Who is harvesting myopia?, A pair of glasses can easily reach thousands of reporters | brands | myopia

Summer vacation is approaching, and it is once again the peak period for students to get glasses. However, in recent years, the frequent spending of thousands of yuan on glasses has led parents to include nearsightedness, orthodontics, and growth hormone therapy as part of the "three items" for raising children.

There was a saying in the eyewear industry that said, "If you sell a 20 yuan frame for 200 yuan, it's a favor; if you sell a 300 yuan frame for 300 yuan, it's a friendship; if you sell a 400 yuan frame for 400 yuan, it's a quotation." Although it's a roast, it also reveals the "depth of water" in the eyewear market to a certain extent. What is the cost of a pair of glasses that can easily cost thousands? Who is making "huge profits"?

A few hundred yuan frame, wholesale price only 50 yuan?

"At that time, we chose the most expensive pure titanium frame in the store, priced at over 600 yuan. We chose a lens with a refractive index of 1.74, priced at over 2000 yuan. In the end, the store gave us a 60% discount, which cost a total of 2000 yuan."

Xiao Ni, who works in Xicheng District, Beijing, has always been troubled by the high cost of glasses. Due to her high degree of myopia, she chooses lenses with a refractive index of 1.74 each time. The cost of a pair of glasses is at least one or two thousand yuan, which is a considerable expense based on replacing them every three years. The frequent expenses of four digits also make her feel that she may have been "tricked".

"Next time I'll go to Panjiayuan to get glasses, at least it's cheaper than the roadside glasses store," said Xiao Ni. Her term "Pan Jiayuan" refers to the Beijing Glasses City near the Pan Jiayuan subway station, where a large number of glasses sellers gather. According to the data, this was once the earliest professional wholesale market for glasses in China.

Outside the Beijing Glasses City, the reporter met Lv Qiang, who was distributing small cards. He warmly introduced the price of glasses to the reporter.

When the reporter mentioned that "in other eyewear stores, a titanium alloy frame is priced at three to four hundred yuan", he even said that it is expensive to buy. "We do wholesale, and in our store, titanium alloy frames only cost 50 yuan, while pure titanium frames are the most expensive at only 128 yuan."

After visiting multiple stores in Beijing Glasses City, the reporter found that if you don't pursue the brand, you can buy pure titanium eyewear frames for over 100 yuan, but if it involves the brand, the price will "skyrocket".

Wang Lan runs a store in Beijing Glasses City. She told reporters, "The pure titanium frame in the store costs 150 yuan, and if it comes with lenses, it can be as cheap as 120 yuan, but if it's a brand, such as Kawakubo Ling, it costs 280 yuan."

She also added, "There will be a brand premium for big brands, and the purchase price is already relatively high. If you pursue cost-effectiveness, ordinary pure titanium frames are enough."

Is there no difference between a hundred yuan lens and a thousand yuan lens?

Ordinary glasses stores often have frames that cost hundreds of yuan, but in the Beijing Glasses City, they can be cheaper by hundreds of yuan. This has also made many people sigh, "Don't just enter a glasses store, if you don't finish matching them, you will regret it."

There are also a variety of lenses that make people feel high premiums. A consumer told reporters, "Compared to frames distinguished by materials, lenses have a 'deeper water'."

Generally speaking, eyewear stores will use different refractive indices such as 1.56, 1.60, 1.67, 1.74, etc. to classify prices. The higher the degree, the higher the suitable refractive index, and the price will also rise. In addition, different brands and different series of the same brand may have different prices. Among them, well-known imported lenses include Zeiss, Yishilu, etc., while representatives of domestic lenses are Mingyue, Wanxin, etc.

At the eyewear store where Lv Qiang works, stacks of manuals mark the prices of various series of the brand. He picked up the Zeiss price manual and introduced the Zhirui series to the reporter. The reporter noticed that the 1.6 Smart Youth Asian Edition digital lenses have a suggested retail price of 2980 yuan. "We can offer a 30% discount here," said Lv Qiang, and the calculated price is less than 1000 yuan.

