Glasses manufacturing industry chain
The upstream of the men's sunglasses industry chain includes raw materials and auxiliary materials needed for the production of components such as frame, temple, and nose pad, as well as sports glasses production equipment, including crystal, glass, resin, PC materials, titanium metal, stainless steel, alloy, silicone, and cutting machines, grinding machines, welding machines, polishing machines, coating machines, etc. From the perspective of the evolution of lens materials, it has gone through stages of natural materials, inorganic materials to organic materials. Resin lenses have become the mainstream due to their light weight and low price. The middle part is the eyewear manufacturing companies, which include the manufacturing and assembly of lenses and frames. Currently, the production technology of raw materials such as the resin monomers of high refractive index lenses is mainly controlled by a few countries such as Japan and South Korea. Domestic eyewear suppliers mostly focus on the research and production of low refractive index resin monomers. The downstream is mainly composed of agents, distributors and lens retailers, among which retailers include chain best spectacles retailers, athletic glasses retail stores, e-commerce platforms, private ophthalmic hospitals and eyewear fitting centers affiliated to general hospitals, etc.
The Current Situation of the Chinese clubmaster sunglasses Industry
Currently, glasses have deeply integrated into our daily lives and have become an indispensable companion for many people. Whether in study, work, exercise, or leisure and entertainment, glasses play a significant role and have a profound impact on our quality of life. With the penetration of electronic products in daily life and the increase in eye usage scenarios, vision problems are gradually becoming more common among younger people, leading to an expanding base of people with vision problems. At the same time, China has a large population base, and people of different age groups have different functional demands for lens products. Especially with the popularity of the internet, the development of the eyewear industry is constantly evolving, promoting the continuous release of multi-level visual health and fashion consumption demands in China, and thereby driving the rapid development of the eyewear industry in our country. In 2023, the retail market size of the eyewear industry in China was 91.3 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 14.84%. In the future, with the trend of brand strategy layout, brand building, self-operated store construction, and service upgrades of eyewear brands, the growth rate of the domestic eyewear market will remain optimistic.
China is not only a major producer of eyewear but also a major exporter of the eyewear market. In recent years, as the raw materials for most eyewear products and the eyewear products themselves have become more independently supplied in China, the overall import of eyewear products and related components in China has shown a downward trend, while exports have far exceeded imports. Since 2024, the Chinese eyewear industry has fully implemented the decisions and instructions of the Central Committee and the State Council, adhering to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability through progress, continuously deepening transformation and upgrading, and striving to overcome the complexity, severity and uncertainty of the external environment as well as the continuous deepening of domestic structural adjustment. The economic operation situation in the first half of 2024 has been generally positive. In the first half of 2024, supported by factors such as the orderly and stable operation of the supply chain and the recovery of domestic and foreign market demand, the production of eyewear frames by over 500 large-scale eyewear enterprises across the country achieved positive growth year-on-year. The scale of product imports and exports continued to expand, with the total import and export amount reaching 4.726 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.92% year-on-year. Among them, the import amount was 786 million US dollars, an increase of 6.19%; the export amount was approximately 3.941 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.87%.
Analysis of the Distribution and Competitive Landscape of the Chinese Optical Industry
From the perspective of the circulation chain, most of the raw materials and eyewear products in China's eyewear industry can now be independently supplied. Most enterprises are located in the middle production stages of the value chain. There are many regional lens enterprises with small scales, mainly engaged in assembly business. Currently, there are multiple eyewear production bases and distribution centers in China. Among them, Jiangsu Danyang, Guangdong Shenzhen, Fujian Xiamen, and Zhejiang Wenzhou are the four major eyewear production bases in China. Among them, Danyang is the largest eyewear lens production base in China and is known as the "Capital of Chinese Eyewear", with over 1,600 eyewear-related enterprises, 50,000 employees, and an annual production volume of over 400 million pairs of lenses, accounting for 75% of the national lens production volume and 50% of the global total. Shenzhen Henggang is the largest production base for medium and high-end eyewear in the world, with over 600 production-type enterprises and 400 retail stores. Its products are mainly exported to 120 countries and regions. The Tong'an District of Fujian Xiamen has the title of "China's Sun Glasses Production Base", with over 80% of the high-end sun glasses products in the domestic market. At the same time, with the advancement of the industrial transfer wave, a number of eyewear production enterprises in the southeast coastal areas of China, represented by Guangdong, have begun to migrate to inland areas, forming certain-scale industrial clusters in inland regions such as Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Henan, promoting the concentration development of the industry.
As the market size of eyewear continues to expand, the broad development prospects have attracted a large number of enterprises from both domestic and foreign countries to enter the Chinese eyewear industry. The market competition has become increasingly fierce. Among them, foreign eyewear enterprises such as Essilor, Zeiss, Lotos, and Valeant have entered the Chinese market through investment and acquisition methods. Most of them have leading technological advantages and high brand premiums, thus occupying the high-end market of eyewear in China. While domestic mainstream brands such as Wanxin Optics, Mingyue Lens, and Xintianhong Optics adopt differentiated competition strategies. They withdraw from the overly competitive low-end and low-price markets and focus on the mid-range price segment. In addition, fast fashion eyewear stores like Mu Ji Shi and LOHO have emerged in China. Relying on personalized customization services and fashionable elements, they quickly connect the national sales network and form a certain brand effect.
Functional glasses have become the mainstream in the market.
With the development of the economy, consumers' demands for eyewear products have become increasingly diverse. According to the different types of needs of consumers, the eyewear market has emerged various types of functional eyewear, such as digital eyewear for groups that use electronic devices for a long time, progressive glasses for students' myopia management, color-changing eyewear for those sensitive to light, and presbyopia progressive eyewear for the elderly. These functional eyewear provide personalized eyewear products for the overall population's eye health management. In the future, as AI, databases, VR and other technologies become increasingly mature and the industry integration continues to accelerate, China's eyewear industry is expected to break through the existing development bottlenecks and achieve more intelligent and portable eyewear products entering the market.
2. Local enterprises comprehensively enhance their brand influence
At present, the majority of eyewear manufacturers and retailers in our country focus on product production and the establishment of sales channels, while investing relatively less in brand building. As a result, they have not yet left a deep brand impression in the minds of consumers. In the future, under the backdrop of increasingly fierce market competition and increasingly homogenized products, local enterprises will actively carry out brand promotion activities, enrich their product portfolios, and form unique competitive advantages. At the same time, enterprises will invite well-known celebrities to endorse the brand to enhance brand awareness, and through cross-border IP collaborations and other methods, deeply explore potential customers and strengthen user stickiness, in order to achieve high-quality industrial development.
3. Diversification of sales channels
In recent years, in order to meet the demands of consumers, major eyewear manufacturers and retailers have gradually established a sales model that combines online and offline channels. To sustain the market consumption enthusiasm, in the future, Chinese eyewear enterprises will continue to improve the layout of various platforms on the online channels, mainly focusing on content marketing and group discount sales, and the "local life services" connecting consumers and merchants are rapidly emerging. At the same time, local brands will gradually establish supporting services such as "virtual try-on" and "one-click matching" to cope with fragmented and scenario-based consumption behaviors, and to narrow the distance between the brand and consumers.
