C/L (Contact Lens) price hike and even eyewear items are excited, a series of flares?
Acuvue rises up to 11% in April following Interojo and CooperVision hikes
The aftermath of rising prices also hit the eyewear industry.
It starts with contact lenses. In April of last year, Korea Alcon Vision Care announced an increase in some items, and most companies such as Interojo, Cooper Vision, and Johnson & Johnson Vision Acuvue joined the increase process this year.
First, Interojo, a domestic contact lens company, decided to increase the price from January 1, 2023. Most items such as premium O2O2 family products, Claren One Day, Iris, and Astra have been raised. By major item, based on the recommended consumer price △O2O2 1DAY 30P, 40P 34,500 kW → 39,000 kW, △O2O2 1DAY Toric 30P 39,500 kW → 53,000 kW, △Calen 1DAY 30P 28,000 kW → 30,000 kW , △Iris Suji Brown & Gray 30P 43,000 kW → 48,000 kW, etc.
CooperVision Korea also raised the price of Biofinity, a steady product, from March. Based on the recommended consumer price for each major item, △ Biofinity 55,000 kW → 61,000 kW △ Biofinity Toric 92,000 kW → 102,000 kW △ Biofinity XR 60,000 kW → 67,000 kW. CooperVision Korea announced that it has no plans to increase other products other than the Biofinity product line.
In April, Johnson & Johnson Vision Acuvue will raise prices by up to 11.6%. This is the first adjustment in about four years since July 2019. As Acuvue accounts for the highest portion of the domestic contact lens market, the impact on the market is expected to be large. The increased items are △One Day Acuvue Moist 30P 33,000 kW→37,000 kW △One Day Acuvue Moist 90P 93,000 kW→102,000 kW △Oasis One Day 30P 53,000 kW→59,000 kW △Oasis One Day 90P 140,000 kW 4,000 kW → 158,000 kW △ Acuvue Moist 30P for astigmatism 49,000 kW → 54,000 kW △ Oasis One-day for astigmatism 64,000 kW → 71,000 kW.
Korea Alcon Vision Care raised the recommended consumer price of its flagship product, 'Daily Total One' in April last year by 4,000 kW from the current 53,000 kW for a set of 30 to 57,000 kW, and the price for a set of 90 sets is from 137,000 kW to 137,000 kW. It was raised from 153,000 kW to 16,000 kW.
However, he said there are no plans for additional hikes this year.
Bausch & Lomb Korea has stated that no decision has been made regarding product price hikes, but the industry believes that an increase will be inevitable in the long run as inflationary pressures are getting stronger.
The contact lens industry is in the position that an increase is inevitable in the aftermath of the continuous rise in raw and subsidiary material prices and labor costs. In particular, in the case of global companies, it seems that this year's price increase was expected to some extent due to the continuous increase in import unit prices and international logistics costs, as well as the aftermath of a rise in the kW-dollar exchange rate.
In the atmosphere of successive contact lens price hikes, opticians, lens wholesalers, and franchise headquarters are known to have started to secure quantities before the increase. . A front-line optician said, “Even though news of contact lens impressions has been reported in the news, it seems that there are still more consumers who are not familiar with impressions.” I am giving,” he said.
Meanwhile, with the contact lens brand announcing the domino impression, it is predicted that the aftermath of the impression will quickly spread to the entire eyewear category as well as the spectacle lens. Hoya Lens Korea has already raised the supply price and consumer price of eyeglass lenses by about 5-8% since January of last year. As many eyewear makers, such as other lens brands and eyeglass frames, are also experiencing strong inflationary pressure, an increase is only a matter of timing, and overall eyewear product increases are inevitable in the short term.