Practices benefit from sunglass sales boost

Superb weather conditions over the past three months have led to a boom in sunglass sales through optical practices worth £18.9m according to market research company GfK.

It reported that during the second quarter of 2010, monthly sales of sunglasses have hit a three-year record. GfK also revealed that May 2010 saw record sales with over 87,800 sunglasses sold through practices, with a value of £7.4m, the highest levels since May 2007 when 103,000 pairs were sold at a value of £9.4m.

Giving insight to optical practitioners about how to optimise their product offering among the 3,100 different sunglass models selling in UK practices excluding Northern Ireland, GfK revealed that there had been a continued trend in favour of women's sunglasses ahead of unisex models. The company's data showed that two in five sunglass sales had been manufactured specifically for the female demographic. Plastic models were particularly popular with women during the quarter, accounting for 91 per cent of sales in the women's category.