Fielmann made glasses cheap and insured — and turned Germany's optician market upside down

When Günther Fielmann opened his first shop in Cuxhaven in 1972, German opticians kept glasses out of sight, quoted uniformly high prices, and offered statutorily insured customers only eight 'ugly frames' — a visible stigma of low income. His motto: 'You are the customer.'

In 1981 he delivered 'Brillenchic zum Nulltarif' — 90 quality frames in 640 variants at no cost to insured customers — and added a satisfaction guarantee plus a money-back guarantee if the same product was sold cheaper elsewhere. The industry sued; Fielmann expanded faster, reaching about 50 branches eight years after founding.

The economics came from vertical integration: Fielmann built its own lens and frame production and logistics in Rathenow, cutting out wholesalers, and trained opticians at its own academy, which educates over 40% of Germany's new opticians from just 5% of the country's optical shops.