GfK announces the latest figures

Positive European optics market records €7.8 billion turnover in the first half of 2014 GfK has announced its latest figures for key European optics markets (Italy, France, Spain and Germany), con-firming a total turnover of €7.8 billion for the first half of 2014. The findings are published to coincide with the international SILMO 2014 trade fair in Paris. GfK's Optics Panel tracks sales data for sunglasses, frames, spectacle lenses, contact lenses and care products for contact lenses. Its findings show that, while the overall trend was positive, individual countries regis-tered varied performances. Germany and France, together accounting for more than 70 percent of the market in terms of value, lead the pack: they grew respectively by +1.7 percent and +1.3 percent respectively against the first half of 2013. Italy and Spain remain negative. In Italy, turnover dropped by -1.5 percent, a slight recovery on the -2 percent recorded in the first half of 2013. In Spain, revenues fell on average by -1.9 percent, largely due to the poor performance of the eyewear category. The markets for contact lenses (including care products) and for spectacle lenses, representing respectively 10 percent and 58 percent of the total Optics market, have driven performances of Optician Chains in Europe: +1.9 percent in the former sector and +1.7 percent in the latter. Frames, representing 21 percent of the total business, show a more mod-erate growth: +0.5 percent, recovering after the -2 percent recorded be-tween January and June 2013. Sunglasses are the only negative market, with a trend of -0.6 percent; still a considerably better performance than the -7 percent recorded in the first semester of 2013. Focusing on eyewear, GfK concludes that the market is polarizing on the highest and lowest price segments, while the medium ranges drastically fail to perform. Optician Chains appear to be the only category benefitting from this new situation, at the expense of Independent sellers. "In this scenario there are some positive signals that can accelerate the growth of the market" says Giampaolo Falconio, Global Eyewear Manager at GfK.