In this episode I’m in Montreal to meet Antoine Amiel, President and CEO at New Look Vision Group. An international executive with over 25 years in the eye glass industry, Antoine shares his vision for the category and his over 400 retail stores. Leveraging a solid financial foundation and innovative category leading technology, New Look continues to expand their market presence and see their way through to growth despite the limitations of the COVID era
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this episode I’m in Montreal to meet Antoine Amiel, President and CEO at New Look Vision Group. An international executive with over 25 years in the eye glass industry, Antoine shares his vision for the category and his over 400 retail stores. Leveraging a solid financial foundation and innovative category leading technology, New Look continues to expand their market presence and see their way through to growth despite the limitations of the COVID era
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Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!
Michael LeBlanc
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode, I'm in Montreal to meet Antoine Amiel, President and CEO at New Look Vision Group. An international executive with over 25 years in the eye glass industry, Antoine shares his vision for the category and his over 400 retail stores. Leveraging a solid financial foundation and innovative category leading technology, New Look continues to expand their market presence and see their way through to growth despite the limitations of the COVID era.
Antoine Amiel
We, you know, we were thinking, oh, maybe 2022, we'll run the tests, we'll probably have to convince you know quite many people, and have a successful test and so on. Well, we were given the opportunity, two fantastic opportunities, one was, all our retail teams were consigned home. They were not forbidden to come to the store, they could come to the store, we were just not allowed to have any customers there. So, it was a, the best training round one could ever hope for. And secondly, we have to convince anybody.
Michael LeBlanc
Let's listen in now.
Antoine welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing this afternoon?
Antoine Amiel
Very well. Thank you, I'm the thankful one, feel very privileged talking to you.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, thank you so much for taking the time to join me. I'm really excited to learn about you and about your business. I've been well, I'm a fan from afar, so to speak. And I don't know as much about your business as I'd like to. So, it's a real great opportunity for me. Why don't we start at the beginning, tell us about yourself, your background and your role at New Look Vision.
Antoine Amiel
I've been an optical person all my professional life, actually. I became one by chance. I was born and raised in Europe wanted to, you know, see the world and found my first job in the US in a optical lens company. And in marketing, although I had a finance background. And I like the mission. I liked the engineering challenge. And I liked the complexity of the business model. So, I stayed on. I'm not alone, though. Most people in the optical industry tend to be lifers. Not necessarily in the same company, but remaining in the industry. And I feel this is because the mission is strong to provide people with, with vision is a very noble task, and it can be done at volume, which brings an everyday satisfaction, to all of us in the industry. I think we go home at night, you know, feeling that we've, we've done a lot of good in the day.
My role at New Look Vision Group, well as the as the CEO, I guess, you know, one would describe it as answering to shareholders on the use of their money. But, I would say in the less prosaic way, probably I would say I choose the endeavors. And I choose the people. And that's, that's really what the role is about.
Michael LeBlanc
Right, so and we're going to get into this later on leadership in the COVID era and leadership before the COVID era, never easy, always interesting. And so, I'm really keen to get your insights about how to lead in such a different time that we're in.
But let's talk about New Look Vision itself. The, the origin story and where or how you go to market? You know, number of stores? And, and then what makes you, lots of competition, lots of people who offer the product that you offer, broadly speaking, so what makes you different? But, let's start, just give us the basics and then talk about what makes you different.
Antoine Amiel
The, the basics even before New Look Vision Group, maybe a few words on the optical industry because it's not a very big one. It's about the size of skincare as a worldwide industry. And, it will explain a lot of what I guess we will be discussing in the rest of the podcast.
So, optical is, is demographic driven. Basically 90% of the population after the age of 65, wear some form of vision correction. So, there's a very significant demographic that will, and that has been with us for the past 40 years. And it's, it's not forecasted to (inaduible) anytime soon. It's also a business which has fairly significant barriers to entry because there's a medical path to it. We are right at a crossroad of healthcare and retail. And, the medical part is regulated so, we, we partner or employ ophthalmologist, optometrists, and opticians. And obviously access to those professional resource is a barrier to entry.
Now, New Look Vision Group is the largest Canadian optical retailer, by far. We have 400, more than 400 locations across the country. Each with a clinic and a store. And we started from about 70 stores, 8 years ago, in, in the province of Quebec. We operate in three provisioned segments of (inaudible). We are vertically integrated, which means we make our lenses. And we assemble about 3000 pair of glasses every day.
Michael LeBlanc
Wow,
Antoine Amiel
And we, we entered the US market in 2020. Actually, in
Michael LeBlanc
Good timing.
