The eyewear market in India covering spectacles, designer frames, sunglasses, and contact lenses was valued at around US $ 7.2 billion in 2018, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). The market is still greatly disorganized in India and so it offers an enormous scope to grow for those who are willing to enter into the eyewear industry in an organized way. As per the recent market stats, the contact lens market in India is rising at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 25% while the sales of disposable contact lenses are growing tremendously at a rate of about 30%. More than 40 lakh pairs of contact lens are sold annually! Nearly 450 million people in India require vision correction and currently less than 25% use spectacles.
Fashion consciousness and increased consumer awareness forecast high growth for luxury spectacles
Meanwhile, luxury eyewear is still in the budding phase with high-end and premium sunglasses accounting for 20% and 10% of the market respectively. This segment observed remarkable growth in 2016 and registered retail value growth of 30% with overall sales reaching INR 38.8 billion. Today eyewear is not perceived as a visual aid as it was considered 20 years back, and a majority of the youth consider wearing eyewear as a fashion statement, also branded sunglasses display technological advances and luxury. Besides, they follow their favourite influencers and prefer to buy luxury sunglasses worn by celebrities. This changing inclination of affluent Indian customers in India, mainly in terms of their fashion preferences, has played a key role in the market growth of luxury eyewear.
Market Trends in Luxury Eyewear: what types of glasses are in fashion
The trends in the luxury eyewear industry keep varying subject to changing fashion preferences. In women’s eyewear series heavy trendy eyeglasses, hipster silhouettes, and vintage round glasses are trending the chart while elegant silhouettes such as beautiful cat-eye and square frames are as significant as always. In men’s eyewear series the Classic Aviators, Wayfarers, Dark Lenses, and gold metal eyeglasses are trending. This swing from a functional necessity to a fashion accessory generates great opportunities to international leading brands and some of the luxury brands like Giorgio Armani, Cartier, Prada, and Gucci to name a few have started selling their premium eyewear products in India through reputed retailers. Some of the Italian eyewear brands are making huge capital investments in starting new retail outlets across India. According to recent market research, the revenue in the luxury eyewear segment extends to US $ 22,571 million in 2020. The luxury eyewear market is estimated to grow yearly by 1.9% (CAGR 2020-2023).
Trust in store-based retailing
Over the last years, it was observed that many leading international brands influence various distribution channels, particularly online retailing to drive market penetration. If we are considering the statistics, there could be about 20,000 opticians in India, spread across rural and urban areas. Though, the metropolitan and tier-2 cities would have nearby half of it. Seeing the scope, the established players in the eyewear segment are expanding their footprints through franchising, providing aspiring entrepreneurs with an opportunity to foray into the segment and be part of this fast-growing market. One such well-established and renowned player in the eyewear segment is Bonton Opticians, which is the most preferred and trusted name in premium eyewear fashion. The company caters to every market segment: economical, luxury, and premium luxury. It also offers products made by some of the best professionals in eyewear design, combined with the best and rare material found on the planet and put together by the finest production team. Recently they have started Franchisee Owned Franchisee Operated (FOFO) business model across India for pure investors looking for a lucrative business.