Unicorn with a contagious smile
Breaking Moulds
The health sector is not inmune to digital transformation and improved customer experience. Smile Direct Club has identified as an opportunity to facilitate a smile with well-aligned dentures without having to go through the brackets, frequent visits to the orthodontist and with a 60% smaller budget.
In just 3 years it has already more than 300 stores of its own in Usa, and it has recently started (3T 2019) its expansion in Canada, UK and Australia.
It makes the experience more accessible. The customer chooses how and where to start it: at home or in one of its stores
The innovation focuses on making an orthodontic treatment easier and more accessible by means of invisible moulds, made using 3D printers that the customer changes without having to go to the physical consultation of the specialist. Using an initial kit that is received at home or on a visit to its stores, the treatment is initiated and it is monitor by the specialists remotely used an app on the mobile. The duration of treatment has been reduced by half (6-8 months) of the traditional and cost by 60% less.
Sales growth and astronomical losses
Belonging to the “unicorns” league (start-up with a valuation of over USD 1 billion) listed since this September 2019 on the Nasdaq. As appropriate, it has been doubling annually its income and losses over the past 3 years. Customer experience at the stroke of a talonary.
Specialists in Strategy and Retail Operations
Initial challenges. Their main supplier and corporativism of specialists
Not everything has been pink in their way. After a frustrated initial collaboration with its Invisalign supplier, it has currently the largest existing global plant of moulds made using HP 3D printers (produces 20 million moulds per year).
The main challenge it faces now is the corporate struggle undertaken by the collectives of orthodontic professionals who are trying to stop their expansion.
Extreme Omnichannel
Its website, with more than 5 million visits, feeds its store network in shopping centers and urban centers. It also has a fleet of travelling buses to bring the experience to new places before the opening of new shops.The channel with the highest growth is the progressive opening of up to 1,500 “implants” corners with reduced dimensions within CVS pharmacies/drugstores in the USA.
The management team has already extensive experience in this type of situation. They have previously developed similar businesses in:
- Contact Lenses (1-800 contacts)
- Diabetes Care (Simplex Health)
- Hearing Aids (Hearing Planet)
Retail Implications
In all these cases they have applied the same recipe:
- Simplification of product/service range with the implementation of technological innovation
- Competitive priced
- Elimination of friction points in the customer experience
- Greater self-control by the customerl of the process Omnichannel
- Selective use of a physical network of stores, own and third parties
With an initial overvaluation (like good Unicorn it is) and downward stock exchange quotation , Smile Direct Club is an example of the current transformation taking place in Retail.
There are no exceptions. Which subsector will be next one?
More info: carlos.dominguez@mheconsumer.com
