Both fashionable and functional, sunglasses are everywhere now. Get informed about this hot commodity and learn what drives the consumers that are buying them. Check out these findings provided by Jobson Optical Research and let the facts on sunwear light the way to great sales.
— Melissa Arkin

METHODOLOGY
This sunwear survey was run in February 2007 as a custom study appended to the large scale continuous consumer-based VisionWatch study. The sample was 2,202 respondents who say they have bought sunglasses and use them regularly. All respondents are over 18 and live in the United States. For more information about how to run your own survey please contact Jobson Research at (212) 274-7164.




Consumers are purchasing their sunglasses from a variety of locations, from street vendors to web sites to gift shops, but mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart and Costco were the sunwear source of choice for over one-quarter (26.2 percent) of respondents. Department stores were cited by 8.7 percent, drugstores by 8.2 percent and dollar/variety stores by 7.6 percent. Interestingly, sunglass specialty stores specializing in non-prescription sunglasses and optical chains were less popular places to buy sunwear, with a respective 3.9 percent and 2.5 percent of respondents purchasing shades there.


 Slightly more than half of respondents (54.4 percent) feel it is very important to wear sunglasses with UV-protection and almost one-third (32.4 percent) feel it is somewhat important. But to 13.2 percent of those asked, blocking the sun’s damaging ultra-violet rays was deemed not very important.


 Perhaps those respondents who reported that UV-protection was not a very important sunglass feature were among the uninformed— when those who had an eye exam in the last six months were asked if their eye doctors had spoken to them about the dangers of UV rays, 46.7 percent said they had not and 9.1 percent simply didn’t know or remember. Ignorance is not bliss; in this case it could someday lead to serious vision problems. Fortunately, 92.2 percent of all respondents said that they were aware that UV rays could damage their eyes, regardless of whether or not a doctor had informed them.


 The vast majority of respondents were not sold on sunglass clips. An overwhelming 87.8 percent skipped the clip altogether, choosing to don their sunwear separately from their eyewear.


 When those who had an eye exam in the last six months were asked if their eye doctors had ever explained what causes Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), over one-quarter (26.3 percent) had indeed been informed. However, a much bigger number, 62.2 percent, replied their doctor had not given them the low down on the disease and 11.6 percent did not know or did not remember having been told by their doctors about it.


 When asked how many pairs of regular, nonprescription sunglasses respondents had that they regularly wear, 37.3 percent had only one special pair in their lives, while 25.1 percent were sunwear two-timers. Surprisingly, a comparable number of respondents had no sunglass love at all—23.1 percent do not wear any sunglasses regularly.


Although a large number of eye doctors skimped on doling out information on Age-related Macular Degeneration, 60.7 percent of all respondents acknowledged they had heard of the disease. Still, that leaves 39.3 percent that need to catch up so they can take preventative measures to avoid AMD.