Baodao Optical ventures into Wuhan.

Compared with coastal provinces, Hubei's optical businesses are barely visible. Stand-alone optical stores are usually small operations and according to Yi Taoyang, President of the Hubei Optometric and Optical Association, there are only a dozen or so large optical retailers in the province.

There are about 30 optical chain stores in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. Jingyi Optical opened its first store in the city in 1912 and has since developed into a chain with over 30 outlets.

The second biggest chain is Taiwan-funded Baodao Optical. The financial crisis has had little impact on the Hubei eyewear market and all optical shops have reported increases in turnover, including multi-store businesses like Baodao.

But Hubei basically has no eyewear maker producing goods on a large scale. So wholesalers and retailers mainly source their products from domestic manufacturers in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces and seldom do business with Hong Kong or overseas suppliers.

Although domestic eyewear makers' products are less trendy than those designed by Hong Kong or overseas players, they are cheaper and therefore tend to suit consumer demand.

According to Yi, glasses priced at around Rmb300 per pair dominate the market in Wuhan. Most consumers spend that amount on a pair of glasses (the frame plus the lenses), whether these are corrective spectacles or sunglasses.

Yet there are over one million university students in Wuhan, many of whom need glasses. In shopping areas near university campuses, glasses with price tags of about Rmb100 a pair are the most popular because students aren't big spenders.

In some of the more affluent cities in the province, such as Yichang, Jingzhou, Xiangfan and Huangshi, corrective glasses are mostly priced at Rmb200 per pair while sunglasses are priced at between Rmb200 and Rmb300.

In counties and towns, most corrective eyewear and sunglasses retail at about Rmb100 per pair.

As incomes rise in Hubei, especially in Wuhan, consumer spending also goes up, and so do requirements for eyewear products. Since consumers in general aren't specialists on eyewear they tend to go for brands they recognise and they perceive as offering better quality.

Hong Kong eyewear companies in general have a head start where it comes to design, production and technology. The problem is that these manufacturers and suppliers have tended to concentrate on overseas markets so their brands are new to Mainland consumers.

Yi suggests Hong Kong eyewear companies have to devote more resources to brand building, such as increasing their exposure through TV advertising, if they want to take a sizeable share of the Mainland market.

Another approach is to venture with leading international brands to enter the Mainland market through the brand licensing route.

from Lily Xiang, Wuhan Office