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Summary of our market study
The French contact lens market is worth around €560 million.
The global contact lens market is expected to grow by a significant +15.% between 2020 and 2021. It is estimated at over 8 billion and represents around 8% of the optics market, which is worth around $100 billion.
The French market saw a +47% increase in contact lens sales between 2017 and 2022.
3 out of 4 French people need corrective eyewear, and only 5% use contact lenses. Contact lenses account for only 6% of the medical optics market.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the inconvenience of glasses fogging up when wearing a mask prompted many French consumers to turn to contact lenses.
Advances in new products such as connected lenses, zoom lenses and "nanodrops" could make the use of traditional visual aids unnecessary in the future.
France's trade balance remains heavily in deficit, with imports of $202 million in 2022 and exports of $25 million. The main suppliers and customers of French contact lenses are in Germany, Ireland and Belgium.
Online sales have grown significantly since they were legalized in 2009, with the impact of the 2014 Hamon law.
Some players in the French contact lens market
International laboratories and manufacturers
- Johnson & Johnson :
- Bausch & Lomb: contact lenses, eye care products
- CooperVision: specializing in contact lenses
French laboratories
- LCS: laboratory specializing in high-end customized lenses
Optician chains
- Afflelou: Afflelou, one of France's leading optical chains
- Krys: Krys stands out for its extensive network of stores across France.
- Optic 2000: Known for its cooperative business model
- Atol
Pure Player
- DirectVision: specialized online retailer
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and scope of study
Contact lenses are a type of optical equipment consisting of a thin lens placed on the eye to correct a visual problem, treat an eye defect or improve appearance. Together with corrective eyewear and sunglasses , they form part of the category of optical equipment. This study will consider the entire contact lens value chain, from manufacture to distribution and consumption by the end customer. However, particular attention will be paid to corrective lenses rather than therapeutic or cosmetic lenses, as corrective lenses account for a very large share of the contact lens market in France.
Growing slowly at the turn of the century, the contact lens market in France has been reinvigorated since 2014 by a series of laws and new lein particular, the formalization of online sales has profoundly altered the structure of the market. The market experienced very strong growth after the pandemic (+15.2% between 2020 and 2021), due to changes in behavior or the resumption of habits following the recovery. Despite a dip in 2022 due to global inflation, the market is expected to resume growth from 2023 onwards.
While the contact lens manufacturing market is rather condensed, the distribution market is much more fragmented, with the number of optician outlets steadily increasing since 2007. The French contact lens market is growing , and its share of the optical market is also increasing: by 2022, it will account for 7.7% of the medical optical market . Nevertheless, it faces new challenges: connected lenses, less polluting lenses, changes in behavior with the democratization of surgical masks...
1.2 Global market growth
Within a global optics market valued at nearly *** billion euros in ****, the global contact lens market weighed in at around *.* billion dollars in the same year. The contact lens market grew by +**.*% between **** and ****, before dropping by *% in ****, notably due to global inflation, discouraging consumers and prompting them to forego purchases ...
1.3 The booming domestic market
The French contact lens market reached around *** million euros in ****[***]. The French contact lens market grew by +**% between **** and ****, representing very intense growth over the period. What's more, it has grown faster than the French optical market, accounting for an increasingly significant share of that market: it represented *% of the market ...
1.4 Foreign trade
France's trade balance for contact lenses is heavily in deficit, with imports in **** amounting to $***.* million, compared with exports of just $**.* million. Imports, on the other hand, grew by +**.*% between **** and ****, a sign of a very strong recovery in world trade following the restrictions imposed by the health crisis. In ****, France's ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Demand still marginal but with potential
The French still wear few contact lenses, both in comparison with other European countries and in relation to the number of spectacle wearers.
The French prefer glasses
In ****, around * out of * French people will have corrective eyewear. Poor visual health tends to increase with age. Indeed, while **% of **-** year-olds need ...
2.2 Healthcare spending on the rise in France
Consumption of medical care and goods, including contact lenses, has been rising steadily for several years. This expenditure represented ***.* billion euros in ****, and reached ***.* billion euros in ****, or *.*% of French GDP. Over the period, consumption has therefore risen by **.*%. It is estimated that in ****, annual consumption of medical care and goods ...
2.3 French preferences
Reasons for choosing lenses
While discomfort is the main reason why contact lenses are abandoned(***), contact lens wearers point to numerous advantages over glasses.
Reasons for wearing contact lenses France, ****, in Source: ****
France's favorite opticians
In ****, France's favorite optical brand is Optic ****. This top ranking is primarily due to the richness ...
3 Market structure
3.1 Value chain
The care pathway and the different healthcare professionals involved
Only an ophthalmologist can issue a prescription for contact lenses, but not all ophthalmologists practice contactology. During the appointment, the specialist examines the eyes through various tests, then draws up the prescription according to the person's specific needs. The first prescription is ...
3.2 Contact lens manufacturing
The contact lens manufacturing sector is highly concentrated, dominated by a handful of laboratory manufacturers, including Bausch & Lomb, Ciba Vision, Cooper Vision, Johnson & Johsnon, Menicon... These laboratories are major international groups.
Among the French laboratories manufacturing contact lenses is LCS, specialized in premium made-to-measure lenses. The company holds a patent for ...
3.3 Distribution and profitability
Contact lens distribution
Here we consider the data provided by NAF code **.**A "Optical retailing", which includes the activities of opticians. Note, however, that this code does not include all types of lens distributors. In contrast to the lens and eyewear manufacturing activity, the number of establishments and employees increased between ...