Antoine Amiel
In early March 2020 yes.
Michael LeBlanc
Oh, that's great timing. That's perfect.
Antoine Amiel
Thankfully, that was in the, it is in the very high-end segment. Which is, which is a segment we love in Canada, we we've accumulated experience in. And, I say very, very fortunately, because when we will get to discuss the post COVID performance, obviously, luxury has been performing extremely well. So, although we had a big, it started with big fright.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Antoine Amiel
It is now growing a big smile. So, all good.
Michael LeBlanc
Take me back, take me back to those days for a minute, you know, since we're talking about March and April of 2020, what, what was first on your mind? I've talked to executives like yourself, who said, you know, their first thought was, you know, went from worrying about liquidity and the business, to keeping their people safe, to okay, we're gonna get through this, but why do we how do we adjust the business? What was that time for you? Take me back to the moment when you realized the magnitude of what we're about to, you know, the magnitude of the COVID era.
Antoine Amiel
I start with, with maybe an antidote, but it's, it really took place the day, Edward Beiner, whom we had just acquired in the US, who's a close friend and a very long-time relationship was actually in Montreal, finalizing everything. And we went to dinner. And we were having a very nice non-business conversation, and then our cell phone, respective cell phones started ringing. And that those were our people, you know, telling us well, the College of Optician or the College of Optometry is actually asking us to shut down. So, I think that, that night, it really dawned on us.
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Antoine Amiel
And followed, I would say find weeks of, of, you know, find, finding the way and guiding our people through. And we, I thought we, we should go by three principles. And, the first one was, was participation, he was very clear that we had a very big role to play in stemming the spread of pandemics by closing stores, as many stores as we could, short of completely cutting society off from eye care. So, we kept about 10% of our stores open for that. But closing the stores, closing the office, offices, closing the factory, all that seemed very important in those early days. We needed to get people home. And just not exposing anybody.
The second principle that came right after was, was really protection. So, protection of our people who stayed out. Protection of the company, obviously. We, thankfully we went into the crisis fairly lean. So, we knew where every dime was. And that made cash conservation a fairly quick action. I mean you know, we didn't have to roam the drawer to scrap the last penny.
Michael LeBlanc
Right, you knew, you knew the leavers, you knew all the levers to pull, right?
Antoine Amiel
Yeah, we knew where it was. And then, of course, started discussion with our lenders and our landlords. And even before that, protecting our employees from a financial standpoint. So, we implemented a Salary Protection Program, even before the government said anything about what became CERB. And we committed from day one not to send anybody home with less than, than 75% of their normal income. So that at least they could be home and taking care of their loved ones without worrying about how much cash they would have in the bank. And then,
Michael LeBlanc
You said you had 400 stores but, and you manufacturing, in total, how many people work for your company?
Antoine Amiel
About 2800.
Michael LeBlanc
Okay, lots, yeah.
Antoine Amiel
And then, and then the third principle was, was responsibility. So, that translated into keeping 10% of the clinics open. For anybody who needed emergency access to either eye care, to pay an optometrist, or eyewear. Even stuck at home, people do break eyeglasses and can't function without. And, we felt we needed to be there to replace those.
We also launched a program we called Guardian Angels. And, that was a pledge to replace broken eyeglasses for frontline health workers within 24 hours. And, if they had no valid insurance coverage, we would cover the cost of replacement. So, hospital personnel, ambulance services, that sort of, that sort of thing. And in the in the span of three months, we we replaced about 5,000 pair of glasses.
Michael LeBlanc
What a great initiative.
Antoine Amiel
And then, and then we retooled the factory. As part of responsibility, also, we retooled the factory and started manufacturing safety eyeglasses, which obviously needed in settings like hospitals, in elderly care home, that sort of environment. And that part needed with prescription for those who need vision correction, because putting a pair of safety glasses on top of a pair of prescription glasses, and visor, in a warm environment, you're really compounding the difficulties to see well.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, no kidding, no kidding. Very comprehensive. So, let's, let's take a step back. So, before, in the before time, you know, if you and I were having this conversation in 2019, what were the, what were the strategies that you were made, what were the strategies you were pursuing to make you successful? It is, on the one hand, it can be a crowded market, right? There's, there's new entrants who have new business models, and what, what is it that that led to your success and to the growth? What are the kind of one, or two, or three, key pillars of what makes your company successful?
