Welcome to the

Independents’ Lounge

Established in 1979, The National Eyecare Group, NEG, is the

UK’s largest purchasing group for Independent Opticians, currently

supporting over 1000 members across the country.

In the lounge NEG will be on hand to share with visitors, how they

can save not only money, but how we can simplify your accounts

and offer a range of business support, all of which will not only help

increase your profitability but help to grow your business.

Joining NEG couldn’t be easier, there are no joining fees, subscriptions or minimum spend, just a small

management fee on some purchases. As a member, you will receive preferential terms from many of

the UK’s leading suppliers, many of whom are exhibiting at this years Optrafair.

We are here to share with you how we can support your

business goals by providing flexible and convenient ways to

manage your finances.

We know time is precious when you are running a business,

so whether you are just starting up or looking to switch your

business account we make banking as straightforward as

possible. Our telephone, Internet and Mobile banking options, alongside one of the UK’s largest

branch networks and other services like text alerts, mean it’s easy to keep in touch and bank where

and when it suits you.

At Lloyds Bank you will have access to a full range of products and services to help your business

develop and when your business has a need for funding you can be confident we have a range of

lending products to meet your needs.

Specs network, is one of the most advanced ways of

promoting all thing Independent to the general public.

Making use of sophisticated e marketing, with

websites, emails, social media and much more. By

being part of this exciting network your practice can

benefit from Eye campaignes, competitions, unique

store locator, practice videos and the support of

industry leading experts. Examples of the materials can be seen in the Independents Lounge so

come and see how your business can benefit.

In addition to Spec network, come and find out about our soon to be launched partner programme,

SEIKO VISION SPECIALIST.

Exclusive products, branding & services for the Independent Optician.

Vision care as an employee benefit has a huge US market,

with over 170m people insured. The market leader over the

last 60 years has been Vision Service Plan [ VSP],

currently helping over 84m Americans see better.

As a not-for-profit concern, VSP stands out as an

enterprise with a true social purpose. Jeremy Chadwick,

VSP’s Managing Director EMEA, will share how VSP has

grown working with Independent Optometry to deliver

better eye care in the US and how VSP is now making a difference in the UK, and how you can be

part of growing market .

Resident experts — available all three days

As Managing Consultant for Orta, Optical

Recruitment & Training Academy, Liam Franklin has

enjoyed an extensive and successful career in retail

and manufacturing optics.

With an infectious passion for optics, eyewear and

outstanding service, Liam saw an opportunity to pull

together a team that enjoys an unrivalled ability to

establish and understand the recruitment and

training needs of optical retailers and manufacturers.

Closely following the rapid changes in consumer habits, eyewear trends and optical innovation

allows Liam and the Orta Team to deliver a service which allows their Clients to evolve and adapt,

in order to survive and thrive in challenging conditions.

With Independent businesses having limited resources for recruitment and training, Orta have set

out to provide affordable services that generate a fast return on investment and build staff and

customer satisfaction, business performance and profitability.

Do you have a number of ageing

pat ients on your data base who no

longer come into the pract ice?

Would you l ike to provide a home

visit ing service for your loyal

c l ients without the ext ra costs?

Do you have family members

asking you to provide an eye test for their relat ives at home?

Just Peachy is bui lding a network of independent opt ical pract ices to partner with,

to enable them to provide a domici l iary opt ical service as part of thei r pract ice

offering. Come and speak wi th us to explore whether joining this growing network

of independent opt ic ians could enhance your service offering and never lose a

pat ient again i f they cannot come to you.

FittingBox is the worldwide leader in virtual try-on

solutions for the eyewear industry. With our

technology, you can try on frames ‘virtually’ as if

you were facing a mirror, whether in the comfort of

your own home with our web solutions, or from

outside or inside the shop with our in-store solutions. A great, futuristic experience for the

perfect Wow effect to reinforce customers loyalty and engagement, and for opticians, a great

support tool that can work as a catalog extension or a selling tool.

