Along with pharmacies, which in January sold 45.8% less than the previous year, there is another
neighborhood business linked to health
that was not included in the SME Retail Sales Index of the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises. (CAME) and it is also obvious that it is in a
customer
crisis :
the opticians
.
Glasses
increased 65%
in the last two months, and this week
5% more
.
The year-on-year decline in sales in these stores is around 40%.
From the sector , Clarín
focuses
on
the price of not seeing well
in Argentina.
“There are 16,000 SMEs that fell out of the system in the country.
They did not close
, they went informally, without controls
.
Those who were registered responsible went to the monotax.
In the optics industry, which requires a license, this is very serious.
In
glasses or sunglasses
, you don't know what you are buying,”
Fabián Castillo, president of the Federation of Commerce and Industry of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Fecoba), tells
Clarín .
Due to the sharp price increases, people go to opticians but look for glasses that cover social works.
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami
As he is also vice president of CAME, he details that the optical chamber has already met with Fecoba to demand that the Government, being a link in the
essential activity of health
, give this area the same priority as medical supplies. .
Both industries are dollarized and given the obstacles to imports "which are opening up very little by little," says Castillo, "there are excessive increases that have a direct impact on the low sales of glasses."
Anatomy of a fall
“Some Dolce & Gabbana
ones looked good on me
.
What I didn't see coming was the price:
$330,000
.
With the glasses, I ordered the cheapest ones that existed (referring to the
blue light
, which neutralizes the light from the screens),” Victoria Pereyra tells
Clarín
.
“I didn't buy them in a shopping mall.
It is a Ramos Mejía optician.
And it shows that they are not from the latest seasons.
I didn't know these values were managed.
I took them, in 3 interest-free installments, because other models, national or those of lower quality, did not go below $100 thousand,” he continues.
The formation of the price of an imported eyeglass (prescription or sunglasses) and that of a nationally manufactured one, go along different paths.
And the second is much more complex.
You can only get sunglasses from Argentine clothing brands, there are few models from international brands, at impossible prices.
Photo Guillermo Rodriguez Adami
“
All the raw materials are imported
.
Something similar happens in ophthalmic glass: the supplies are imported and then it is cut here.
So, all this is reflected in the price of the product, based on the dollar value,” they tell
Clarín
from the Argentine Chamber of Optics (Cadeo).
The difference in the impact of sales is more marked in the interior of the country and in the Province of Buenos Aires, although it is also seen closely in the City.
From January to November 2023,
crystals
increased by 10% to 15% each month.
But in mid-December the increase was 50%.
As for
frames
, the increase was 14% monthly, until in December it rose to 50%, and on January 15 they rose another 14%.
With the crystals it was the same: they rose 70% in three months.
“The entry of merchandise was very complex.
We suffer many shortages.
All these price increases in the industry, in addition to the fact that
the costs are also influenced by the
sector's joint ventures, have an impact on sales.
Customers postpone the purchase and those who have to get glasses, no matter what, invest much less,” they add from the Chamber.
Cadeo insists that prescription and sunglasses be dispensed by opticians.
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami
If we talk about visual fashion in imported glasses, in the country we have a delay of several seasons in
Ray Ban
,
Prada
,
Armani
(in all its lines, even in
Exchange
) and
Dolce & Gabanna
.
Many fewer brands and models entered.
From Cadeo they point to Luxottica, the largest eyeglasses company in the world, with more than 80% of the brands, as the "most delayed" in deliveries to Argentina.
“It is the one that caused the most problems for opticians last year.
It wasn't their issue, it was our problem.
Due to the blockage in imports, the merchandise did not arrive, or (due to price increases) they canceled your order.”
The situation, “little by little – they say from the sector – is stabilizing.”
There is another controversial point in optics.
The criticized coverage of social and prepaid works
.
And on this topic there are two interesting realities.
While customers complain that the
free
frames (intermediate plans generally include one a year, as well as a pair of contact lenses)
“are of very poor quality”
or “there are no current models,” Opticians consulted by
Clarín
explain that
more people are turning, “even if it is”, to these options.
"Of course it is not convenient for us. The return of value for that sale is totally deferred by the financiers. But, at least, people come into the store," an optician from Barracas tells
Clarín
.
Many opticians have a sign posted that warns
"PAMI is not served
. "
The quality of the frames offered by social works is one of the points most questioned by clients.
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami
They are "standard" frames, says the owner of twelve opticians in CABA and the GBA, and clarifies that he prefers to call them that rather than
'give me the most basic ones'
, as he imitates clients who ask to be shown the row of the cheapest ones.
“It depends on the neighborhood, but those models often make the difference between someone entering the optician or not,” he agrees.
Speaking of glass: “Most plans cover normal glass (from
$28,000 to $60,000
), a few cover anti-reflective glass (from $65,800).”
