models were well documented created a platform for future growth of the Luxottica brands in Australia and New Zealand. Working closely with the Group’s corporate advisors and the DC Strategy consulting team ensured that the outcomes were achieved.

The Outcomes

The Luxottica Group now have in operation comprehensive systems to leverage its growth in Australia and New Zealand. The range of business models and the documentation to reflect such offers the Group more opportunities to find the right partners for the future growth of the business. The underling quality of the legal structures and documentation ensures the network continues to enhance the value of the business in a manner that benefits both the franchisor and franchisees.