Shanghais primary and secondary schools have a poor eyesight rate of 57%. Ten high school students have nine glasses.

Date of release:2019-03-11 Author: Click:

At the end of 2002, a commentator published an article titled “China's Top Ten Profiteering Industries in 2002.” This article quickly became a hot topic of public discussion, less than a year, search in Google and Yahoo. There are 47,000 and 34,000 related information respectively, and the media is reproduced in dozens.

This list is not a rigorous analysis, more like a social observation, initially without the glasses industry. The Nanjing media also brought in the glasses industry when it was reprinted, which triggered a round of discussions on the glasses industry. In 2008, when netizens voted for profiteering, the optical industry jumped to second place, second only to the real estate industry, and ranked among the best in the year. Just before the "National Eyes of Love" in 2018, another media issued a document saying that glasses with a price of tens of dollars were sold for a few hundred yuan, and the price of the merchants relied on one mouth.

2002-2006 list is produced by Wei Yahua, 2008 is Sohu.com data/map: Huang Guanhao, research on the expression mechanism of urban public goods demand in China

Twenty years have passed, and the perception of the optical industry and its actual situation are always in a contradictory situation. If the optical industry is a profiteering industry, why does this industry not produce a national top 500 company, or even a new one? The store is still going on bankrupt; if not, why is this saying that the media has been revisited every year, and the heat is not reduced.

Not too expensive, but too cheap

Less than 100 kilometers away from Nanjing, it is China's largest glasses trading market - Danyang Glasses City. In 2016, Danyang has an annual output of more than 100 million glasses frames, accounting for 1/3 of the national total; annual output of more than 300 million lenses, accounting for 75% of the national total.

In June 2016, Jiang Danyang, the Optical Museum opened to welcome visitors, visitors to visit the museum / visual China

Danyang Glasses City may be able to break the rumors of profiteering in the glasses industry. Selling more than 200 yuan of glasses in Nanjing, you can buy it here for 50-80 yuan. Thanks to the industrial operation, not only is the price low, but the speed is also very fast – from the selection of the lens frame to the optometry, the whole process is less than 10 minutes.

Danyang Glasses City seems to be accumulating rumors of profiteering. Here, dozens of glasses, Nanjing has to sell more than two hundred, in the brand chain optical shop with a pair of glasses, the price is more than 500 yuan -1500 yuan, and some even thousands.

To spy on China's optical industry, Nanjing and Danyang will be two excellent samples.

Nanjing's optical shops are mainly retail. Most of these optical shops are located in the bustling areas of the city, schools and hospitals where the population is concentrated. The rent is very high. Moreover, the retail of glasses is a service industry, and it is necessary to provide professional optometry and corresponding after-sales service. This in turn brings expensive equipment and labor costs.

On October 2nd, 2016, a stylish shopping mall in Nanjing, a stylish optical shop / visual China

According to Hao Jitao, a Ph.D. in economics at Peking University, for a regulated chain store, the gross profit margin of frames and lenses is about 50%. But this is only the gross profit margin, and the average company can't reach this level. If the operating, rent, manpower and other costs are deducted, the net profit margin of the optical shop is as low as 3.5% in the case of business climate, and even in the case of a sluggish business, even a loss. According to a survey conducted by Nanjing in 2004, 60% of branded optical shops are not profitable at all, and more than 40 optical shops have closed down in six years.

The doctor's glasses, which are considered to be the "first glasses", best reflect this embarrassment. In 2016, the operating income of Dr. Eyewear was 415 million yuan, and the gross profit was 315 million yuan, but the net profit was only 37.784 million yuan, and the net profit margin was only 9.1%. Among them, rent, property, and water and electricity fees amounted to 113 million yuan, accounting for 50.67% of the sales expenses. If the wages and social security are counted, the total proportion of the two will exceed 90% of the sales expenses. The leader is still the same, not to mention the others. In the past three years, there were 147 doctors' glasses stores and 76 stores.

The production base of glasses, represented by Danyang, is far less profitable. At present, China's glasses production accounts for 70% of the world's total glasses production, but due to the lack of independent brands, the processing-led Chinese optical industry profits account for only about 15% of the world's optical market.

Danyang is already a relatively profitable optical base. It not only gathers a large number of optical manufacturers, but also the government's resources support. In China, another optical production base in Shenzhen, Henggang, it is difficult to form a brand because most companies are single-handed. And scale, many glasses factories were closed down around 2006.

On October 20, 2011, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, a glasses factory employee is processing glasses frames / visual China

Compared with foreign countries, the profitability of Chinese glasses is also very low. In 2013, the annual sales volume of refractive lenses in the US market was 130 million, while the annual sales volume in China was 130 million, doubled. However, the annual sales of the US glasses market reached 450 billion to 500 billion yuan, while China has only 50 billion to 60 billion yuan.

The so-called monopoly generates profits in the glasses industry is even more impossible. According to the law of industry development, a mature industry should have a certain degree of industry concentration, and will inevitably form a number of influential leading brands. But in China, even the industry's outstanding Baodao glasses, it has more than 800 stores in mainland China, sales of more than 1 billion, market share is only 2% -3%.

Compared to other commodities, the price of glasses is not growing fast. In 2013, Tmall's sales of frames were about 1.155 billion yuan, with a total sales of 9.974 million pairs, an average of 118 yuan per pair; lens sales of about 335 million yuan, a total of 11.543 million pieces, an average of 29 yuan per piece. The average cost of a pair of glasses is about 200 yuan, and as early as the media interview in early 2000, the price of glasses is already two or three hundred yuan.