Among the varieties for prescription and sunglasses, there are also photochromic lenses, polarized gradient lenses, mirrored lenses, and anti-fog lenses.
On average, crizal, against UV rays, start at $107,700.
The most complex lenses, such as multifocals, do not go below $200,000.
This sector also does not turn a blind eye to an aspect that stalks them:
illegal sales over the internet
.
From Cadeo they insist that prescription glasses and sunglasses "are only dispensed by opticians."
From Mercado Libre they responded that "illegality cannot be proven" and from
Facebook Market Place
"they did not provide a response to the complaint."
They demand that on the Internet there be the same control as when wanting to buy or sell a dental or medical supply.
Anatomy of a price
There is polycarbonate (PC) and propionate cellulose (CP), or Tr90, ultra flexible and resistant, which is almost not used here.
But in Argentina, most designer glasses or, as they call them in the slang, “dress” glasses are made of acetate and metal.
In addition to glass, the two main materials in the frame industry had problems due to
import obstacles
.
Sergio León, owner of Ziltec, is one of the few importers of optical supplies from Argentina, he even sells them to other factories, and he also manufactures glasses for different national brands, a family legacy that has been in the country for 50 years.
“In the Argentine Industry, very good metal profiles are used; we import them from Italy and Germany.
Then you have different components (hinges, screws, lenses) that do come from China.
In addition to acetate, there are also nickel silver, steel, and titanium profiles, of better quality and more expensive,” he explains to
Clarín
.
Between 50% and 60% of the value of the product depends on the dollarized raw material. Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami
In this chain, between 50% and 60% of the value of the product depends on the dollarized raw material.
The increases, he says, depend on the restrictions.
“We have been suffering from it for a long time.
These are conditions that close the doors to everyone.
It is understandable if you have a country where dollars are not going to magically appear.
We are moving towards a trend of freeing imports, but, in the meantime,
you have to find the supplier that will finance you for 120 days
.
It's not like health supplies, it's worse.
“ It is a total uncertainty
,” says León.
Since there were few suppliers, if one could import at the official dollar, the rest stayed within that range, "because we wanted to sell, to be competitive."
Then, he explains, the transitions began.
"There was the one who sold you the raw material at the intermediate dollar between cash and official. The cost began to increase. More restrictions were placed on the industry and people were making payments as best they could. There comes
a time when you "You go to the blue dollar.
If not, you run out of raw materials and the factory melts down."
To avoid this stoppage, until mid-2023 some had to improvise.
They got “old” acetate plates, of good quality, Italian, but they did not have the latest fashionable colors.
“Later it became more complicated to get raw materials and
today I can say that it is very difficult
,” says León.
Another issue is smuggling.
“It is the scourge of many industries and I don't hear any politicians talk about it.
For worse or worse,
the price shapes us.
A skinny guy who gets a contact, who makes him pass the acetate, how do you compete against that?”
When glasses are damaged, they should be replaced.
And ophthalmologists are the only ones authorized to prescribe them.
Photo Guillermo Rodríguez Adami
By
courier
, in small amounts, in this category you can bring everything from glass to hinges.
From China, 90%, Vietnam or India.
There were problems there too.
“First it was up to $3,000, they restricted it to $1,000.
Until the merchandise arrived and only then could you make the payment.
Now they're back at 3,000, and...'we'll see,'” the importer closes.
The average cost of a national industry frame, depending on the color of the acetate (there are some for 60 dollars per kilo and others for 6 dollars), is between 10 and 15 dollars, at wholesale price.
From there, wholesalers raise it to 20 or 25 dollars, for advertising, the case, the cloth and all the brand's marketing.
And once the glasses are on the optician's shelf, the value is recharged between 2.5 and three times.
Fewer glasses, more risk for visual health
When the eye is not able to achieve perfect focus, it has a
refractive error
.
A disorder of focus.
To see from a distance, like
myopia
;
to see up close, like
presbyopia
;
or at different distances, such as
farsightedness
or
astigmatism
.
There are also eye diseases, which cause alterations in vision.
The most common:
cataracts
and
glaucoma
.
"We can refocus our visual system with different types of prescription glasses. There are also gradual filters (in the lenses). If there are no visual difficulties, an annual check-up will be enough. If you experience changes, the consultation must be as soon as possible,"
Beatriz Arteaga, specialist in the ophthalmology service at the Italian Hospital,
explains to
Clarín .
When glasses are damaged, they should be replaced.
And ophthalmologists are the only ones authorized to prescribe them.
"
It is not advisable to buy disposable ones
(those that are already graduated, sold in pharmacies and airports). The materials are of dubious quality, the lenses usually have aberrations that alter the perception of the image. Optical centering cannot be done properly. generic form. It must be calculated according to the shape of the face and the distance of the pupils," he describes.
Hence the importance of optics.
MG