Why isn't there more competition? Or, as Jeff Bezos would say: "Your margin is my opportunity."
Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
161–170 of 326 posts
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#162Seems like the glasses market is ripe for a disruptive startup company?
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
While it's good news and fun for photography nerds, I don't associate Leica with price-based competition.
Yes, the prices aren't really competitive. You do get really good quality, though, especially with their "individual" lenses. Also, in the EU at least, Luxottica is less dominant. There are many smaller designers (like ic berlin for example). I don't see much price competition, though — it's all ridiculously expensive.
EssilorLuxottica has a similar company has a comparable share in US and Europe (about 40%). I can only find figures for EMEA but I’d assume that it would have a higher share in richer European countries than in poorer ones.
Which makes sense considering both companies are European.
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Glasses aren't that expensive. I buy them from https://zennioptical.com I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. The sunglasses that we buy in a drugstore can be had for paltry sums, why not prescription eyewear?
Indeed. I buy 5 pairs of glasses at a time (cheapest ones I can manage which look OK). 5 at a time is still cheaper than 1/3rd the price of low cost normal glasses. And each of those 5 pairs is half as durable. It is a similarly wild situation where eye exams at Walmart can be cheaper than at a regular eye doctor covered by my insurance.
> It is a similarly wild situation where eye exams at Walmart can be cheaper than at a regular eye doctor covered by my insurance.
I don't know the situation, but it's possible that Walmart doesn't make any money on that, or even loses money, to get you into a Walmart store.
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Glasses aren't that expensive. I buy them from https://zennioptical.com I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. The sunglasses that we buy in a drugstore can be had for paltry sums, why not prescription eyewear?
> I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. $100 sounds like it's ~10x what the price should actually be for simple plastic shapes, and it's probably more than 100x the actual cost to manufacture them.
My current frames were on clearance. They were $0.00. Marked down from like $200. Its all bullshit.
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#166Glasses are expensive because there is no competition. One company - Luxottica - owns pretty much everything. You go to LensCrafters and prices seem super expensive, so you go to Pearle Vision and that's expensive too, so you go to Target Optical and prices are still high and then you think maybe glasses are expensive, since you went to multiple stores and they all have similar prices. What you don't realize is that…
Capitalism stops working when monopolies take over markets. It is urgently needed to break up all the monopolies and go back to healthy competition. Many problems that we see in society today come from power accumulation in a few hands. The economy is becoming an authoritarian power. Kill monopolies and growth will come back in full force. People is not out of ideas, it is just that companies do not care anymore beca…
> The economy is becoming an authoritarian power.
Well, no. Monopolising a market with the economy, which is a tiny fraction of all decision-making power, is not authoritarian.
The main thing to ask is: are there high barriers to entry for new players? If not, then competition will arise when it needs to. If there are, then we have a problem. If there are, and they're government/state regulations, then we have a common problem :)
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Glasses aren't that expensive. I buy them from https://zennioptical.com I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. The sunglasses that we buy in a drugstore can be had for paltry sums, why not prescription eyewear?
How does buying glasses online even work? I have never tried, so I'd expect it to be like buying shoes without trying them on (which I won't do either, based on in-store experience I'd be returning 9 pairs out of 10 for bad fit). I wear glasses for 95% of time, I want to not hate how they feel.
A lot of online retailers have trial systems, you can try 3 or 4 different pairs for a week before buying them.
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
I assume that's $100 including the lenses—seems like a reasonable price for something that requires custom high-precision manufacturing, although it would be great for the price to come down even further over time. I have a moderately strong prescription (with slight differences for each eye) and I got the best glasses I've ever had from Zenni for $72.90 + tax. Could have been $60 without a presumably overpriced anti…
Lenses are no longer custom high precision manufacturing... In fact a 50 cent laser pointer has far more far more precise lenses than a pair of glasses. Lenses today tend to be polycarbonate plastic anyway - which means they can be produced rapidly like any other plastic moulding.
For a lot of people you can just take lenses from the production line and cut them to shape and be done but that is not always the case. Personally I always have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get new glasses done as the lenses have to be made to spec and the lenses alone are around 350€ and no they are not any cheaper at any online retailer that operates here if they even offer to make lenses to my spec.
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it US-specific thing? In my country most offered branded lenses are Hoya (Japanese optical glass manufacturer) and Zeiss (German one). And, of course, a lot of cheap no-name lenses. Does Luxottica owns Hoya and/or Zeiss brands? I don't think so. Frames are other story, of course, if you want Ray Ban you pay for (Luxottica-owned) Ray Ban. But, again, a lot of dirt-cheap non-name frames but, also, local-produced hig…
Luxottica is an Italian company, though. I’m not sure its presence is much stronger in US than in Europe. I think they focus more on the frames than on lenses. Essilor which merged with Luxottica is pretty big in Europe as well. And it’s also a French company
Yet, EL makes most of its revenue from North America. Europe-middle-east-africa is close behind :
NA : 9,87 B
EMEA : 7,95 B
AP : 2,54 B
LA : 1,13 B
Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)
#170There is a French startup that tries to beat them to it.
There is some podcasts about the founder, how he managed to do it.
10€ a pair of glass from the same quality within 10mn in store.