Policy drivers: The 14th Five-Year Guidance for High-Quality Development of the Eyewear Industry sets directions: technology, health, green, and fashion. It promotes independent innovation and standard system improvement.

Economic drivers: China‘s GDP exceeded RMB 100 trillion in 2020, with the fastest recovery from the pandemic. Residents’ income continues to rise, and consumption capacity keeps increasing.

Social drivers: Population aging expands demand for progressive multifocal lenses. The myopia rate among adolescents ranks first in the world, and myopia prevention has become a government performance indicator.

Technology drivers: breakthroughs in peripheral defocus, multi-point defocus and other myopia control technologies. Rapid development of online channels and retail innovation.

In 2020, the total retail market size of eyewear products reached RMB 80.2 billion, of which lenses accounted for 38.4%.

Essilor (22.5%) and Carl Zeiss (21.5%) lead the sales value ranking. Among domestic brands, Wanxin and Mingyue rank third and fourth respectively.

In terms of sales volume, Wanxin leads with 15.1%, followed by Mingyue at 10.4%. Small and medium enterprises still contribute 32% of total volume.

2020 China spectacle lens market share (by sales value)

Price preference: Consumers consider a reasonable price for glasses to be RMB 300–800. For lenses alone, RMB 200–800 is the preferred range. 17% of consumers actually spend over RMB 800 on lenses, driven by functional benefits.

🕶️ Lens life cycle research: Lenses used for more than 1.5 years show obvious wear, light transmittance drops by 2–3%, and “overdue service” causes visual fatigue. The white paper recommends that the optimal replacement cycle should not exceed 1.5 years.

📌 Trend 1: Online-Offline Closed Loop

Explore live streaming and tutorials to attract traffic, and convert through professional in-store services. 61.7% of consumers recognize higher cost‑performance online, so building a two-way flow (online to offline and vice versa) is critical.

📌 Trend 2: Functional Lenses Spearhead Transformation

Technologies such as peripheral defocus, multi-point defocus and progressive lenses are booming. Myopia control products for adolescents are becoming a major growth engine and are expected to dominate the lens market in the future.

📌 Trend 3: Retail Professionalization as Core Strategy

Strengthen investment in equipment, personnel, processes and product expertise to counter the competition from eye hospitals. Nearly half of consumers doubt the professionalism of fashion-led eyewear brands; professional refraction competence is the decisive factor.

📌 Trend 4: Local Brands Rise amid Patriotic Consumption Wave

After events such as the Xinjiang cotton controversy, consumer confidence in domestic brands has surged. The sales volume share of leading domestic manufacturers is expected to rise from 68% to 76.3% by 2024. Eliminating the “exorbitant profit” misconception and building brand confidence are key tasks.

● “Exorbitant profit” perception: 62.1% of consumers still consider the eyewear industry excessively profitable. This is mainly due to a lack of visibility into R&D and channel costs, a shortage of professional optometrists, and varying service experiences.

● Satisfaction gaps: Consumers are most satisfied with comfort, quality and functionality. However, more than 16% are dissatisfied with the price–quality ratio, calling for greater transparency.

● Child & adolescent myopia prevention: In 2020, the myopia rate among primary and secondary school students increased by 2.5% compared to 2019. Defocus and multi-point defocus lenses have become a preferred choice for parents. 78% of parents prioritize myopia control capability when buying lenses for their children.