Sonova: expanding in the area of retail
Retail
The Financial Times recently published a piece on the Swiss manufacturer’s new strategy of developing its retail business to ensure future growth.
According to the article, which comes in the wake of Sonova’s announcement that it is to buy out AudioNova, a group with some 1,300 stores, the strategy of developing in retail has two main objectives: boosting sales and improving acceptance of hearing aids among the public.
In an interview with the magazine, the company’s CEO Lukas Braunschweiler commented on the move to develop more actual points of sale, saying that “You see that quite prominently in the optical industry, and they are probably 20 years ahead of our industry”. He said that this type of strategy has proven itself in the area of eyeglasses with both manufacture and retail. “It is a similar, vertically integrated business model. They are in retail, they are in wholesale,” he added concerning Italian glasses group Luxottica.
It is hoped that greater visibility will help to increase sales and help to break down the negative opinions that are still so common among the general public when it comes to hearing aids. Based on experience in the UK, where the group operates stores within stores, it should be possible to promote awareness of hearing loss and hearing rehabilitation in other countries in this way. The group also hopes to make the most of the added value that the services component of the business brings, through fitting and follow-up.
Source: The Financial Times
