Glasses Direct owner Prescription Eyewear acquires contact lens specialist LensOn

Prescription Eyewear, the parent company of myOptique.com, SunglassesShop.com and GlassesDirect.com, has brought LensOn into its stable to fuel growth in Europe.

LensOn operates local language sites across Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK.

LensOn founders Kim Persson and Johan Bergenheim will continue to manage the LensOn business and are expected to drive growth for the whole group in the Nordic region. 

More than 60% of Prescription Eyewear’s sales now come from outside its home market in the UK as mainland Europe becomes increasingly key.

The European eyewear market is estimated at over €25bn of which just 3-4% is online. As the optical market moves towards an online penetration rates closer to 10%, the company expects a €3-4bn opportunity in the European online market over the next three to five years. 

The group recorded 8.2 million unique visitors to its websites in 2012 across more than 100 counties.

Prescription Eyewear chief executive Kevin Cornils said: “We’re extremely excited to be adding the LensOn team and business into our portfolio of brands including Glasses Direct, Sunglasses Shop and MyOptique. LensOn has established itself as a strong player across the Nordic region and we look forward to working with them to grow their business not only into new European markets, but also to complement their current contact lens offering with prescription glasses and sunglasses.”