MyOptique acquires two eyewear retailers

Online optical retailer MyOptique Group is expanding its presence in Europe. It acquired German rival 4care and the UK-based online eyewear retailer Eyewearbrands. Earlier this year, MyOptique Group acquired Netzoptiker, another eyewear retailer from Germany. According to the company, it’s on track to delivery €100 million sales across Europe this year, with over three million eyewear customers served online.

MyOptique Group announced the acquisition news on its on website. There it says it now owns 4care, a German company that sells (sun)glasses and contact lenses through its website Lensbest.de, its wholesale operation Acumed and brands Lennox Eyewear and Lenscare.

But aside from another acquisition in the German eyewear market, MyOptieque Group also announced it has bought Eyewearbrands, the largest premium online eyewear business in the United Kingdom. For MyOptique Group it’s just another move into the luxury eyewear market, which it entered three years ago with the launch of MyOptique.com.

Strengthen its leadership in Europe
Back in February this year, MyOptique Group said it acquired Netzoptiker, a Germany eyewear retailer. So it has become clear the company is aggressively taking over companies in the eyewear industry. The goal is to further strengthen its leadership in the major European markets. The newly acquired companies will join Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop, LensOn, MyOptique and Netzoptiker in the group’s retail brand portfolio. Together they serve 3 million customers and are expected to generate sales worth 100 million euros this year.

The acquisitions in Germany and the UK aren’t really that remarkable: these online eyewear retail markets are very mature when compared to other countries. While just 3 to 5 percent of glasses purchases are made online globally, in the UK the average is 15.2 percent and in Germany it’s 11.6 percent of total retail sales that are made online. “It is our goal to be number one or two in each of the leading European markets, and with these acquisitions we’ve done that across the UK, German and Scandinavian markets where the online segment is most developed”, says MyOptique’s CEO Kevin Cornils about the deals.