The gold rush of smart glasses: Doctor Glasses wants to be the "shovel seller" even by "borrowing money"

The smart glasses product has entered a period of explosive growth. Since the beginning of this year, Thunderbird Innovation, Xiaomi, Rokid, Baidu, and Quark have successively launched smart glasses products, and the "Hundred Glasses War" is in full swing.

The concentrated release of products has unleashed market potential. IDC data predicts that the compound annual growth rate of the Chinese smart glasses market will reach 55.6% in the next five years, ranking first globally in terms of growth rate.

Start - up companies are eyeing the growth potential, large - scale enterprises are focusing on the AI hardware entry point, and supply - chain companies want to be the "shovel sellers" in the smart glasses "gold rush", and Dr. Glasses is one of them. On December 8th, Dr. Glasses issued an announcement stating that it plans to raise no more than 375 million yuan through the issuance of convertible bonds, and more than 90% of the funds will be used for store expansion.

01 When Buying Smart Glasses Offline, You Can't Avoid Dr. Glasses

Smart glasses have become a significant category in the consumer electronics market.

Data shows that during this year's Double 11 period, the turnover of smart glasses brands on Tmall soared by 2500% year - on - year. On JD.com, smart glasses also achieved a year - on - year turnover growth rate of 346%, ranking first in the growth of the 3C digital category on November 11th. The offline market also shows strong consumer enthusiasm for smart glasses. Aotou Finance visited several eyewear retail stores in Chongqing and found that the recently launched Quark AI smart glasses are currently out of stock.

"Dr. Glasses started to layout the smart glasses market relatively early. We have cooperated with most well - known brands. Whenever a new product is launched, many customers come to the store to inquire and make purchases," said a clerk at the Dr. Glasses store in Chongqing Longhu Tianjie.

Aotou Finance visited multiple stores and found that Dr. Glasses has specially set up a smart glasses area in its stores, mostly in the most prominent positions. In terms of brands, Thunderbird Innovation, Quark, XREA, Rokid, etc. all have product prototypes on display. In terms of product lines, there are high - end products equipped with optical waveguides, AI photo - taking glasses without optical waveguide lenses such as Thunderbird V3, and low - end products with only audio functions. "Brands like Xiaomi, Li Weike, and Jiehuan have channel cooperation with us. Although there are no actual products on display, customers can still purchase and get glasses fitted in the store," the aforementioned clerk said.

The hands - on product experience and optical glasses - fitting services are the two major advantages of offline channels. "After all, the price is comparable to that of a mobile phone. I still want to operate it in person offline before deciding whether to buy. Moreover, buying glasses in a physical store allows me to get them fitted with the right prescription directly, which is much more convenient than buying online," a customer in the store told Aotou Finance.

Dr. Glasses' financial report shows that it currently cooperates with brands such as Xingji Meizu, Thunderbird Innovation, XREAL, Jiehuan, Li Weike, Xiaomi, mijia, and Leishen Technology, and has set up smart glasses counters in more than 150 retail stores.

In other words, Dr. Glasses has established a multi - brand smart glasses sales system. It's hard for consumers to avoid Dr. Glasses when buying smart glasses offline.

02 Dr. Glasses' Performance Fluctuates Greatly and Urgently Needs New Growth Points

In the eyes of the outside world, the cooperation between smart glasses manufacturers and Dr. Glasses is a win - win situation. "Dr. Glasses is a terminal retailer. With the wave of smart glasses approaching, early layout is beneficial for Dr. Glasses to gain a foothold, and it can drive performance growth through new product categories later," an industry observer analyzed to Aotou Finance.

In recent years, Dr. Glasses' performance has been volatile. From 2022 to 2024, Dr. Glasses' revenues were 962 million yuan, 1.176 billion yuan, and 1.203 billion yuan respectively, with year - on - year growth rates of 8.42%, 22.02%, and 2.29% respectively. The net profits in these three years were 75.8 million yuan, 128 million yuan, and 104 million yuan respectively, with year - on - year growth rates of - 20.02%, 68.93%, and - 19.08% respectively.

