Professional Optometry Services: Objectives And Strategies

Discuss about the Primary Objective Of Providing Professional Optometry Services.

This business is proposed with a primary objective of providing professional optometry services in Canada. It’s with high expectation that Kunnel Opticals will acquire the greatest markets share in the Canadian market and also in other outside markets. Currently the cost of providing optometry services is underdeveloped but it’s very costly. Many people are suffering from various types of eye ailments such as blur vision, glaucoma, complete loss of vision, eyes becoming pink, and may other eye defects.  In my opinion, even though there are qualified doctors who have specified in this area, there are not many and are not that competitive. This explains why it is not possible to get an optometry organization offering the services at a reasonable price. The major objective of Kunnel Opticals business will be to become more innovative in enhancing visionary equipment and work closely with the manufactures in order to be acquiring the equipment at a much lower price which will extend the benefits to the consumers by offering them at an affordable price.

Kunnel Opticals business will be operated with a mission of providing quality optometry services and products at an affordable price. For this, it will do its best to bring about a solution to the major challenges faced by those who suffer from eye ailments. Kunnel Opticals business will be located in an area nearing Toronto city in Canada since. The reason for choosing this area is because there are so many people living in the outskirts of the city and thus a big target group for the business. Furthermore, the average rental charges for this area is considerably low compared to doing business in the city. For the beginning, I have planned to open a small office with fewer rooms suitable for the business. However, in the future when the business will be doing well, there will develop a need to acquire a more expanded premises. Since there is no guarantee that the first premises will be ready for an expansion bearing the fact that it’s a rental premises, we shall find a new place for the expansion but will however leave the old premises as part of our branch in order to continue serving our already accumulated customers.

A legal trading license for the business will be acquired upon the commencement of the business as per the requirement of the ministry of commerce and industrial Act. In order to raise enough capital for a standard business, the proposed structure for this business is partnership. In this case, every partner will be expected to contribute towards the business establishment. If capital contribution by the partners will not be abundant to meet the proposed budget for Kunnel Opticals business initiation, there is an option of looking for loan from financial providers. Once the business have picked and start generating profit, it will be shared as per the share of capital one contributed for the establishment. Further expansion in the future may include buying our own premises and opening branches in the major cities in Canada. The mode of advertisement in the future will also be upgraded where we shall be using the social media for a large coverage of the target group; TVs, newspapers, magazines, Facebook, twitter, and many others.

Products and Services

Through research on other businesses operating in this line of optometry, we have identified differentiated prices for similar products. On the internet, we have done research on the suppliers of similar products and have discovered that they are offered at a good price which gives a room for our business to become profitable in the future even if we offer at a price lower than that offered by our competitors.

There will be also a staff training since most workers in the premise need some knowledge on the product. Other training include: salesmanship, order taking, vendor relationship management and inventory management. In addition to this, there will be a continues update to the staff on new products developments and techniques

For Kunnel Opticals to start operation, it will require some equipment and tools. The following equipment will be required for the operation in sales and marketing to be done easily and effectively.

 After the purchase of the necessary tools and equipment, the following will be the operation schedule:

The marketing plan is expected to emphasize mainly on the business customers, their buying behaviors and culture. The plan will also outline the market share the business is targeting and how it will deal with challenges the business might face in the market such as competition. Kunnel Opticals business will base its marketing mainly on massive promotions and words of mouth. The target customers include all people who suffer from eye ailments regardless of the age or gender. Other customers may include small shops that sell optical equipment only. We look forward to be supplying our products to these small shops.

The market entry strategy will be aggressive advertisement whereby initially we shall employ the leaflets and posters strategy; people shall be paid for distribute the leaflets and sticking the posters to places where people can easily access them. That is intended to guide the flow of customers into the business. Before entrance into the business, we are looking forward to getting an optometry advisor who we shall trust. We have carried out research on the operations of other optometry businesses and it has helped us in knowing the various products that need to be offered. This has also aided in the estimation of the establishment capital. Having identified the suppliers who we shall source our products at a cheaper price, we plan to offer our products at a lower price which will attract a huge flow of customers. As we enter the market, we shall also consider using some least expensive online advertisement platforms such as Facebook and twitter.

