Yesterday Dutch journalist Fiona Hering received the most important fashion award of the country, the Grand Seigneur. We were invited and joined the last part of the first Dutch Fashion Congress. Harry Bruijniks, former top man of Albert Heijn and Laurus and currently CEO of Euretco and member of the board of food giant Jumbo, compared the developments in food with those in fashion. For the last decades food concentrates on efficiency, differentiation and volume and tripled its net profit margins. Focus, only one concept behind each door, efficient re-ordering, smart assortment management, listen to the clients, learn from others and redefine the concept regularly, all of them are things which could and should be done better in the optical business. If independent opticians want to play a role in the future, they need to work on these items!
