Good eyesight throughout life
Synsam’s ambition is to contribute to good eyesight for everyone throughout their lives. The underlying need for good eye health in the population is steadily growing and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. This is due to serveral factors:
- An ageing population with a greater need for care.
- Increasing demands on vision as lifestyles change.
- Improved detection and treatment of visual defects and eye diseases.
With an ageing population, the need for treatment and follow-up is increasing, particularly for the most common eye diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy, which primarily impact the elderly. Demand for spectacles and other vision correction is growing in this age group, and preventive work is an extremely important part of our efforts in the pursuit of good eye health. At the same time, healthcare is facing pressure on resources and requires the support of skilled opticians, a profession whose knowledge has not yet been fully utilised by healthcare.
Keeping customers’ needs in focus
Our visual needs have increased in general, largely as a result of modern lifestyles with increased screen time and more indoor activities. In turn, this has increased the need for vision correction, with a rapid rise in nearsightedness among young people. The rates of myopia are especially alarming among children, and forecasts indicate that half of the world’s population could be near-sighted by 2050. Countries in Asia are already seeing high levels of myopia, and the trend is also clear in the Nordic region.
The increasing prevalence of near-sightedness also is also resulting in a greater need for eye care, as myopia is linked to a higher risk of eye diseases such as retinal detachment, macular degeneration and cataracts. Fortunately, methods to slow down and treat the development of myopia are already available, which in turn is expected to increase the need for optical services going forward.
High clinical quality eye examinations
At Synsam, we take responsibility for the eye health of society by combining our highly trained qualified opticians with modern technology to offer customers the right care at the right time and at the right level. Synsam’s just over 1,000 opticians are the heart of the business, and are an important resource that can help relieve the burden on the health service.
With an increasing need for eye healthcare, it is crucial to actively ensure that services are available for all customers. An important part of these efforts is the development of technology-assisted examinations. Synsam is currently a leading player in technologyassisted eye examinations and is continually developing new tools that enable us to offer personalised care and early detection of visual defects and eye diseases. With the help of technology, we can efficiently identify those customers who require more in-depth care and guide them to specialist care when needed.
This combination of technological innovation and expertise allows us to create high-quality, accessible eye health services that put the customer first and provide the best possible care according to individual needs. Our work with technology and developing the role of the optician is a clear expression of our customer responsibility as we strive to promote long-term, sustainable eye health for all. One of the procedures performed at the Group’s eye health centres is fundus photography, which can help detect and prevent eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma.
“Everyone should see!” Equal opportunities to be active
One of the greatest challenges to public health today is that more and more children are living sedentary lives. For the past five years, Synsam has been combatting this through its “Everyone should see!” initiative, which promotes physical activity among children. We want to ensure that vision problems will never be an obstacle for equal opportunities to be active. Synsam offers children aged five to twelve who have visual defects a pair of prescription activity spectacles free of charge through the initiative. Work on “Everyone should see!” continued throughout the year, and since its launch in 2019, we have distributed more than 66,000 pairs of activity spectacles to children across the Nordic region.
Conscious choices lead to satisfied customers – Synsam’s circular spectacles subscription service
Synsam’s spectacles subscription service allows customers to rent spectacles and sunglasses rather than buying them. Through a Synsam Lifestyle subscription, customers gain access to regular eye examinations and the opportunity to replace their spectacle lenses when necessary. Once a year, the customer can replace a pair of spectacles and return a pair at the same time. All returned frames are recycled or reused, supporting Synsam’s circular flow. The subscription not only provides access to new, innovative products but also enables other customers to use reused spectacles through Synsam’s second-hand offering – a sustainable solution that benefits both the customer and the environment.
Synsam’s second-hand offering is available both in Synsam Outlet and selected regular stores. Synsam Outlet is the Nordic region’s first purely commercial retailer of recycled frames and sunglasses, and builds on Synsam’s vision of meeting customer demand for sustainable consumption. Through attractive offerings, we drive more sustainable consumption and extend the life of our products. Through Synsam’s second-hand and outlet offering, we sell returned, fault-free spectacles from our subscription system as well as collections that have been discontinued from the regular range – all to give these quality products a second lease of life.
The objective for the year was to broaden the offering to reach more customers with our circular business model. This has been achieved by implementing the secondhand and outlet offering in select Synsam stores. At the end of 2024, the Group had a total of 17 Synsam Outlet stores.
Read more in Synsam Groups Annual and Sustainability Report 2024.