The former artisan jeweler Javier Agulleiro decided in 2012 to redirect his career and has found a future for himself and his family in the deafness correction sector.
After closing his jewelry workshop due to the crisis in the sector, Agulleiro, his wife and their three children created the company Audio Techno Clinic, with the trade name Audioclinic, to enter a business “taken over by Gaes” in which they see plenty of room to gain a foothold, since, in Agulleiro’s opinion, “hearing aid prices are high because there is a lack of competition”.
The company opened its first establishment on January 2 in the commercial center of Valencia, on Calle Colón. It was a pilot test to see if it would work, and it worked.
As of June, it launched its expansion plan with two other centers in Valencia, one in Torrent (Valencia) and another in Castellón. In 2014 it will open another five in towns at the head of the region, such as Sagunto, Gandía or Alzira. According to Agulleiro, “customers are older people who find it more difficult to move, you have to get close to them.” With 10 centers, it will still be far from Gaes, which in the Valencian Community has 77.
All the clinics are their own and the average investment in each one is around 40,000 euros. The financing, according to the Valencian entrepreneur, is his own, since “banks don’t give anything.” All centers are run by hearing care professionals with at least 10 years of experience.
compete on price
Agulleiro maintains that it can compete on price with the industry leader, because “Gaes is very expensive” and hearing aids can be sold for less than half the price. “What there costs 2,500 here is for 975, although I have seen that they are already lowering it,” he reveals.
He ensures that the quality is the same, since Audioclinic has international suppliers -Rexton (Siemens), Unitron or Hansaton- who selected the Agulleiro after visiting sector fairs in the United States, France and Germany. The company has a laboratory in Burriana (Castellón), where it manufactures hearing aids and repairs not only its own, but those of any brand.
Direct negotiation with suppliers, without intermediaries, is one of the keys to being able to offer low prices. Another is that Audioclinic does not spend a single euro on marketing among ENT specialists, as it does the competition with the so-called sales representatives.
According to Agulleiro, “all this has a cost, which affects the final price.” The company invests a small amount in advertising, since its strategy is to “go direct to the consumer” that approaches its clinics.
The former jeweler assures that his new business is not so different from the previous one, since the hearing aid business is “meticulous and precise” work.
He calculates that the average annual turnover per center will be around 250,000 euros, so that in 2014 it could be close to 2.5 million sales, depending on when the planned openings end.
A business with few actors
The Spanish sector of hearing centers is dominated by Gaes, a Catalan multinational with more than 500 points of sale that in 2011 had a turnover of 183 million euros and which has a national market share of more than 40 percent.
They are followed, by far, by the Italian Amplifon, world leader, with 120 centers and 200 collaborators, mainly opticians, and the German Audifon. A year ago, the Dutch company Audionova entered Spain, having already established itself in Portugal and opening three centers in Galicia.
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