Swiss hearing aid manufacturer to build up the UK's largest hearing care network

The deal was closed following the successful completion of a trial in Northern England, which showed that the Sonetik concept fits perfectly with LloydsPharmacy's holistic philosophy: both companies aim to provide individuals of 65 and older with better and more cost effective health services. Thanks to the partnership with Sonetik, LloydsPharmacy will become the number one hearing care provider in the UK. For Sonetik, LloydsPharmacy with its 1,600 retail stores is the ideal partner for introducing the proven Sonetik business model to the UK and for providing people with age-related hearing loss with simple access to high quality hearing aids.

The Sonetik hearing aid is being sold in the UK for a fixed price of 395 pounds, whereas hearing aids traditionally sold through audiologists are several times more expensive. This is not a loss-leader offer designed to lure potential customers into the stores in order to offer them more expensive models. With buying a Sonetik hearing aid, the customer does receive a high-quality product for this price.

Purchasing the hearing aid is a very simple process. During one of the regular Sonetik hearing days held at their local LloydsPharmacy branch, customers can book an appointment for a free hearing test with a trained Sonetik expert. In less than one hour they will be given a suitable hearing aid. If one of the preset Sonetik hearing aids matches the customer's hearing loss, there is no need for any further investigations or adaptations – unlike with traditional hearing aids. LloydsPharmacy stores can be found in nearly every town, so customers no longer need to travel a long way to visit an audiologist or hospital.

By the start of 2015 at the latest, 500 LloydsPharmacy stores will offer Sonetik hearing days, making the company the largest hearing care network in the country. Chris Frost, Market Development Director at LloydsPharmacy says: "We’re very pleased to be working with Sonetik as they provide a high quality service which complements our community pharmacy offering very well. We know many of our customers are looking for more accessible hearing solutions from a source they can trust and by working with Sonetik we’ve made that search much easier for them. At LloydsPharmacy we do much more than dispense medicines, our aim is to provide advice and services which help people manage their health better and ultimately live more positive lives and our partnership with Sonetik is an excellent example of this in practice."

The partnership with LloydsPharmacy allows Sonetik AG, whose main markets are in Switzerland and the USA, to expand its business to the United Kingdom and thus continue implementing its growth policy. Within the next six months, its sales in the UK will exceed those in Switzerland. Christian Stromsted, CEO of Sonetik, comments: "The partnership with LloydsPharmacy in the UK is the perfect platform for Sonetik to bring our “Better Hearing in 1 Hour” promise to UK customers. The LloydsPharmacy community pharmacies are ideal locations for our high quality hearing tests and for those customers who need it, our state-of-the-art hearing aids that can be purchased at a highly attractive price. Over the next couple of years, Sonetik is focused on establishing LloydsPharmacy as the primary destination for hearing consultations, and Sonetik as the best way to address your hearing concerns."

About Sonetik AG
Sonetik AG is an innovative Swiss hearing system company that offers simple access to high quality hearing tests and hearing aids at attractive prices via new distribution channels including pharmacies and doctors. The company, which was founded in 2007 and is based in Zurich, has a 10% share of the Swiss market and has its own sales subsidiaries in the UK, the Netherlands and the USA. Founder and CEO Christian Stromsted previously worked in the luxury hearing aid sector in Denmark, the Netherlands, the USA and Switzerland.