Check out the eight currents in the optical and optometric industry discussed in the following pages, and arm yourself for a new year-and a new era-in eyecare.Īmong the industry experts INVISION spoke to for this article, the consensus is clear the vertical integration that has been evident at all levels of the optical and optometry industry in recent years, from the Essilor/Luxottica merger to the private equity-fueled acquisition of independent practices, will only accelerate in 2020.Īccording to Evan Engel, vice president for sales and marketing at EyeCarePro, a digital marketing firm for eyecare businesses, “The financial incentive for the Essilors and VSPs of the world to own practices and push their products through their own practices will change the landscape, much like private pharmacies are virtually gone, replaced with CVS/Walgreens.” Mark Hinton, founder of advisory firm eYeFacilitate, puts a hard figure on the financial incentive described above by Engel, saying acquisitions can only grow as “venture capital execs will continue to show investors a 20-plus-percent gain” on acquisitions of eyecare practices. They say to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Their responses can make for scary reading at times - few independent ECPs leap for joy when they hear talk of “retail homogenization,” “online refraction” and “eroding margins.” But the way we see it, the real takeaway here is about silver linings and crises turned into opportunities. But what changes can we expect to see in eyecare and eyewear as we enter a new year and a new decade? We asked more than 20 industry experts which major trends they expect to make themselves felt in the coming year and beyond.
The coming year has “eyecare” written all over it.
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