The Voice of Retail Seeing Opportunity: Specsavers Talks Canadian Eyeware Vision
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
UK-based eyewear brand, Specsavers, has kicked off a $10 million investment in Canadian marketing alongside a roadmap to opening 200 stores across the country.
Today on The Voice of Retail, grab your reading glasses for this close-up look at Specsavers’ strategy to enter the Canadian market. I sit down with the company’s General Manager & Executive Vice President, Bill Moir to talk about the big news.
Bill offers insight on the company’s decision, how they plan to enter an already saturated North American market and how their marketing mix and powerful business model is ready to take on the challenge and improve Canadian eye care at the same time.
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into Barbeque, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Have a safe week everyone!
About Bill Moir
Marketing / Ecommerce / Commercial specialist in consumer facing organisations focussed on: customer proposition development; business growth; turnaround; go-to-market strategies; marketing effectiveness; digital transformation.
PROFILE
Fifteen years’ Executive Board experience, in marketing, ecommerce and commercial roles, incorporating over 20 years multichannel retail expertise. Instigated and directed change programmes to: introduce multichannel customer experiences and launch products globally; double advertising and brand recognition; increase repeat purchases by 80% and ROI by 40%. Used commercial acumen and customer insight to double market share and turned around business areas to restore market share growth. Applied a flexible leadership style to build high performance teams.
Specialties: Leadership, trading, retail, customer insights, marketing, ecommerce, advertising, branding and identity, CRM, purchasing / buying, negotiation, social media marketing, team development, merchandising; customer proposition development; business growth; turnaround; go-to-market strategies; marketing effectiveness; digital transformation.
To find out more about business opportunities at Specsavers visit spectrum-specsavers.ca or contact the partnership team at enquiries.ca@specsavers.com
- You can register for one of the upcoming information sessions in February at https://specsavers-spectrum.ca/info-session/. Retail professionals will be taken through the business ownership model and benefits in detail.
- If you’d like to link up with Bill Moir directly then you can at linkedin.com/in/billmoir1
About Michael
Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide. Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in 2022.
Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.
The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact.
Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.
Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.
Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.
Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.