Status: 02.07.2021 2:12 p.m.
The crush on the Frankfurt trading floor continues: Today the online optician Mister Spex went public successfully. What do Berliners do differently than market leader Fielmann?
By Bianca von der Au, ARD stock exchange studio, and Notker Blechner,
tagesschau.de
Today Mister Spex provided the perspective at the old stock exchange. The Berlin-based online optician started retailing at EUR 25.38 – and was thus slightly above the issue price of EUR 25. Mister Spex’s shares continued to rise until noon. Most recently, the papers cost 25.60 euros. The employees who had traveled were delighted.
Mister Spex combines classic optician services with virtual offers. Even an online eye test is possible. According to its own information, the company offers a selection of 100 eyewear brands. You can choose them online or in one of the 42 shops, 39 of them in Germany, and in partner branches.
From online eye tests to buying glasses
“We have turned the traditional outside-determined concept of glasses sales upside down,” says Mirko Caspar, co-boss of the company, explaining the business model of Mister Spex. “Every customer can freely take all glasses and try them out.” He gets QR codes delivered to his home and can then conveniently look at everything there again. “The customer can decide when and where to buy. They can try – as much as they want and without hidden costs. That is what defines the shopping experience.”
“The user can upload his picture and then virtually try on his glasses online”, explains trade expert Jörg Funder from the University of Worms, how buying glasses works in the new digital world. In addition, Mister Spex also cooperates with dealers who sell glasses for customers. Funder: “This is a service network in the real world.”
Competitive advantage over Fielmann
IT consultant Roland Fiege sees this mixture of stationary and digital distribution channels as a competitive advantage over the top dogs like Fielmann or Apollo-Optik, who have slept through the online business for a long time. “Obviously, at least once, they gave a start-up enough time to dig into this market,” believes Fiege. “If you fundamentally question a business model and turn it upside down, i.e. with a very strong online focus, then these ideas rarely come from existing corporate structures.”
The eyewear business is still hardly digitized. Only just under 13 percent of glasses purchases have so far been made online – with sales in the European glasses market of around 32 billion euros per year. Co-boss Caspar still sees a lot of potential here. Two thirds of eyewear buyers would not have fun visiting opticians, he found. As an omni-channel optician, Mister Spex wants to establish itself as the market leader.
Money should flow into the expansion of the branches
The company intends to continue expanding with the proceeds from the IPO, which at 375 million euros was slightly lower than expected. The number of 39 branches in Germany is to be increased further. In addition, internationalization is to be promoted. So far, the optician is present in ten countries. There are three shops in Vienna and Stockholm.
The company, founded in 2007, has been growing at double-digit rates for years. In 2020, sales rose by 18 percent to 164 million euros, while the industry shrank by double digits. Operationally, the company earned seven million euros. Mister Spex has been profitable since 2018.
Consolidation in the optician market
There is currently a lot of movement in the optician market. The Italian-French eyewear group EssilorLuxottica, which also includes Ray Ban glasses, is now taking over the parent company of Apollo-Optik GrandVision for around seven billion euros. Interesting detail: EssilorLuxottica also has a stake of 50 million euros in Mr Spex.
Mister Spex continues the IPO boom. This year, more companies went public than they have been since 2000. Digital business models are very popular here. Online retailers in particular took to the floor. Given the zero interest rates and limited lending by banks, the stock market is becoming increasingly attractive as a way of raising capital.
Because start-ups in particular still have a tough time in Germany. There is little risk capital in Germany, especially in the final phase of setting up a company. The federal government wants to change that. KfW recently announced a future fund worth ten billion euros, which is intended to improve the financing of young, innovative companies. Mister Spex received support from a high-tech start-up fund that has been involved in the optician chain since 2008.
Mister Spex is on the stock exchange
Bianca von der Au, ARD Börse, July 2nd, 2021 2:13 p.m.