19.02.2025
How do Bavarian SMEs implement the strategic approach of "customer centricity"?
In practical company portraits, we show how companies consistently place the customer at the center of their activities - including Rupp + Hubrach Optik GmbH. This best practice shows how customer centricity contributes to entrepreneurial success.
Interview with Ralf Thiehofe: Customer centricity at Rupp + Hubrach Optik GmbH
Rupp + Hubrach is a company from Bamberg that is over a hundred years old and specializes in the manufacture of prescription lenses. As the fifth largest supplier in Germany, the company supplies opticians and large chains such as Fielmann in the B2B sector. A special feature of production is the batch size of one: each lens is manufactured individually according to the prescription values of the end user. Around 12,000 lenses are produced every day and the delivery time is a maximum of five days, even for complex lenses.
Ralf Thiehofe, innovation enthusiast and former Managing Director of Rupp + Hubrach Optik GmbH, told us in an interview how customer centricity is put into practice in his company.
What was your strategy during your 30 years as Managing Director?
Ralf Thiehofe: My vision for Rupp + Hubrach has always been to be as agile a company as possible. Everything changes constantly, every day. I don't think two- or five-year plans make much sense. My vision was to build the company in such a way that we could change direction quickly. When new challenges or crises arise, the whole team should automatically know: "Okay, new framework conditions, we have to set sail again - without losing any time."
Looking back, we succeeded very well. Our customers have come to know us as a fast-acting company that responds quickly to customer needs. The whole team at R+H is used to constantly facing new challenges and reacting to them quickly.
What is your process for accompanying and supporting the customer during innovation?
Thomas Deubel: We have a standardized process for smaller developments. For complex projects, we put together a team from the field sales force, project management and product technology and clarify all requirements step by step. Regular meetings and prototypes help to find the best solution. Every project is different, but the process - from understanding the customer's needs to reaching a joint decision - always remains the same at its core.
What is your sales focus? Is it more existing business or new customer acquisition?
Ralf Thiehofe: It is clearly slow growth. We have a shrinking market of participants. Although there are more spectacle wearers due to the age pyramid, the number of optical stores is decreasing. We still have over 10,000 opticians in Germany, but they are of course highly competitive.
Acquisition takes place through regular contact with the sales force. They know their region, the age structure and must have the right instinct to find the window of opportunity when an optician becomes dissatisfied with their current supplier.
In recent years, we have grown strongly with existing customers. We have carried out a portfolio analysis, segmented our customers and focused on the optician businesses where we saw future potential. Over the last six or seven years, we have grown against the market trend, mainly with existing customers.
An optician usually has two, maximum three suppliers in the spectacle lens sector. Our aim is to satisfy customers so that they buy less and less from their second and third suppliers and concentrate on us as their main supplier.
One important step was to change our sales force from sales representatives to consultants. Our customer advisors help the customer to grow. They analyze their business processes with them and we deliver much more than just lenses - we deliver the entire workflow for their business, including solutions for aftercare for the end user.
What would you wish Rupp + Hubrach for the next 15 years?
Ralf Thiehofe: Our success to date has been very much due to the fact that all employees are allowed to think and act entrepreneurially. I would like to see this freedom maintained as far as possible. This is a challenge, as we are now part of a multinational group.
I am very pleased that my successor comes from within the company. This is a vote of confidence from the Group and shows that they want someone who will fight for R+H.
Our customers perceive us as highly interested. Customer centricity is our success story. From top management to the bottom, the customer must be satisfied. We don't start by asking whether the customer has the right to express a particular wish. We don't put up barriers and say we're not interested in the customer's request because it's not in our catalog. That is the core of our success, and I hope that this will continue.
Interview for Bayern Innovativ, conducted by Katarina Mose, Senior Business Development Manager, Zweitag GmbH, on 30.01.2025.
Successful in the market through customer centricity
We are convinced that companies with a clear focus on the customer are more successful in creating the optimal solution for their
target group. In our opinion, customer centricity is more than just an optimized process - the ideal "customer journey". It is a
company-wide attitude - the customer-centric mindset: We want to maximize added value for our customers. We
focus on long-term customer relationships. We place the "voice of the customer" at the center of everything we do.
As Innovation Management (TIM) at Bayern Innovativ, we show you the path to customer-centric innovation - using selected
company examples. In short portraits of Bavarian SMEs, we shed light on how customer centricity works in practice: from understanding
and defining customer needs to designing products, testing and obtaining feedback.