Antoine Amiel
I think what sets us apart and, and eventually made us successful, are three things really, the external growth model, we've, we've grown by acquisition, mostly from 70, to 400 stores. And our external growth model is very much based on people, which means that we don't go by geography. We don't unfold the map and say, you know, we want to be in Vancouver, in Toronto, and in Los Angeles. We go wherever we find amazing operations teams. And this has taken us through, I would say, unexpected geography. We, we obviously acquired Vogue Optical in 2013, which has a very strong position in Atlantic Canada. That was our first acquisition. That was a big acquisition. We, we paid almost the same value as New Look itself, in a geography that didn't have the best economic fundamentals as far as statistics were concerned. But, we found there, a an amazing operation team committed to stay committed to operate and committed to develop. So, probably that, that's, that acquisition model of ours has underpinned a big part of the success.
The second one is, we are, we operate a very decentralized organization, which means that acquired business unit we retain the brand, retain the executive team, retain the culture. They really are empowered by everything we put, we bring in, in the back office in the output and the financial resources. And they're free to compete in the market, including with other of our divisions. So, this sister companies, and I find this absolutely critical to maintain the identity, the motivation, and, and, and really the sparks in the team.
And the third one is, you know, innovation. One of the biggest motivation to increase the size of the company was that we wanted to be able to invest in innovation, in the technology that would take us forwards and increase our differentiation and that's basically to digitalize the customer journey. So, that's our investments in, in omni channel, mostly in scanning in virtual try on in order to be able to take part of the customer journey outside of the store. And, as importantly, to be able to deliver or to take optical measurement remotely. The big barrier today in dispensing glasses, without seeing the patient is the ability to take precise measurement, without which glasses just don't work. And that we were very motivated in innovating in our fields, investing in that field and breaking that that technical barrier which we have done.
Michael LeBlanc
So in, is it fair to call, it doesn't sound like you're a holding company, you're more, you're more engaged in that, but you provide kind of shared services and direction for the different companies. How do you, how did you lead, or how are you leading in the, this, the time that we're in amongst your peers or amongst the companies? As you say, they operate as individual brands and individual operating units, but how do you pull it all together when on any given day, we don't know if the stores are going to be closed or open? Or, you know, governments are pumping the brakes, or your you know, where you are. How is your leadership style changed, if at all? Or maybe it was perfect for these times. Just speak to that for a little bit?
Antoine Amiel
I wouldn't ever think it was perfect in any circumstances. But, I think you need a one, one leads with, with one heart, and, and with clarity, in those, in those COVID days, in the early days of the pandemic, in the shutdown, clarity was absolutely essential. Including clarity by the fact that I had absolutely no idea how long the shutdown would last. I had a fairly good confidence in how long we could hold out. But there again, there was crystal clarity with the, the within the executive group, that, you know, we could hold out a number of quarters. But if that were to last, for more than a year, we will probably run into a shortage of cash.
And leading with the heart I think, is the translation of the love and care for our people. I mean, we, we obviously had a very large number of people consigns in their home. We didn't know for how long. We needed to keep them engaged. We fairly quickly take the opportunity of that shutdown, to train them, to inspire them, and then to bring them back early in the stores to train on a new model.
Because, during the pandemic, basically, I would say we had a three-months complete shutdown. The first month was really spent to address the crisis, address those three principles I spoke about earlier. And then really, we came to a point where we felt, about a month in, we, and I, when I say 'we', I mean the exec team, came to a point where we felt the company was secure. The employees were secured.
And it was now trying to turn towards the future and imagine what reopening will have to look like. Whenever that will be. The only thing we didn't know was the date. But, we started rethinking the customer journey. Rethinking the store, and obviously inventing the health and safety protocols, which obviously, are going to be a big part of how we would reopen. And we, we were, obviously we were fortunate because we had a really strong restart, which that sort of thing never, never comes without a dose of fortune.
We had been thinking for a while actually, about operating by appointment. And we, you know we were thinking oh, maybe 2022 we'll run the tests, we'll probably have to convince, you know, quite many people and have a successful test and so on.
Well, we were given the opportunity, two fantastic opportunity. One was, all our retail teams were consigned home. They were not forbidden to come to the store, they could come to the store, we were just not allowed to have any customers there. So, it was a, the best training round one could ever hope for.
And secondly, we have to convince anybody because when we reopen, it was the only way we were allowed to operate. And so, we, we seized on that opportunity and leverage it.
