Specsavers was founded at a time when high prices for optical care and limited choice were the norm. Company founders, Doug and Mary Perkins, revolutionised the industry with their innovative concept of affordable, fashionable eyecare for everyone.
Joint venture partnership
With that, they also pioneered the joint venture partnership model, which ensured all Specsavers opticians and audiologists could concentrate on what they do best – providing expert eye and hearing care to their customers.
Each store is part-owned and managed by its own directors, who are shareholders of their own businesses but who are supported by key specialists in support offices, who provide a range of services, such as marketing, accounting, IT and wholesaling, among others.
Specsavers is now a partnership of almost 2,000 locally-run businesses, committed to delivering high quality, affordable optical and hearing care in the communities they serve. There are currently more than 2,700 partners running stores across the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
Working with the NHS
Specsavers is a champion of the National Health Service – of its 17.3m customers in the UK, 60% are from the NHS and the company is the largest provider of free NHS digital hearing aids.
Plus, for those who qualify, the NHS will cover the cost of an eye test and in some cases, they will also provide an optical voucher to go towards any of our glasses or contact lenses.