3.4 The boom in online sales since they became official
Online contact lens sales accelerated sharply with the formalization of Internet lens sales in **** (***). In ****, while only *% of French people believe they will favor online purchases for their optical expenses, this figure rises to **% for contact lens purchases[***]. The digitalization of the sector is therefore booming.
This liberalization has also altered ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 The different types of contact lenses
By type and lifespan
Depending on how they're made, lenses can be soft or rigid, and they don't all require the same frequency of renewal. The choice among all these parameters is made by the ophthalmologist when prescribing lenses.
Soft lenses
Soft lenses can be daily, bi-monthly or monthly. The most ...
4.2 An upward trend in lentil prices
If we consider the data provided by INSEE for the "medical optics" category, we observe that the consumer price index for medical optics items has been on the rise since ****, gaining +*.*% over ****-****[***].
Consumer price index for medical optics France, ****-****, base *** in **** Source: ****
Annual budget of a contact lens wearer ...
4.3 Supply trends
Lenses and the environment
The contact lens market is particularly polluting, especially as many consumers use daily lenses. According to an American study published in the NY Times, around **% of contact lens users flush their lenses down the toilet or sink. This waste then inevitably finds its way into the oceans, ...
5 Regulations
5.1 Regulations governing the sale of contact lenses
Prior to ****, internet sales of healthcare products (***) were prohibited in France. The European Commission then obliged France to open up the market to online opticians, but the market remained without a legislative framework for several years following this decision. The online sale of optical products was then gradually regulated by a ...
5.2 Social Security reimbursement
Assurance Maladie covers only a very small proportion of contact lenses, and mainly those prescribed for reasons other than the correction of a visual problem. The lenses covered are those prescribed for the following reasons:
Irregular astigmatism Accommodative squint Myopia greater than or equal to * dioptres Aphakia Anisometropia up to * diopters ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Segmentation
- Bausch & Lomb
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care
- Cooper Vision
- Laboratoires Alcon - CIBA VISION
- Atol Les Opticiens
- Afflelou
- Krys Group
- Malentille.com
- Direct Optic (Acuitis Groupe)
- Sensee
- Menicon
List of charts presented in this market study
- World market for contact lenses
- Number of establishments under code 32.50B
- Workforce under code 32.50B
- Consumption of medical optics and contact lenses
- Main customer countries
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Latest news
Krys Group puts the finishing touches to the modernization of its Bazainville plant - 08/03/2024
- -Investment in expansion and modernization program: 23 million euros
- - Post-renovation manufacturing capacity increase: 30%
- - Planned production capacity: 1.8 million units per year
- - Krys Group sales in 2023: €1.265 billion
- - Number of associates: around 900, representing 1,600 points of sale
- - Supplying around a thousand independent opticians
- - Krys Group plans to open 400 additional stores by 2028.
Record growth for Atol in 2023 - 01/03/2024
- Atol cooperative sales in 2023: 455 million euros
- - Atol cooperative growth rate from 2022 to 2023: 6.3%
- - Number of Atol Audition outlets from 2022: 47
- - Target number of Atol Audition outlets in the next 12 months: 100
Krys group: innovations for the ecological transition - 06/02/2024
- Codir, a subsidiary of Krys Group, grouping together its industrial and logistics activities, will produce 1.4 million lenses by 2021
- The subsidiary employs 330 people
- Krys Group generates sales of 1.2 billion euros, and has 1,533 stores in France, as well as around 50 in Belgium, Poland and Morocco.
- With its two other banners, Le Collectif des lunetiers and Lynx Optique, the Group has a 16.5% market share in France.
- Its ambition is to open a further 400 outlets by 2028.
- Over the past ten years, it has expanded into the hearing sector, with 277 centers.
Atol: Eric Plat looks to the future - 09/01/2024
- Lexilens reading aid glasses for dyslexics are marketed in 36 countries.
- In France, over 5,000 people use these glasses.
- Atol Les Opticiens was founded in 1970. Atol is planning a consulting service for companies on dyslexia in the workplace.
- Atol's sales were 503 million euros in 2023.
- Atol plans to market a new screen with Lexilens technology within the next three years.
- Atol plans to open 40 new optical and hearing stores in 2024, adding to the 825 existing stores.
Afflelou innovates: discount, private labels and teleconsultation - 04/12/2023
- Brand stores grew by 5% in the fiscal year to July 31, to 876 million euros, of which 64% in France, 26% in Spain and 10% in other countries such as Switzerland and Belgium.
- In France, performance in the optical sector was 6.4%, outperforming the market, which grew by 4.1%.
- The family increased its shareholding to 30% with the purchase of the Apax Partners fund's stake.
- Optical eyewear accounts for 92% of sales, while hearing aids account for just 8%.
- Of the group's 1,440 outlets, 510 are equipped with a dedicated hearing aid area.
- The company has set up teleconsultation booths in 180 stores, with 10,000 teleconsultations to be carried out by 2023.
- Prescription optical sales account for 82% of business.
- An identified potential of 150 new units in France and 75 in Spain, and an increase of 45 openings in one year.
- Afflelou's own-brand products already account for 60% of the offering.
Optician Krys Group expands its French plant and frees itself from Asia - 27/06/2023
- 1,533 Krys stores worldwide
- The cooperative moves into the production of advanced lenses such as progressive lenses
- Basic lenses sourced in Europe (Hungary, Czech Republic)
- Frames: 50% from Europe, 50% from Asia
- Bazainville plant created in 1998
- 400,000 high value-added lenses relocated to France
- Investment: 16 million euros
- Production forecast: 1.4 to 1.8 million lenses per year
- Lens edging capacity: up to 3.5 million lenses
- Krys produces 25% to 30% of the lenses sold by its opticians Krys Group is the French market leader
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The contact lens market | France
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