With more than 4,000 customers in 30 countries including optometrists, retailers and leading

international eyewear brands, FittingBox is revolutionising frame try on. Don’t be left out and come

and meet us!

Lounge visiting experts

RFID is a form of ‘smart barcode’ technology where tiny

microchips are embedded into price labels enabling retailers

to count huge volumes of inventory in just a few minutes

using special RFID scanners. To put this in perspective,

Digitact Limited, the developers eGRAB™ (an RFID system

designed for the optics sector) recently revealed that the

average sized optical location performs a complete inventory

count in around 10 minutes using their eGRAB™ mobile app connected to an RFID handheld scanner.

As well as being a fast inventory tool, RFID is also useful for embedding into retail displays as a

mechanism for triggering response based digital marketing (via built-in screens) and generating

inventory analytics. Using RFID enabled displays, retailers are able to trigger digital content related to

their customers inventory selections (what they are trying on), and the activity data generated by the

smart display can help retailers understand the journey a stocked item goes on before it is sold. So

come along and see how Digitact can help your practice benefit from this increasingly useful

technology

Following on from his presentation in the busi-

ness lounge, Kevin Holdridge will be available

to show you how to get your practice to show

more effectively in Google search results and

why it is a low-cost and effective way to win

new customers. But it can be baffling - local

search, SERPS, SEO, paid adverts,

knowledge graphs, schema structured data, Google Business pages, mobile search, and

so on. But Kevin will help you make sense of this fast-changing and often confusing field.

You will come away with a practical checklist to audit and improve your practice’s results.

Do you ever wish you could just get an

ophthalmologists opinion on a patient, right

there in your practice? Now you can!

Get an ophthalmologists opinion, and treat a

great many of those cases in your own

practice, as part of a community Ophthalmology service. eCare from evolution, has been

designed to meet the healthcare needs of those patients for whom private consultations with

consultant ophthalmologists are financially out of reach, but want to have control over the

monitoring and management of their eye care, away from an NHS Hospital.

eCare looks to provide accessible medical eye care through a network of well-equipped and

clinically focused optometry practices looking to differentiate themselves from other high

street practices, by offering patients access to consultant ophthalmologist care, at a time and

location which suits the patient. So come along to the Independents’ lounge and find out

more

RED is not a shop fitter, they are a leading UK agency in the design and implementa-

tion of branding & retail environments. Creating and managing store environment design

and although have a background in general retail environments, they have a growing

reputation with in the optical sector for creating ground breaking practice design. Their

planning starts with a full practice audit and brand design, before moving on to the space

design, so you end up with something that is not only a fantastic environment, but some-

thing that works for your business. Dean Waugh, Director of RED, will be on hand to

show you some of their latest work and discuss how they can work with you and your

brand

Additional technology on display

The Essilor Nautilus is a virtual reality dispensing aid

designed to help your practice provide an immersive

patient experience. Recommending a lens will never be

the same again.

Nautilus places your patient at the heart of the

demonstration, by simulating their future vision solution.

Your patients will be completely immersed and will be able

to see for themselves the benefits of the lenses that you recommended. Demonstrate

lenses like never before.

Nautilus simulates in three different ways: 3D virtual scenes, 360° reality and augmented

reality. Patients are able to compare multiple lens designs and experience the various

solutions available. Explaining the benefits of a lens can sometimes be difficult. With the

Nautilus demonstrations, recommending a lens solution is made easier. Your expertise is

reinforced and your recommendation strengthened.

A good automated lens meter can certainly save you time in

practice, but have you ever thought it could increase your

dispensing values? With the Visionix VX40, available from

Norville, it can. In addition to analysing the entire lens

automatically, the VX40 enables you to compare different

progressive lenses, allowing you to truly demonstrate to your

patients the difference between a traditional progressive and

personalised lens, thus giving them a reason to upgrade to the

better lens. This means the VX40 will pay for itsself many times over.

Suitable for glazed and uncut lenses of all types, the VX 40 will be a real asset to your

practice.

INDEPENDENTS’ LOUNGE

14 -16 APRIL 2018 - Stand H30