The other one is, after the first month of really securing everything, we had quite a bit of resource because we can't, we kept everybody on full time. We had quite a bit more resource than we would have had had we been operating normally. And we really dedicated those available resource to speeding up our omni channel implementation. The facial scan, which gives us a very rich 3D image, ear to ear, on which we can overlay frames for the virtual try on and take measurements as precise as in stores. And as soon as we reopened, we deployed those tools. And, with a day one application, which was, we were able to take optical measurement from six feet away from the patient when our competition was still with the ruler that the optician has to hold on the face of the customer. So, in, in a time when not only it was the right thing to do the distantization. But, it was also important for the staff from a safety standpoint, and extremely important to customers. And, nobody really wanted to be less than six feet from somebody else. That, that gives us a great advantage, first in the comfort it brought to our store team. And second, obviously was appreciated by customers.
Michael LeBlanc
Is there anything that you're going to leave behind? So, you've talked about how you accelerated things, pilots became full rollouts, and uncertainty became, you know, uncertainty became strategy. Now, is there anything you're going to leave behind with your experience in the past 18 months? For example, some executives have said, you know, 'I, I think I'm gonna move to a hybrid model of my head office staff now as opposed to all the time in the, in the office', is there anything that you find, you discovered that was inefficient? Or that you're thinking about differently from that perspective?
Antoine Amiel
I think we will leave behind self-imposed limitations we had before. Coming to the office, for example, as you just mentioned, was a big one. But, it extends beyond the commuting and beyond the in person meeting and all that. We were self-limiting ourselves by thinking we could only recruit in Montreal, where the fact is not true. Not true anymore. It actually was not true before either, but we just didn't have the guts to think it was.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, it's always been, you know, it's interesting, right. Because it's always been possible. I mean, the technology hasn't changed. It's the culture that needed to change, particularly, I find at the senior level, right, before, you know, can you have a senior executive, or leader in a department that isn't physically in the office? That would, that's a big change, right?
Antoine Amiel
Precisely, precisely, it was always possible. We just didn't have the guts to do it. Now, obviously, it's, it's almost like a, like an evidence now. So, that's one, the other one is, is obviously travel. I mean, you know, we all looking forward not being frequent fliers of any sort of qualification in the future, as I think there was really too much of it before. We will still visit every store we tend to, we plan to acquire as I think that's a very good principle. But beyond that, I think we can cut probably a third of what we were doing before.
Michael LeBlanc
Wow. I mean, you and I, we've probably lived through this same thing. I mean, we heard that after 911 that, but then it quickly in three or four years was record travel. Do you think it's gonna stick this time around?
Antoine Amiel
I think it will. Yes. I mean, if I was, that was based in Asia, on 911. It did not affect Asian travel one bit.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, right.
Antoine Amiel
This is a worldwide a very long cap on travel.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah,
Antoine Amiel
We, we have do the business in the past yeah, with zero travel, and pretty good business actually. And even the things we thought we were not going to be able to do, which is to find that rare supplier or,
Michael LeBlanc
New vendors
Antoine Amiel
or frame, that, that sort of thing has not been really impeded, just to be honest. So yes, I definitely think this time it will stick.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, it's, it's funny, I don't think of it until I start talking about it. But you know, I traveled the world speaking and, and visiting, I mean, I would you know, I'd be on an airplane 20, 30 times a year. It's, it's been a year since I've been on an airplane. It's really phenomenal. In some ways I don't miss it, in some ways I do. I mean, I want the ability but I'm hearing more and more executives like yourself saying, 'You know what, we need to fly we need to visit our stores'. That's a big constraint right, need to see the people but maybe not as much in, from a sourcing perspective. Okay, so that's a great observation.
Let's, let's talk about the future, what's, what's next? I think you've got some corporate structure news coming up. And for the listeners, as well, you know, the retailer's listening, and, you know, again, there's more competition than less, and how are you, what are your plans for moving forward? And how are you thinking about that?
Antoine Amiel
First of all, I will address the corporate news. We're a public company, we're going to go private, we want to change controlling shareholders. It's going from financial investors to another type of financial investors, and then a private setting. I think it's, it's a great operation, because we're providing liquidity at a very high, at a very satisfactory level to our present shareholders. And, I think we have North American expansion plans. And a private setting is probably a good one to undertake that sort of expansion at this, at this moment. So, I would say, timely, and, and very good for current shareholders.
Now, as far as the strategy going forward, it's more of the same really, but COVID has vindicated really, our beliefs and our, our directions, instead of having us thinking which will change paths. So, external growth will continue. We, we operate in a very fragmented market. In Canada, more than half of optical stores are still independently owned. And therefore, we still have a lot of runway in consolidating the market.
