Marching Lens
Marching Lens
Opticians & Optical Goods - Market Assessment
Opticians & Optical Goods - Market Assessment
This Market Assessment report provides an analysis of the opticians and optical goods market, which includes spectacles, contact lenses and solutions, laser eye treatment, sight tests and general ophthalmic services. It updates a previous Opticians & Optical Goods Market Assessment report published in August 2008. ( http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=83563&rt=Opticians-Optical-Goods-Market-Assessment.html )
The market suffered the impacts of the recession in 2009 and several sectors experienced falling revenues. The downturn was the first reversal in an upward sales trend that had lasted for some years. Expenditure by opticians and suppliers of optical goods in areas such as main media advertising also declined in 2009, compared with 2008, and this was probably due in part to the recession. However, a growing population — in particular, the number of adults aged 60 and over — meant that the number of NHS sight tests taken in the year to March 2009 increased over the corresponding period of 2007/2008 and helped to sustain income from this source of revenue.
Spectacles are sold in a variety of retail outlets, including opticians, supermarket chains and online suppliers. This contributes to the highly competitive nature of the market, especially during periods of recession. The leading suppliers of spectacles and frames include Carl Zeiss/SOLA, Essilor, Luxottica, Rodenstock, Safilo, Silhouette and the UK-based Norville. Leading optician chains such as Specsavers commit large sums to the advertising and promotion of their spectacles and lenses ranges.
The UK contact-lens market is mature and one of the more successful such markets in Europe. However, it is small in terms of the proportion of people who use contact lenses, compared with some countries, e.g. Japan and the US. The manufacturing side of the market continues to be dominated by the leading multinationals, including Bausch & Lomb, CIBA VISION, Johnson & Johnson and CooperVision, which supply the mass consumer market. Among the leading UK manufacturers of contact lenses is Sauflon Pharmaceuticals, which primarily supplies opticians, optometrists and other eye-care professionals. Another UK producer, Daysoft, supplies contact lenses direct to consumers.
The market for laser eye treatment in the UK has been boosted since 2006 by the increase in the number of clinics offering this service. The centres providing treatment include private clinics, optical practices, private hospitals and NHS hospitals. The private eye-clinic groups have a major presence in the market, with three organisations — Optical Express, Optimax and Ultralase — accounting for almost six out of ten of the clinics in operation. All three of these groups increased their clinic networks in 2009.
The retail environment in the opticians market remains highly competitive, and expansion and consolidation remain key features. In 2009, two of the largest chains — Boots and Dollond & Aitchison (D&A) — merged their activities, and Specsavers continued its store expansion programme both in the UK and overseas. Vision Express also integrated the GC Bateman Group of opticians, which it acquired in 2008, while Tesco further increased the number of its in-store optical practices. However, Sainsbury's, which entered the retail contact-lens market in March 2006, decided to withdraw from the market in 2009 and closed its contact-lens website.
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