Zed Placement on the Market

‘The sunglasses industry is completely saturated”

This statement has followed me through this whole process, bellowed by my business plan tutor (as a man who had a sunglasses company and knows fully well the huge amount of competitors in this market). In other words, I’m sure he meant, how is Zed going to be entirely alternative to everything currently out there?

The current market has large amount of small brands trying hard to do everything; men’s, women’s, children’s, optical, sun wear, as well eye test services. These little brands constantly expand their stock in order to have an upper hand on their competitors, but in an ocean full of little fish and massive sharks, getting attention from your audience is a huge challenge. Many brands inevitably choose to license from the giants such as Luxottica (Ray ban, Oliver peoples etc), which helps promote their store further with recognisable POS names.

Is there an expectation for an eyewear brand to be and do everything? Is this something Zed wants to incorporate? Will Zed lose customers if we do go against the grain and only specialise in sunglasses? Are there any brands that currently do this and is there a reason why they aren’t well known?

I cannot seem to find a strong brand that only specialises in one area of eyewear. This shows an expectation for eyewear stores to be a jack-of-all-trades, and this could be the reason high competition in the industry as the many small brands try to hold the same operation.

Differentiating from this expectation will help to separate Zed from the competitive crowd, focussing on sunglasses for anyone who responds to the Zed lifestyle of the unrefined, rugged image no matter of age or gender. Holding an alternative range of eyewear is no longer enough to hold an edge over the competition as everything is constantly reproduced and copied so quickly that the customer no longer knows where the original design belonged. Using unexpected POS with a highly sensory element shall draw in attention to my customer who has a curious nature and enjoys exploring. A pop-up store will give a limited chance for the customer to be able to see the products in person, giving the exclusive feel to the brand.

I'd love to hear your ideas on the eyewear industry, and thoughts about the Zed brand. Thanks for your interest and support!