Professional service is invisible

Sitting in the optical shop in Nanjing, optometry, you think that you only paid for the glasses in the end, but the cost of the experimental light, the cost of the store operation have been counted.

As a special industry of semi-work and semi-medical, the practitioners in the optical industry must have certain ophthalmic knowledge and be proficient in operation. Especially when the glasses are opened, the customer's refractive status, diopter, age, occupation, optician purpose, and use should be considered. Customers who wear mirror history should also consider the original wearing mirror, the diopter of the original glasses, and The quality of assembly, etc., is actually equivalent to an ophthalmologist.

On January 7, 2018, a young optometry center in Xiamen, a teenager was undergoing vision test / visual China

However, in China, the development of optometry has been very slow. Until the early 1990s, there was an optometry shop on the market. According to a survey conducted by the Shanghai Eye Ophthalmology Society in 2006, less than 16% of the glasses practitioners have a college education or above, but in 2008, 32% of the total urban labor force in China has a college degree or above.

It can be said that the optical industry has long been in the situation of low-end manufacturing and low-end services, and the labor cost is far lower than it should be. In 2008, only one-third of the total number of retail companies that obtained the “Permit for the Production of Optical Products”.

Relatively speaking, larger optical shops are more rigorous in manpower investment. According to a survey of 140 directly operated stores in 11 provinces in 2009, these stores have an average store area of more than 200 square meters, and each store has 4 optometry (optical) divisions, middle and high-level optometrists and mid-to-high-level fitters. It is the main force, accounting for about 84% of the number of people who hold the certificate. Correspondingly, their labor costs will be higher.

On October 3, 2012, in the glasses city near Shenzhen Henggang subway station, the optician is in the optician / visual China

In general, the average optometry fee is at least 30-50 yuan. Foreign optometry requires an appointment, and the optometry price is mostly above $100, while glasses are available at various prices, equivalent to "medical separation."

When the optical industry in developed countries is equipped with "optional optician + optician", the Chinese eye is still "optician + salesperson." In order to attract customers, many optical shops will also display free optometry signs. You think you are buying cheap glasses, but there are actually cheaper optometry services.

Since the optometry service is not priced and difficult to compete, the optical shop can only repeatedly join the price war of glasses, attracting customers at low prices, and giving the impression that "glasses are not expensive."

On February 12, 2012, a shopping mall in Beijing bought glasses to buy one get one free promotional information / visual China

Many optical shops lose more than 30% of their employees within one year, and 50% of them lose more than three years. 90% of medical optometry graduates in college optometry prefer to go to the county as a doctor and not to an optical shop. It is even harder to develop an optometry service at an optical shop.

Therefore, it is not that the optical industry has huge profits, but the services that really need to be paid are “free”. A large number of small optical shops that have just developed have directly neglected this service, which has lowered the cost of glasses services, and glasses under normal cost are considered to be profiteering.

You didn’t buy expensive glasses.

But even if the labor cost is removed, such as without optometry, order directly online, and the price of some glasses is sold for thousands of dollars. Can this show that they are profiteering? Such doubts have certainly not been seen. For example, some people accuse the iPhone of costing only 170, but selling seven or eight thousand.

These accusations are also untenable, because even in manufacturing, it is not only the cost of raw materials, especially high-tech industries, the cost of raw materials is not the most important cost.

With the improvement of living standards, consumers are paying more and more attention to decorative functions in addition to the practical functions. The trend of individualization and branding is becoming more and more obvious, and these will increase the cost and value of glasses.

A mature market, products will be continuously subdivided, not only for brands that are suitable for the public, but also for different high-end brands according to different needs, such as a glasses company, not only has a price below 30 euros (about 237 yuan) Ordinary products, there are also luxury products with prices above 230 euros (about 1818 yuan).

Eyeglass division and price of a glasses company in 2012/Chen Lingyan. Research on brand strategy of F multinational glasses company

In fact, many high-priced glasses are no longer in the category of everyday consumer goods, and the people they face are not ordinary people, but luxury consumers. In China, the high-end market for glasses is basically a luxury brand, and most luxury brands are licensed.

Generally, when purchasing fast-moving consumer goods such as food and beverage, consumers usually value the quality and price of the product, and the price effect is greater than the quality. But for luxury goods, consumers buy it not only for use, but also for the taste and class, so luxury goods can't simply use cost to measure value.

May 8, 2018, Wuhan, Hubei, a hand-made optical shop to meet individual needs / visual China

If there is any product that only looks at the cost and only counts it according to the processing, it can only be low-end manufacturing. Because there is no brand of its own, many domestic enterprises can only earn meager processing profits. Foreign high-end brands can gain more product profits by virtue of their brand value. The so-called profiteering is actually a brand premium.

Looking back at the 2002 profiteering list, some are still profitable today, such as the real estate industry, and some have long been struggling on the edge of life and death, such as the publishing industry.

In fact, many of the so-called huge profits are only because of the lack of market at that time, so early entrants are more likely to gain a foothold and achieve profitability. When more companies or individuals enter the industry, profits will gradually decrease and remain at the normal level of the market. The reason for the long-term profiteering is very simple, because of the administrative monopoly.

People's doubts about the glasses industry are not because of the expensive of ordinary glasses, but the high-end market at that time has not yet developed, so the price beyond everyone's expectations is considered to be huge profits. But then again, the target customers of these high-end glasses are not us.