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The working world in the corona pandemic affects some home workers on the mind and many in the home office on the eyes.
The need for glasses increases due to the intensive and increasing hours in front of the computer.
Studies suggest that homeschooling will turn a generation of students into glasses wearers.
It is hardly surprising that opticians are particularly interested in so-called blue filter coatings on spectacle lenses, which offer protection against radiation from monitors.
Optician chains report that every fourth glasses order is bought with this extra and at a surcharge of typically 30 euros.
When looking at the optics market, it is initially surprising that Germans bought fewer glasses in the Corona year 2020, but sometimes spent more money on individual orders.
According to data from the Nuremberg market research institute GfK (Growth from Knowledge), the overall market has shrunk by seven percent to less than six billion euros in sales.
Source: Getty;
Infographic WORLD
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But worlds are opening up between online trading and retail stores, as buying over the Internet has gone against the trend at the market leader Mister Spex, for example.
The manager sees calmly that some competitors are giving up their years of restraint and discovering online trading: “The denial of reality is decreasing,” says Dirk Graber, Managing Director of Mister Spex, WELT.
Nevertheless, optician chains such as Pro Optik, Bode or Kind are planning dozens of new eyewear stores to open this year.
This, in turn, is often followed by takeovers of small and medium-sized companies that give up operations for economic reasons or due to a lack of successors.
The takeover offer is here: In Germany there are around 100 small chains of eyewear shops that operate between ten and 15 locations.
This is likely to reinforce the trend this year that the total number of opticians will again shrink slightly and, on the other hand, the concentration on larger chains will increase significantly.
Even the dominant chain store Fielmann, who sells every second pair of glasses in the country, is still opening new stores in Germany.
Source: WORLD infographic
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This comparison shows the development: Between 2013 and 2019, the number of opticians in Germany decreased by 500 to around 11,500 companies.
At the same time, the industry's turnover rose by around one billion euros during the period.
That means that significantly more business was done, just in fewer optics companies.
The winners are the optician chains.
In the corona pandemic, opticians did not have to close their shops, and some chains closed their stores of their own accord.
Many of them work with appointments.
The supply situation in eyewear production has not been endangered anywhere so far.
Like large parts of the industry, Mister Spex also purchases the majority of eyeglass frames from manufacturers in Asia.
Eyeglass lenses, on the other hand, come predominantly from the German brand manufacturers Rodenstock and Zeiss as well as from Hoya Vision in Japan.
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"We increased the quantities in purchasing in good time and stocked up our stocks," says Mister Spex boss Graber.
The eyewear retailer from Berlin with around 1000 employees operates 35 of its own optician's shops in addition to the dominant online trade.
Half of the locations were added last year.
The aim is to have 100 eyewear shops.
In the months of lockdown and restrictions, the online retailer gained customers.
“We were able to more than compensate for the decline in the stores and last year we grew sales at a double-digit percentage rate,” says Graber.
In part, this is also because customers spent more money on glasses.
The average retail price per order of glasses has risen by ten euros to 180 euros.
According to its own statement, Mister Spex's turnover has increased by double-digit percentages every year since the company was founded in 2007.
In the 2019 financial year it was 139 million euros.
Customers spend more money on glasses
However, the optician chains are far apart when it comes to digitization and information technology in the optician trade.
Mister Spex is considered one of the pioneers in the industry and has been offering an eye test via smartphone and computer for several months.
According to its own statement, the procedure has been checked by the Technical Monitoring Association.
However, the tests are currently limited to certain myopia values and a maximum age.
The selection and fitting of glasses models in 3-D representation are also part of the offer.
With the takeover of the technology start-up Tribe, the scanning of the face via the smartphone is now to be made usable for adjusting glasses, for example.
The aim of the development is the individual production of glasses from the 3-D printer.
"We are working on the perfectly fitting and custom-made individual item," says Graber.
In terms of price, the 3-D printed glasses should be “very competitive”.
The majority of the optics industry is still hesitant to move into digitization and often only uses the online shop for advice.
A typical example of this is Pro Optik from Wendlingen am Neckar.
The number three in the industry in Germany recently started offering online advice via video.
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"An eye test on the Internet is currently difficult to map 100 percent," says Pro-Optik boss Micha Siebenhandl.
In any case, he advises the customer to seek personal advice from an ophthalmologist or optician.
This will only change through the use of artificial intelligence to assess eyesight.
The Zeiss optics company, for example, is working on such a solution.
Pro-Optik boss Siebenhandl, who previously worked for the North American eyewear manufacturer Marchon, is initially relying on advice via chat in the online shop.
“The glasses are a medical product,” says the manager.
That is why the customer needs support from specialist staff when making a purchase.
On the other hand, the manager is pushing the branch expansion much more strongly.
In the next few years, up to 30 locations are to be added to the approximately 150 eyewear shops, partly through takeovers and partly through a franchise system.
Online sales alone do not work optimally
The business of Pro Optik in the shops suffered significantly in the year of the corona pandemic.
Sales fell by six percent to 125 million euros.
For the current year, however, company boss Siebenhandl expects an increase in sales of eleven percent.
“A traffic jam has built up among customers.
They will make up for the postponed purchase of glasses this year, ”says the manager.
As evidence of its strategy and the expansion of the branches, Siebenhandl cites the competitor Mister Spex, which now wants to open a large number of its own shops.
"Online sales didn't work there 100 percent on their own," says the manager.
In addition, most online opticians didn't make any money, he claims.
One reason for this is the high number of returns.
This return offer has also prevailed in glasses sales, even if it means that glasses that have been returned and previously individually made for the customer must be destroyed afterwards.
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The optician industry is still in demand.
International investors have been looking closely at German eyewear companies for years.
Pro Optik is owned by the investment company Paragon Partners and was only recently bought from the two founders.
The shares of Mister Spex are held by the private investor Albert Büll, Goldman Sachs and the Scottish Equity Partner fund.
Management and employees account for around 15 percent.
From the point of view of the donors, the sale of glasses is very interesting.
The business is not cyclical and promises steady growth due to the aging population.
In addition, the increasing use of smartphones and work on computer screens are causing myopia to rise.
Around the world, the number of young people who wear glasses has doubled in the past 15 years.