To curb the development of myopia in children, Zhang Cheng, who works in Xicheng District, followed the doctor's advice and equipped the child with Star Fun Control lenses based on Yishi Road. "At that time, the hospital quoted nearly 4000 yuan, but later went to a glasses store at the magnetic mouth and spent 1600 yuan in the end."

When it comes to Star Fun Control, Lv Qiang's colleague opened up the conversation and said, "There is nothing lower than 1550 yuan in the entire Glasses City. We can offer 1460 yuan here."

Overall, compared to eyewear stores in other regions, the prices in Beijing Glasses City are significantly lower. The same configuration can even reduce the price by more than half. In the Beijing Glass City, due to different discounts offered by different companies, prices can vary by tens or even hundreds of yuan.

Furthermore, from consumer feedback, it is not only Beijing, but also eyewear stores across the country generally have significant price differences. To avoid being deceived, many people even ask prices online and listen to the opinions of experienced professionals first.

Who earned the "windfall profits"?

Faced with arbitrarily negotiated prices, many people are puzzled by the cost of this pair of glasses that cost thousands of yuan? How much money has been earned by the merchants?

When asked about the purchase price of glasses, Lv Qiang said, "For a titanium alloy frame priced at 50 yuan, the purchase price is 40 yuan." However, regarding the purchase price of lenses, he only stated that the higher the purchase price, the more expensive they are sold.

As the "first stock of lenses in China", Mingyue Glasses has disclosed in its prospectus that in 2020, the cost of each lens was 6.77 yuan, and the cost of each pair of finished lenses was 60.33 yuan. The small lenses also brought high profits, and in 2022, the gross profit margin of Mingyue's eyeglass lens business reached 60.04%.

Doctor Glass is a leading domestic chain enterprise specializing in eyewear retail, with enviable gross profit margins. It had previously disclosed price data for 2016, when the purchase price of the frame was 89.06 yuan, while the sales price for the same period reached 506.88 yuan; The purchase price for each lens is only 28.82 yuan, while the selling price for the same period is 281.75 yuan, which is nearly 10 times the cost.

When you see this set of data, the word "windfall profits" may come to mind. But if you look at the net profit of Doctor's glasses again, you will find that compared to upstream suppliers, the lives of eyewear retailers are not so easy.

The financial report shows that the sales cost of doctoral glasses remains high. Among them, wages, social security and rent, property management, and utilities account for the majority.

This is also the pressure that many eyewear stores are facing. Each storefront needs to be equipped with sales personnel and optometrists. In order to increase the frequency of purchases, it is also necessary to choose a location in a relatively prosperous area, which naturally leads to higher rent.

Lv Qiang's colleague also told reporters, "We sell cheap because we use wholesale channels. Ordinary glasses stores may only provide three to five pairs of glasses a day. If we don't sell more expensive, we won't be able to sustain ourselves."

Under a series of costs, eyewear stores have also set higher prices on frames and lenses to maintain operations and ensure profits, ultimately resulting in consumers paying for them.

How to tear off the label of "huge profits" in the eyewear industry?

In the face of arbitrary pricing by eyewear stores, according to Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, consumers who want to avoid being "tricked" should first choose a legitimate eyewear store for glasses matching, and also check the store's qualification certificate and credibility information.

"Secondly, when choosing lenses, you can choose the appropriate brand and quality level according to your own needs, and do not blindly pursue high prices or imported products." Jiang Han mentioned, "Finally, before purchasing, you can understand the market price and relevant mirror knowledge in advance, so as to better judge whether the merchant's price is reasonable."

But relying solely on consumers to pay attention to identification and prevention is clearly not enough. In Jiang Han's view, measures such as strengthening supervision and regulating market order can be taken to standardize and make glasses prices relatively transparent, and to remove the label of "excessive profits" from the eyes of outsiders.

Previously, industry insiders have bluntly stated that the "huge profits" in the eyewear industry are partly due to industry giants having high pricing power, and partly due to inefficiencies caused by a long industrial chain.

In the face of increasing prices and high sales costs at various stages, industry insiders believe that breaking the giants' control over the supply chain, shortening transaction links, and providing consumers with cost-effective products may be the future of the development of the domestic eyewear industry.