Despite two days of listening to presentations about photochromic lenses and market penetration at the Transitions Academy event in Orlando recently (February 11-13), I still find myself with more questions than answers about the reasons behind low take up in UK and mainland Europe.
According to Transitions, one in 10 prescription glasses in Europe are sold with its lenses. Naturally, the company wants to increase this figure, but to me, it seemed like decent penetration. If the penetration increased to North American levels, which is two in every 10 pairs of prescription glasses and four in every 10 pairs of glasses with progressive lenses, I imagine the company would be very happy indeed. With all the extra people it would be helping with their vision, of course.
That leap to four in 10 progressive wearers sums up the penetration problem, in that photochromic lenses are still seen by many as product for an older demographic of patient. Transitions has worked tirelessly in recent years to change that, with brand collaborations and new colours that it hoped would unlock the youth market.
The imagery and video collateral at the Gen S launch was quite telling in that I hardly saw any face under the age of 30. I freely admit there may well have been, but I was probably blinking at the time. The product’s performance claims are impressive, and with eight colours that have been redeveloped for better aesthetics, there’s a lens that meets most of the lingering objections. And for what it’s worth, Gen S is billed very much as a multi-generational product.
The biggest problem I can see with cracking that youth market, is doing it through traditional optical practices, as young people in their 20s and 30s haven’t exactly been a top priority for practices in recent years – just look at the rise of direct-to-consumer brands and online retail. Expertise and communication is where practices can succeed with photochromic lenses, guiding patients towards the correct frame and lens pairings, and explaining the benefits of continuous light management.