In the first half of this year, the gross profit margins of Dr. Glasses' three major main businesses declined across the board. During the reporting period, the gross profit margins of its optical glasses and glasses - fitting services, ready - made glasses products, and contact lens products were 62.42%, 39.98%, and 29.54% respectively, down 6%, 0.72%, and 2.56% respectively from the same period last year.

With unstable growth and weakened profitability of the main business, Dr. Glasses needs to find new business growth points, and the smart glasses track with huge growth potential has come into view.

As of the end of September this year, Dr. Glasses had 584 stores nationwide. This is Dr. Glasses' capital and the reason why many smart glasses manufacturers choose to cooperate with it. "For smart glasses manufacturers, building offline sales and service channels is too costly. It's better to cooperate with retailers with a mature store system and a stable customer base. Through channel cooperation, Dr. Glasses doesn't have to bear the high costs of smart glasses development and can also enjoy the dividends brought by the increase in sales volume," the above - mentioned industry observer told Aotou Finance.

In other words, as a supply - chain company in the smart glasses industry, Dr. Glasses wants to be the "shovel seller" and share a piece of the pie in this emerging market with its channel capabilities. "Dr. Glasses is committed to building a professional fitting service system for the 'last mile' of smart glasses and promoting the in - depth integration of traditional optometry services and smart glasses," it stated in its financial report.

03 The Relevant Revenue Is Negligible, but It Still Wants to "Borrow Money" to Expand Stores

At present, the smart glasses - related business has not yet provided momentum for Dr. Glasses' performance.

The financial report shows that in the first half of this year, Dr. Glasses achieved a revenue of 686 million yuan. The revenues of its three major businesses, optical glasses and glasses - fitting, ready - made glasses, and contact lenses, were 451 million yuan, 127 million yuan, and 70.95 million yuan respectively, accounting for more than 97% of the total revenue. The revenue related to smart glasses was not separately disclosed. "The operating revenue scale and proportion of the smart glasses lens fitting service are extremely small and will not have a significant impact on the company's business activities in the short term."

In fact, not all of the glasses - fitting revenue from smart glasses goes into Dr. Glasses' pocket. A clerk in its store told Aotou Finance that since Quark smart glasses are equipped with optical waveguide lenses, Dr. Glasses does not have the relevant fitting capabilities and does not provide fitting services for this product.

"Under the wave of large - scale models, NVIDIA can be the 'shovel seller' because the related products brought by its technical capabilities are irreplaceable. However, as a retail terminal at the downstream of the supply chain, Dr. Glasses does not have the above characteristics. To tie in with the smart glasses category, it can only rely on expanding the scale. However, this method not only increases costs but also has limited room for imagination," an industry analyst told Aotou Finance.

In terms of technical capabilities, Dr. Glasses does not have any accumulation or advantages. The financial report shows that in the first three quarters of this year, Dr. Glasses' R & D expenses were 1.5 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 39.14%. In 2023 and 2024, its R & D expenses were 4.6694 million yuan and 3.0798 million yuan respectively. In the previous ten years, Dr. Glasses' R & D expenses were always zero.

On December 8th, Dr. Glasses updated the application documents such as the prospectus for the issuance of convertible corporate bonds to unspecified objects. The announcement shows that Dr. Glasses plans to raise a total of no more than 375 million yuan, of which 350 million yuan will be used to expand 225 eyewear stores and upgrade and renovate some existing stores. Setting up a smart glasses area is the key direction of the upgrade and renovation.

The large - scale expansion of stores and smart glasses areas aims to transform the channel advantage into sustainable growth power. However, whether it can ultimately be achieved depends not only on the success or failure of the products of the cooperating brands but also on Dr. Glasses' operating and adaptive capabilities during the expansion process.

Although Dr. Glasses wants to be the "shovel seller", at present, as the end of the supply chain, it is more like a "gold - digger".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Aotou Finance" (ID: theSankei), author: Chen Xin, published by 36Kr with authorization.