Rebranding with Confidence- Boots put Employees High on the
Agenda
Andy Ferguson talks about taking the market to a
different place, whilst incorporating customer needs as the driver
of the operation.
Boots' merger with Dollond & Aitchison was the biggest
optical story of the year and one that took everyone by surprise.
And evidently, even those who were guiding it found it a surprising
yet exciting venture.
'Initially for me it was surprise,' explains Ferguson, 'quickly
followed by, fantastic, this could be a real credible force to
challenge the dominance of Specsavers. Together the two have the
benefits of scale, on our own we wouldn't have the scale or the
capability to challenge that.'
He also says there was a lot of emotion for him personally. It
was on his watch that the merger took place. The protection of 260
years of D&A heritage and all of the commitment and loyalty
that goes along with that was in his hands.
Once the personal emotion is put to one side, he says the
possibilities began to dawn about the realities of competing in the
modern era of retail optics. 'Would you prefer to be in Boots
competing with Tesco and Asda or in Specsavers or Vision Express? I
know where I would rather be.'
So how is the merger process progressing? 'We have done 10
rebrands around the country and we are pleased with their
performance. The great thing is the response in terms of colleagues
working under the Boots brand. That's been very positive, as has
the customer response. D&A customers are very willing to try
the Boots brand.
'We are referring to these as transfers,' says Ferguson. But
there is no template for how they will be migrated to the Boots
brand. With so many practices in so many different situations each
location has to be treated individually, says Ferguson.
'There was a lot of scaremongering at the beginning, mainly from
competitors, saying this [the merger] is all about closures. We are
taking our time and working through every situation, they are all
individual.'
In these transfers there have been no redundancies, so careful
planning makes sense. 'You want to hang on to all of the business
when you bring the two together, why would you not be trying to
maintain what you have got and to grow it?
'As we said at the time of the merger our intention is to
re-brand them all and we stick with that. There isn't a time limit
but timescales-wise we will be through most of that by the end of
next year.'
'We believe that from our research we know what customers want
in the market and our belief is that no one in the market is
providing that.'
What has been happening in the early pilot practices, says
Ferguson, is rebranding while making sure from a colleague
perspective and customer perspective the two brands are being
merged together in a positive way. 'If you go to a rebranded
practice we have given evidence to the D&A brand quite a lot,
so on the fascia it has got Boots Opticians but we are also talking
about incorporating D&A on the fascia. What the research is
saying is that D&A customers are happy to give Boots a try and
provided they get the same level of service, care and everything
they are used to they are very happy to be coming to Boots. But
ultimately the D&A brand will not survive and all of the
business will trade as Boots Opticians. The message for customers
is that the brand may have changed but it's the same great
team.'
For many practices the brand over the door hasn't changed yet,
but the work on creating a single culture has, says Ferguson. 'We
joined up the retail structure from day one. When they write the
history of this merger that will be the one thing they will point
to. The trading focus from day one, motivating people, inspiring
people, communication that has been fantastic for us. Internally it
has been operating as one business.
The results of an employee satisfaction survey following the
merger were 2 per cent better than they had been before the merger.
The response rate was very high at 95 per cent. This was a record
score and showed both D&A and Boots staff like the direction
things are moving in, he says. 'There's confidence in someone
wanting to grow the business.'
Ferguson says what also exists is the opportunity to revisit the
whole optical proposition by asking customers what they want,
researching that, looking at competitors, looking at Boots as a
brand and synthesising all of that to find what a compelling offer
going forward is. 'We believe that from our research we know what
customers want in the market and our belief is that no one in the
market is providing that.' He characterises much of that mismatch
as the lack of confidence felt by customers and the negative
proposition that greets it from opticians. 'We need to take the
market to a different place.'
Boots started off championing the right to basic survival, it
moved on to the right for a basic standard of health, then beauty.
The Boots brand now is about championing everyone's right to feel
good.
That whole feel-good, here come the girls thing is where he
wants Boots Opticians to be. 'The fundamental question is one of
confidence, the other thing is its accessibility to everyone. Boots
is a business that has got millions of customers each week loyal to
the brand. We can give those customers reasons to be loyal to Boots
Opticians. It's very exciting for us.'
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