The demand for eyeglasses and sunglasses continues to grow at a rapid rate. Currently, the global market for eyewear is estimated to increase in value from $115.2 billion to $206.1 billion between 2022 and 2032. Analysts credit a number of factors for fueling this growth, such as innovative advancements—including the introduction of viable smart glasses for everyday use—and the rising prevalence of vision impairments across the globe, especially now that 75% of the world’s adults require corrective aids.
In today’s digital age, however, eyewear e-commerce is proving to be among the most significant contributors to the expansion of the modern eyewear market. Growing consumer preferences for Internet-based product research, as well as the accessibility, convenience, and range of offerings provided by online retailers, make this distribution channel increasingly popular. Yet these aren’t the key reasons behind the boom in eyewear e-commerce.
With more retailers crowding the online retail space for this consumer good, one needs to go beyond static web pages and consumer experiences to stand out. As a result, many are adopting an approach that’s defining the future of e-commerce—and shifting from a product- to a solution-centric strategy. By adding the following functionalities to their websites, they’re now better positioned to personalize the buyer’s journey and meet customer intent, resulting in a boom in the eyewear e-commerce industry:
Frame discovery
Today’s online eyewear retailers boast diverse product offerings as standard. That includes the sale of eyeglasses and sunglasses that come with various frame styles to suit a wide range of lifestyles, ranging from designer to sports eyewear in different shapes, sizes, and colorways. Though useful, the number of choices these present can overwhelm the consumer looking for eyewear that best meets their needs and preferences. Online retailers thus look to innovate by streamlining the process of frame discovery.
The most popular option provided today is the virtual try-on. This feature leverages augmented reality to impose digital eyewear over a user’s face, effectively allowing them to try glasses frames online. Because it resolves a traditional con of online shopping compared to purchasing eyewear in physical stores—finding the best fit—virtual try-ons are now offered by online retailers across the globe. One recent example of this is Lenskart, an Indian eyewear e-commerce brand that recently partnered with Amazon Fashion to offer the feature on its website and mobile app.
With advancements in the use of other emerging technologies like AI, other retailers take frame discovery further. Zenni Optical, for instance, now offers an AI-powered image search feature that allows customers to take photos of the eyewear they encounter in real life and find models in its catalog that best match its appearance. By going beyond simply offering frames and providing solutions to narrowing down a consumer’s list of potential models for purchase, these innovations make eyewear e-commerce more appealing.
Prescription assistance
Though purchasing prescription eyewear online can be more convenient, it gets complicated for buyers with more complex prescriptions, making them more likely to gravitate toward in-store purchases. As a result, many eyewear e-commerce platforms work to provide the consumer with more assistance in understanding their prescriptions and guiding them toward the eyewear that will best suit their vision correction needs.
Online-only retailer Eyebuydirect, for example, provides a number of tips and guides that website visitors can easily find on the footer of its homepage. These include information on understanding the key components that go into corrective glasses—such as pupillary distance and lens index—how to read prescriptions, and the various lens types and coatings they can use. However, the prescription assistance available via modern eyewear e-commerce isn’t just available to consumers with existing prescriptions—it also caters to first-time buyers of prescription eyewear.
This is illustrated at Australian retailer OPSM’s website, which boasts a dedicated ‘Eye Care’ section that describes a list of symptoms for various eye conditions. It also has an ‘Eye Health’ section where visitors can book an eye test at the closest OPSM branch and get their first prescription. This feature allows eyewear e-commerce platforms to not only provide corrective aids but also solve the issue of navigating online purchases for first-time customers and individuals with complex prescriptions.
Payment personalization
Another reason why eyewear e-commerce is so appealing is its affordability. Since online retailers aren’t burdened with the cost of running a brick-and-mortar location, they can offer more competitive prices for eyeglasses and sunglasses compared to traditional optical shops. The UK-based Glasses Direct, for instance, estimates that its customers can save up to 49% when purchasing from its website rather than high street opticians. As with many online eyewear retailers, it also offers a number of discount codes, provides buy-one-get-one deals, and conducts seasonal sales to slash prices even further.
However, the one obstacle that can prevent purchases despite that affordability is the checkout page. Though providing multiple payment options can make eyewear offerings more accessible, it can also be overwhelming and confusing to the consumer—just like simply offering a “wall of eyewear” without providing any solutions to further personalize the buyer’s journey. Retailers that offer not just traditional payment options (like credit card, Apple or Google Pay, and buy-now-pay-later via Klarna) but also newer ones like crypto can also lead consumers to question their legitimacy and avoid making purchases altogether.
That’s why less is ultimately more when it comes to e-commerce payments. By providing the right payment options at the right time, retailers can gain consumer trust and increase sales. Many of today’s eyewear e-commerce platforms walk this fine line by personalizing the payment options they offer to their audience. Primarily, they do so by leveraging the same AI-powered programs that help generate tailored product recommendations and using them to figure out the means by which their customers best prefer to make online purchases. That’s led to LensCrafters mainly highlighting PayPal checkout options on its homepage. This strategy has worked for the major eyewear retailer: in 2023 alone, it managed to increase its sales by over $100 million. By matching consumer intent and payment preferences in this manner, this particular solution has further promoted the widespread use of the Internet for eyewear purchases, leading to a boom in the e-commerce space for this product.
