The Indian eyewear market whose lion’s share of 80 percent owned by the unorganised market is experiencing an influx of organised eyewear players that are poised to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 15 percent according to a report from Deloitte.
The constant efforts to look beautiful on platforms like Instagram have transformed the eyewear accessories into fashion statements equalling shoes and handbags from being a mere solution for vision-related issues. Organised eyewear players are targeting youngsters majorly with sleeker and stylish frames of sunglasses and spectacles.
According to a report of Deloitte, in the total eyewear market pie of $13.6 billion, sunglasses and spectacles are expected to be $2.2 billion and $9.9 billion that will grow at 10.4 percent and 9.1 percent by 2024 respectively.
Trends in the Eyewear Market
Influences from Pop-Culture, Actors and Sportsperson
Round framed spectacles worn by Harry Potter soon gained popularity as wearing them showcased an intellectual look like the character. Similarly, cat-eyed sunglasses worn by influencers and aviator sunglasses are made popular by actors of Bollywood and Hollywood. Also, India’s population comprises a larger young population who are conscious about looks and matching the attire with the eyewear.
Increasing Purchase Power
Consumers earlier bought spectacles that should suffice their basic eyesight needs and never cared about how they look. With an increase in purchasing power and the need to look better in spectacles, people have started investing in sleeker frames and different colours and designs.
High Margins
Companies are entering the eyewear space owing to the high margins offered as markups over 300% exist between the cost and retail price of certain products. This has lowered the barrier for new entrants that have made eyewear highly affordable and has commoditised it to a greater extent.
Increased screen time
There has been a significant increase in screen exposure during the pandemic. Work from home and children studying from PCs and laptops has been hurting eyes resulting in the purchase of computer eyeglasses. The blue light emitted from the screens of mobile, laptops, or PCs dries up the retina causing strain in the eyes. These dedicated computer spectacles block or absorb blue light to keep screen time comfortable.
Comfortable Online Buying
With e-commerce shopping being the new norm, eyewear players are offering convenience online eyewear shopping by creating dedicated product pages according to face type -round, triangle, square, oval, etc. Moreover, with facial recognition tools brands are determining the customer’s face type to help them select the right eyewear.
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As per Deloitte, the Indian eyewear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 9 percent to reach $13.6 billion by 2024
How are Indian eyewear brands performing?
When it comes to the organised eyewear market the first name that pop’s out is Lenskart which initially began D2C is enjoying the first-mover advantage for revolutionising the unorganised eyewear market with its omnichannel strategy.
In July 2021, Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital made a $220 million investment in Lenskart, taking the startup’s valuation to $2.5 billion. In 2020, it sold about 8 million pairs of eyewear. It plans to penetrate deeper into tier-IV and V cities to strengthen its brick-and-mortar chain through its Lenskart Lite model where a micro-entrepreneur would need to invest Rs 20 lakhs for setting up a Lenskart shop. This model aims at yielding higher margins and ROI and gives a faster payback period.
Meanwhile, Titan Eyeplus, while keeping a pulse on consumer pain points brought innovations in its products by introducing anti-fog spectacles and sunglasses, and anti-viral frames to reduce the fog accumulation on lenses arising due to wearing masks. With this, Titan Eyeplus’ revenue crossed 2020s figures.
What Lies Ahead for the Indian Eyewear Players?
As per Deloitte, the eyewear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 9 percent to reach $13.6 billion by 2024 driven by strong demographics and a growing economy. Meanwhile, the demand for eyewear will be present as most people working from home would be interested to purchase spectacles that give comfort while working with the screens. Moreover, innovations in eyewear products like anti-fog spectacles and sunglasses are expected to drive demand and generate sales.