And we entered the US in March 2020, we've already started expanding there beyond our first acquisition. And we'll, we'll do a lot of consolidation there as well, in years to come.
Then, we have strong organic growth project, because, as I explained, the motivation to increase the company in size was to generate investment capacity in technology. We have investors, we have deployed the technology, and this will continue to really change the customer journey, even in our, in our stores. We are looking at digitalizing every step of the journey, except the medical part. And we are looking at optimizing the time in store. So, whichever step of the journey the customer will, will choose to experience in store we'll optimize that. We will make it shorter, and will make it more interesting, more entertaining. And, geographically, we're very likely to be North American in the next four years. But, if there is an opportunity to go to pass beyond our shores, we'll obviously look at it and think it up.
Michael LeBlanc
Right, right. Now, you, you mentioned earlier that you play mostly, and I don't put words in your mouth, so to speak, at the luxury end versus the value end. Is that a fair statement? And is that how you're seeing the future as well?
Antoine Amiel
I think we're operating across the market spectrum except in the discount value segment.
Michael LeBlanc
Okay
Antoine Amiel
Our Optician business units operate in the core markets. Our Optometry business units in the in the highest segments, and we have been a consolidator of the very high end segment, both in Canada and in the US. And, very high end means things beyond designer brand. We we're talking jewelry or very rare items. So, let's say Cartier and up. And that's the segments we entered the US with. That's the segment we're expanding in the US. But, we we're getting ready to play in the other segments of the US markets as well.
Michael LeBlanc
Interesting, but, but the value end, that's not for you, you're gonna play in different places.
Antoine Amiel
That's right.
Michael LeBlanc
Okay, cool. All right, well listen, last question for you. Thanks, you've been very generous with your time, for your fellow retailers listening on non-optical, any kind of retailer, do you have any advice of things, and I frame this sometimes in, two starts and one stop. Things that they might want to start doing, and things like you know, we talked about leaving things behind that they might want to stop doing and what would be your advice to the listeners?
Antoine Amiel
How do you not want to give advice I often,
Michael LeBlanc
I’m putting you on the spot, I'm putting you on the spot.
Antoine Amiel
I think that's terribly presumptuous to do, but, and I'm usually the one seeking advice. But especially, I see optical as you know, a life of, of privilege. Really, operating in a, in a segment which is, which is essential, and which is demographic driven. But maybe just humble takeaways from, from the past year, I would say two things really have helped us through. One is crystal clarity on a couple of things, on, on the purpose of the company, what we actually do for society. But, clarity of mind, and we discussed that briefly, it was made very clear inside the company, what was possible and what was not. Clarity with the team and the customers.
The second thing that really helped us through was the, there is a very strong love for our people. And really genuine concern, and ambition, hope for them. Because in medical, in retail, and in manufacturing, which is the three fields we employ people in, teams are really the skills, but it's also the largest expense. But for us, it's not an hourly rate in an income statement. We feel that who we pick, who we attract, who we retain, obviously, who we promote, is really our most valuable assets and all, a lot of resource went to protecting and keeping that most valuable assets throughout the, the shutdown and the restart, which was not any easier than the shutdown action.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Antoine Amiel
And, and for the third one, you asked for a stop. Nothing groundbreaking, I would say, I would say look, there were a few weeks of really deep worry about, about the future of money, you know, how much cash do we have? How long are we're gonna, we're gonna be able to hold on that and so forth? And, I would say we were fortunate to go into the shutdown in a fairly strong position. So, if anybody would ask, I would say, you know, just do not engage, or stop engaging, in anything that does not produce a healthy cash flow. Because if we had not gone into that shutdown, into that crisis, in a strong financial position, we would not have been able to protect our people. We would have lost some of that and we basically would have lost our most valuable assets. We are retailer. It's, it's a fairly technical retail, ours. And, and our people are really everything. So yeah, I would say watch profitability, like a hawk. Nobody wants to be left, you know, gasping for equity at, at an inopportune time.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, you never, you know, if nothing else, we know that you can't predict the future. So, just prepare for uncertainty, right?
Antoine Amiel
Yes, a good dose of that.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, listen Antoine, thank you so much for spending time with The Voice of Retail. It's been great to learn more about you and more about the business and how you're thinking about it. I wish you much continued success. And once again, thanks for joining me.
Antoine Amiel
Thank you so, so very much. And thank you for your interest in, New Look, in the company. Thank you so much.
Michael LeBlanc
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure and follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news and insights. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating and review as it really helps us grow so that we continue to get amazing guests onto the show. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co until next time, stay safe. Have a great week.