Interesting Facts About Sunglasses Industry

The Eyewear industry is an interesting one to consider, as it has certainly proven to be more recession resistant than a lot of other industries. 2013 is also a good year to take a look at the Eyewear industry, as the world economy, and the United States in particular, recovers from the recent financial recession, and in the last few years, the US Eyewear industry has seen some consistent growth.

Shades vs. Prescription eyeglasses: the respective market shares

An interesting element of the Eyewear industry to consider is the distinction between sunglasses and prescription eyeglasses. The sunglasses sector has certainly taken a larger hit during the times of economical crisis, as evidenced by its drop to 5.4% of the Eyewear industry share in 2009, one of the lowest points of the recent recession, particularly in the United States. However, by 2010, as the US economy began to recover, so did the sunglasses share of the Eyewear industry, doubling to 10.3% of an industry that was valued at $32 billion (USD) in 2010.

The leading players

No discussion of the Eyewear industry is complete without mentioning Luxottica – one of the most important figures in the field, and according to this article on Bloomberg Luxottica’s emerging-market sales increased by 17 percent in the first quarter of 2013. In fact, Luxottica is behind a significant majority of name-brand designer sunglasses – many of those that you might think to be in competition with one another. The company outright owns Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, and Oliver Peoples, to name a few, and is the licensed producer for a wide range of designers, including Burberry, Prada, Coach, Ralph Lauren, Versace, and Tory Burch. Luxottica also is an owner of several successful Eyewear retailers, including Lenscrafters.

 Profit Margins

Luxottica’s licensing of these designer name brands puts it in an excellent position in terms of profit margins. The actual production costs for a pair of designer glasses is not that much higher than the production costs for a standard pair. Yet, customers are willing to pay more for the design and the brand name, resulting in greater profit margins for Luxottica and other licensing companies doing the same thing with other designer brands.

Sunglass industry is definitely a very perspective business sector, that continues to grow and attract new investors, and although there are already many big industry players, with a proper market research and enthusiasm any new entrepreneur can become part of it.