current role as President of Optical
Retail, Australia and New Zealand.Luxottica’s international expansion has
led its wholesale distribution network
to cover more than 150 countries and
7,200 stores. In addition to its presence
in Australia and New Zealand, headed
up by Anthea, it also runs LensCrafters
and Pearle Vision in North America,
OPSM and LensCrafters in Asia–Pacific, GMO in Latin America and
Sunglass Hut worldwide. Anthea was
able to mix and match her experience
and build a successful long-term
career with the various organisations
thanks to the Group’s vertically
integrated business model, which
has grown to cover the entire value
chain from design, product
development and manufacturing, to
logistics and distribution.“When I first got accepted into the role
I saw a huge responsibility to continue
the legacy of OPSM in Australia and
New Zealand. It is an 84-year-old
company, one of the oldest retailers in
Australia, so there is the opportunity to
keep that going, and to leverage off the
history of the organisation,” she
explains. “I have been considering how
to reignite the brand and push it back
to being the leader in the market — we
are currently number two. So that was
really the big opportunity for me, to
take this Australian institution back to
where it belongs.”With this long-term goal, Luxottica is
looking for opportunities to open new
stores, and has already seen moderate
store growth across the region. This is
blended with its other growth priority
that will see Luxottica raising the bar in
terms of in-store eye testing. “With the
addition of new technologies, closer
collaboration with the medical industry
and more digitised components in the
stores, it will allow better service and a
more streamlined customer experience,”
says Anthea.The company also features a large
number of long-term workers that bring
with them a wealth of technical
know-how. In fact many of Luxottica’s
employees have been working in the
stores for the duration of their whole
careers until retirement, Anthea
explains. With a long history of service
and employee retention setting the“I always say, ‘if you don’t like
your job then get a new one’,
because you have got to have
something to get you out
of bed in the morning.
I really believe in what we do,
and I love It.” – Anthea MuirEXECUTIVE INTERVIEW