Sunglasses in Canada

2020 IMPACT

Lack of opportunity for wearing sunglasses as fashion accessories or as protective eyewear for holidays leads to significant decline during lockdown

Demand for sunglasses during Q2 2020 was significantly impacted by lockdown measures in Canada as consumers were encouraged to remain at home whenever possible, reducing the need for new stylish sunglasses amongst fashion-conscious Canadians. In addition, the purchase of high-end plano sunglasses was impacted by lack of tourism due to travel restrictions, with Canadians unable to escape to warmer climates during the first half of the year, including the fact that the Canada-US border also closed to non-essential travel from March to 21 May.

Further consolidation amongst leading players in 2019 but Canadian brands offer alternative sustainable options

Sunglasses remained a fairly consolidated competitive landscape in 2019, with Luxottica Canada Inc (now globally part of the merged EssilorLuxottica SA) strengthening its dominance of the category. The player offers a wide range of high-end brands which attract affluent young Canadians who appreciate the kudos of wearing recognisable global names whilst on holiday or when socialising, including Ray-Ban, and licensed brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Prada, Chanel and Burberry.

Lack of access to dominant distribution channel optical stores for non-essential purchases during lockdown increasingly drives consumers towards e-commerce

With access to the dominant distribution channel of optical shops mainly limited to emergency cases during the lockdown in 2020, consumers of sunglasses with a lower-end positioning turned to essential stores that were permitted to remain open such as modern grocery retailers, driving stronger share gain for hypermarkets (despite a marginal decline in sales) in addition to e-commerce which gained stronger value share in the first half of the year in addition to recording double-digit current value growth for Q2. Growth has been mainly driven by demand for plano sunglasses for the upcoming summer season as consumers prepared to venture outside due to an easing of lockdown measures from May.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.