When it comes to pricing the product watches and glasses are similar in many ways.
Companies can definitely reduce the price but the price is a status quo in those products.
Companies can definitely reduce the price but the price is a status quo in those products.
This is why I always advise glasses-wearing friends and families to buy glasses whenever they come visit Japan; prices are MUCH lower than in the US without the Luxottica tax.
I've worn 30euro glasses. They work and bring no joy.
I've had 300 euro glasses. They work just the same and you think "Damn I'm hot" every time you take a selfie.
This effect is even more pronounced with sunglasses. I get them with prescription so similar price mechanics apply.
My biggest gripe with cheap glasses so far has been the cheap feeling plastic and weight of them. I don't know what it is since I'm no expert, but a lot of cheap glasses just feel cheap when you hold them. They're still functional and won't break randomly, but they feel flimsy and cheap and that's not something I want in a product that I use for literally 18 hours every day.
A good pair of glasses, when you think about it, ends up costing like 30 cents per day of use. Lifetime of 2 to 3 years, daily use ... yeah I'll pay good money for a product that feels good even if I'm "getting scammed"
edit: Wow people here really hate the idea that an item that goes on your face and forms a major part of your most identifying features could be about more than just the cheapest solution to a mechanical problem
Your comment seems to be pointing at both, which may be the reason for the down votes.
I normaly pay around £400 for a pair of glasses but they do last five to ten years.
It seems to me like a short expected lifespan, following is anecdata.
The glasses I am wearing (the frame) are/is 36 or 37 years old.
Every several years I had new lenses fitted to them, mostly because my eyesight slightly changed, right now they sport a brand new set of lenses because I broke one lens and since I use the photochromatic kind I couldn't have only the broken one replaced (the colour and capability to darken changes a bit over the years), but I don't think I replaced the lenses more than 4 times in these almost 40 years.
Then I have another four pairs, one spare in the car glove compartment, one spare always in my suitcase, one for the motorbyke (sun lenses + short stems to fit under the helmet) and one as spare-spare.
And I believe that (besides changing some lenses as well) none of these latter frames are more recent than 15 or possibly 20 years.
I'm not a specialist, but the cheaper frames here tend to be plastic.
The more expensive frames are almost invariably metal, and then the special flexible plastic and titanium frames go for around 10,000+ JPY.
Normal lenses are cheap ("free" with frames), but if you go for fancy ones (bifocals, transitions, blue light filters, ultralights, etc.), the price goes up.
I've almost invariably bought the 4000-5000 JPY frames and they always look nice and function well.
In the US, however, Luxottica tends to control the frame production/pricing, so frame prices are really out of control. That's why other options like generic frames straight from China are much cheaper.
I wear my glasses pretty much all the time except when I'm in bed. I even wear my glasses in the swimming pool unless I'm swimming laps. When I last looked for glasses I looked very hard to find something I liked the asthetics of, were wearable, and durable. The price is much less of an issue given that glasses are such a constant and important part of my life. It makes sense to spend to get good glasses to me. Compromising on some aspect of the glasses may save a few hundred dollars, but it would degrade the quality of my every waking moment.
Glasses have two components: frame and lenses. Both can vary widely in prices.
For frames there's components (from cheap hard plastic to metal e.g. shape-memory titanium alloys) and branding & style.
For lenses there's material (basic polymer, impact resistant, high-index, …), complexity (e.g. bifocal) and further treatments (polarised, photochromic, anti-reflective coatings …), the actual prescription likely has a complexity impact as well.
€5000 glasses I expect would mostly be down to branding and style (e.g. dior frames or whatever). Aside from branding and style, most of the price would come down to the lens'.
It's really nice to have glasses cheap enough that I've got spare sets at home, at work and in the car; and not "my old set with the badly scratched up lenses" spares but "slightly different style frames" spares. It's hard to explain to someone that doesn't wear glasses just how much peace of mind you get from that.
On the other hand, I can buy new glasses five times as often, and I usually will break or lose my glasses due to misfortune within 7 years, so it's still cheaper.
It's amazing that we don't have backups for critical personal items, such as our phone and our eyewear.
It seems to take about the same amount of time vs. a mall store.