ADVERTISING - Opticians Association of Canada

The Humphrey’s brand is currently Ronor’sbiggest seller. Humphrey's is an established brandon the leading edge of contemporary style andfashion. “Humphrey's eyewear is for those whoselove to be individual and love to have fun,” saysApril. “With the very latest looks and styling, it iscreated in colourful, distinctive designs for men andwomen in the 20-40 year age range.”Brendel, a collection for 40-60-year-old women,features plenty of detail and is designed to fit adeeper progressive lens. The Brendel collection issimplicity and sophistication combined with confidentfemininity, manufactured from ultra-light, anti-allergytitanium, classic metal or colourful acetate.Other Eschenbach lines include OiO, for kids, Crush, foryoung adults, and TITANflex, for 40-to-60-year-olds. All threeof these modern collections are made with TitanFlex, a superelastictitanium alloy, which achieves perfect comfort and fit.Ronor house brands include Nordic and King Size. Nordicfeatures great contemporary styles for men of all ages, whileKing Size are larger frames designed to fit the king size facewithout sacrificing style and comfort. They are available inmonel and non-allergenic titanium models.But that’s not all. In January, Ronor launched Voila VisionInc., a joint venture with GROSFILLEY Lunettes S.A. of Oyonnax,France, that country’s third largest frame manufacturer.Voila Vision Inc. is now the exclusiveCanadian distributor for the Azzaro, ThierryMUGLER, IKKS and X-ONE collections, saysApril, adding that, “These prestigious Frenchbrands are bringing the trendiest new ‘FrenchLook’ to the Canadian eyewear market.”Launched in 1977, Azzaro’s eyewearcollection is an extension of its successful lineof perfumes and colognes. Constructed around two focalpoints—“chrome spirit” (metallic grey) for its generalcollection and “vintage spirit” (black and silver) for its couturecollection, Azzaro eyewear features conservative contemporarymen’s and women’s designs.Thierry MUGLER, which is also known for its Angelperfume, is designed for women aged 40 to 60 who need adeeper frame to accommodate a progressive lens. “They arefashion forward for the progressive wearer,” says April, addingthat collection features a French look with the Angeltrademark on the temples. There are 20 different styles,available in three colours.The IKKS eyewear collections include IKKS Kid, IKKSJunior and IKKS Women. Created in 1987 by Gérard Legoff,IKKS has always focused on the young in body and spirit,both in its designs and its communications approach. All IKKSKid and IKKS Junior frames feature spring hinges, durablesoldering and scratch-resistant colours.X-ONE is a young, colorful collection based on the revivalof pop art colours. It has 14 models in four colours. The monelframes are fashionable and sensible, according to April, andwill particularly appeal to active, modern urban women whoare looking for reasonably priced, stylish designs.Thanks to such outstanding offerings, frames are now asimportant a part of Ronor’s Canadian business as accessories,says Charbonneau.“Our frame sales have grown 15 per cent annually overthe past four years and in the first four months of itsexistence, Voila Vision Inc. has far exceeded expectations.”Much of the credit for that success goes to Ronor’s teamof 20 sales reps, he notes.“We’re very fortunate to have outstanding sales people,including six anchors, each of whom has at least 20 years inthe business. Two are located in Western Canada, two inOntario and two in the East.“These people know their accounts and the industry verywell. They have a customer focus and provide excellentservice. Plus, our anchors mentor, coach and train our lessexperienced reps, who gain the benefit of their experience inthe optical field.”The combination of great products and good reps makesit easy to succeed, says Charbonneau, adding that Ronorplans to add four additional reps by the end of the year.In addition to its accessory and frames divisions, Ronorexports and sells to 500 major accounts, says April. “This isa private label program involving custom collections for theirstores,” he explains. “We provide them with turnkey productassortment that they can customize to meet their needs.”Wherever they work, Ronor’s 80-plus Canadian basedemployees are committed to delivering a superior customerexperience at all levels. That commitment will be needed tomeet the challenges the company faces in the years ahead.“Our major challenge is to maintain leadership inproduct and grow market share,” says Charbonneau.“To help us attain that goal, we will invade further marketsgeographically.”He acknowledges that the accessories business haschanged tremendously in the past 25 years. “The total volumeof complimentary cases has dropped steadily over the past15 years: there’s greater pressure on the number of units youcan move so we have to navigate faster.”In June, the company added optical-quality readingglasses to its line of accessories and April says Ronor willexpand its product offerings as opportunities presentthemselves.Regardless of its product mix, Ronor will continue to beguided by the philosophy that has steered its first quartercentury of success.“Our prices are not the cheapest,” says Charbonneau.“We will continue to offer innovative, high-quality opticalproducts and accessories in a timely manner and at the bestpossible price on the market.”ISI| COMPANY PROFILE |VISION | jul_aug | 2007 23