ProVision has launched a new website to help the optometry industry to understand and navigate the commercial sale of practices.
Move over Domain. Step aside realestate.com.
There’s a new player in the business sale classifieds game, but with a twist: it’s a platform designed to plug a major gap in the independent Australian optical market.
The site, optometrypracticesales.com.au, is a bold initiative to make the buying and selling of practices around the country easier, encourage new people into the industry, ease the transition for those exiting, and support the retention of independent businesses in a competitive marketplace.
Launched in August 2024, it features listings for optometry practices around the country, but also information about partnership opportunities and resources to support the buyer and seller, to help all better understand the process.
People can also register their interest in certain areas and be notified of upcoming opportunities.
The site is the brainchild of business services manager Mr Mark Corduff and his team at ProVision, which has worked with a number of partners to make it happen and ensure there’s plenty of appropriate expert advice available.
It is a natural extension of the work ProVision already does to support more than 440 independent optometry practices with everything from HR, recruitment and marketing to tailored business coaching and buying power.
That work has always included helping members with succession planning, the buying and selling of practices, as well as commercial leasing.
“I’ve been involved in business sales in the past,” says Corduff. “We had a buy-sell page that ranked as one of the most clicked pages on our site, so naturally we turned our minds to how we could improve it.”
He and others recognised the process could be better and more meaningful, not only for buyer and seller but also the industry.
“I always found it can be frustrating from both the buyer’s and seller’s point of view,” he says.
“Typically, you’ve got 100 words to play with in an ad, maybe one photo, if you’re lucky, and they’re generally pretty cryptic.”
Often there was not enough information and potential buyers would get in touch with him anyway, to see if he might be able to shed a little more light on a business they were interested in.
So Corduff and others, inspired by what they had seen on other commercial real estate and car sales sites, and a couple of similar ventures in the US, started to put the new optometry-dedicated website together.
ProVision’s senior web development and digital specialist team was invaluable in the process, particularly the tricky nuts and bolts of building a new platform.
But there were other challenges to overcome, including how to tailor all of this to the optometry industry.
“We’ve got plenty of experience in the buying and selling of practices, but what exactly do sellers need to put on the table, and what are buyers looking for? It’s not always completely transparent,” Corduff explains.
“We had to put our optometry hats on: How many consulting rooms are there? Are there any special interests? How is the lease length, even down to what is the profit and what is the asking price?”
Working with experts in other fields has helped too.
ProVision is careful to point out that it is not a real estate business, that it’s not getting involved in the buying or selling process; the new website is merely a shop window to help others understand what is out there so they can connect with other professionals if they need more technical or targeted advice.
“We’ve worked with a range of specific referral partners, in broking, in finance, for buyers, legal, so being able to link up with them and have that one-stop shop for when someone jumps in and says, ‘I’m ready to sell. Who do I turn to?’,” he says. “Being able to understand who to go to, where to go and how to save time and get the best commercial outcome is the key idea of all this.”
Another important objective is support for independent optometry practices and maintaining retention in that segment of the industry.
Notably – and despite the rapid expansion of corporate-run practices during the past 15 years – independents are still the majority in the national optical market.
With that in mind, even non-ProVision-affiliated businesses can use the new service.
Corduff encourages all independent practitioners to access the site, which is free to use.
“Our mission is to keep practices independent, no matter who they’re aligned with, and we just hope this makes things simpler for everyone,” he says.
“We’ve got templates and tools to save them time and money and provide them advice.
“There are some great brokers there too, so when someone thinks, ‘look, I really don’t know where to start, I’m flat out, I want someone to take care of this for me’, that can be a really good option for them as well.”
He says the website has arrived at an ideal time, amid strong interest in the optometry industry.
“I’ve never seen as many interested buyers, and they’re primarily around CBD areas, so Melbourne and Sydney are in high demand, but we’re seeing some regional interest as well.
“They are looking at the benefits there of an improved lifestyle, lower cost of living, community, and more.”
He believes the site will appeal to professionals considering the next step and those at different stages of their careers.
“We’re seeing a lot coming out of uni, working for a few years, and then looking at the option of ownership for that flexibility, freedom, and of course, the clinical care piece as well,” he says.
On the flip side there are practitioners keen to retire and move on, to give those younger colleagues a chance. Many want to sell to the right person.
“The majority will say, ‘I want to exit on my terms. I want the practice to remain independent’,” Corduff says.
“And then it becomes tricky, because they even narrow it down to, ‘I’m looking for a specific type of dispenser to take over the practice and continue the legacy, because my patients are important to me, so I’m happy to transition out and train someone up’.
“One of the big realisations we’ve had is this gap between the generation that have been doing it for some time and the younger generation looking to come in. And it was, how do we bridge that gap and connect?”
Corduff and his team believe the site will go some way towards achieving that.
But like the industry ProVision represents, it will need to constantly evolve as well. It is already planning upgrades to the website to make the process even easier for those keen to buy or sell a business.
“I think there’s some more information we can put in there for buyers that we’re working on at the moment, including the potential of a valuation calculator, because it’s usually the first question lots of people ask – how do I value the practice?
“So we’ll be collaborating with referral partners and other industry professionals to expand on the information that buyers and sellers would find valuable.”
Corduff and the team at ProVision are proud of what they have achieved, but they don’t see the likes of Domain and realestate.com getting too nervous and looking anxiously over their shoulders.
“We’re definitely going to stick to optometry.”
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