Marketing

The growth strategy for our business will be as follows; other than increasing the flow of new customers into the business which is the sole objective of the business, we also will have some strategy to retain the existing customers. One of the strategy include discounting where service and product discounts will be offered to regular customers and also to those who refer others into our business. The subsidization of prices will also deliver some great satisfaction to the new and existing customers. After sales service will be offered to customers in order to maximize their satisfaction. A customer care unit will be more useful in giving the after sale services.

The marketing strategies that will be used include: Niching strategy where we’ll focus on small businesses and customer needs and customize our products accordingly. Promotion is the other strategy; we shall use leaflets, posters, billboards and car sticker banners as a market strategy for promotion. This strategy will help raise the level of publicity. After the customer is fully served, we’ll always request them to refer others if they really did enjoy our services. Once the business will be fully operational and making some profit, we shall employ the use of credit to our loyal customers where we shall be allowing them to pay like say 60% of the price and they pay the balance at an agreeable rate.

Our distribution strategy will be business – customer based where products and services will directly be offered to customers. This will increase the level of feedback and customer interaction.

We shall highly encourage the use of effective extended product mix. As per the discussion, product, price, people, place, process, promotion, layout and physical evidence will be mixed well and efficiently in order to increase productivity by capturing a large share of the market.

As soon as the needed capital for investment is obtained, we shall pay for the premises which already will be confirmed to be in the most appropriate position. The rooms will be designed in the appropriate order of a standard optometry shop. Other than rooms for the business, one of the rooms will be set aside for the management team. The advice from the professional optometry person will be taken, the leaflets and posters will be prepared and their distribution carried out. The products will be bought and brought to the premises where the accountant person will take account of the starting stock and business will start its operations. Immediately the business start selling its products, we shall hire our own professional optometry expert so that he/she will always be available for consultation by the patients and other customers. At the end of every month the accountant will be providing statement for the revenues raised during the month, after expenses have been deducted which include paying the professional optometry person and other workers in the premises which include cleaners, the remaining profit will be distributed among the partners.

One of the partners will be appointed as the sole manager of the business in general. He/she will manage all the operations and work in the premises as less operations will be taking place at the beginning. Later we shall as the expansions in the business take place, we shall divide the management into other several groups which will be under the senior manager. The duties of this sole manager will be to ensure that workers report on time, resources management, planning and organization of the business, supervision and motivation of employees.

Initial Costs:                                                                        Amount ($)

• Premises goodwill                                                        2400
• Furniture                                                                     1000
• Equipment                                                                   2580
• Equipment manual edger                                              250
• Inventory Lenses & Frames   and accessories                 900
• Training of staff                                                            1000
• Preparation of the leaflets and posters                            100
• Distribution of the leaflets and posters                            200

Overheads: Indirect costs

• Rent                                                                                 800
• Stationery                                                                        400
• Electricity                                                                        100
• Machinery maintenance                                                  100
• Salary                                                                              1000
• Miscellaneous                                                                   500

Total                                                                                             $11,330

Kunnel Opticals Balance Sheet

References

Chirumbolo, A. (2017). Opening a Private Optometry Practice – Everything You Need to Know. NewGradOptometry.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://newgradoptometry.com/opening-private-optometry-practice-everything/.

Greene, F. (2017). How to Open an Optical Shop. Bizfluent. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://bizfluent.com/how-6872421-open-optical-shop.html.

Lech, A. (2017). 10 Things to Know Before You Purchase Optometry Equipment. NewGradOptometry.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://newgradoptometry.com/10-things-to-know-before-purchase-optometry-equipment/.

Ramaswamy, D. (2018). Setting up an Optical Shop. V2020eresource.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://v2020eresource.org/content/files/setting_optical_shop.htm.

smartvisionlabs.com. (2017). The Essential Equipment for a Modern Optometry Practice. Smart Vision Labs. Retrieved 18 April 2018, from https://www.smartvisionlabs.com/blog/optometry-equipment-for-a-modern-clinical-practice/.

Spaulding, E. (2012). The future of independent optometry. Bain.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.bain.com/publications/articles/the-future-of-independent-optometry.aspx.

Trianglevisionscary.com. (2018). Vision Care & Products. Trianglevisionscary.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://trianglevisionscary.com/vision-care-products/.

Furr, L. (2015). Vision Source optometry group to be purchased by French manufacturer. Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2015/08/vision-source-optometry-group-to-bepurchased-by.html.