UK sunglass sales up but market value falls

The value of the UK plano sunglass market has been slashed by a third in the past four years despite an increase in unit volumes.

According a study commissioned by the European Sunglass Association and presented at the ESA's annual conference in Barcelona last week, the UK plano sunglass market had a net manufacturer selling price of €121.9m in 2009 compared with €174.1m in 2006 despite a 500,000 increase in unit volumes to 17.8 million pieces.

Report authors Mark Mackenzie and Tony Kendall-Tobias of consultancy Strategy with Vision estimated the share of sunglass sales through UK independent opticians to be just 7 per cent, and those through chains to be 18 per cent. Supermarkets and high street retailers account for 40 per cent of sales by value. The report revealed that the UK's 80-90 internet sunglass retailers would eat further into high street sales.