NOVATO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zenni, the online eyewear retail leader, announced today it has surpassed another industry milestone, selling more than 40 million pairs of frames since its launch in 2003. In 2020 alone, the direct to consumer retail pioneer sold more than 7 million frames, including 2 million blue light-blocking Blokz lenses. The company’s strong sales can be attributed to its unwavering mission of providing Eyewear for Everyone – materialized with its focus on market leading pricing, extensive variety of styles, specialty lenses and sizes, as well as product innovations and affordability.
As consumers have dramatically increased screen time with the demands of working and learning from home, the importance of protecting consumers’ eyes from damaging blue light is more crucial than ever before. To address this urgent need, Zenni continued expanding its Blokz product line offering with blue light-blocking glasses for children, a photochromic option that darkens in sunlight, Blokz sunglasses, and impact-resistant Blokz Trivex lenses. With these expanded offerings, sales revenue from Zenni Blokz increased 60 percent year-over-year, and more than 1 million pairs of Zenni Blokz have been sold to-date in 2021.
In 2020, Zenni achieved $329 million in gross revenue which led to 29 percent growth year-over-year. Additionally, Zenni saw new customer acquisition increase 22 percent in the past year, three times more than previous years. Given Zenni’s market changing affordability, with a starting price point of just $6.95, 65 percent of purchases came from returning customers in 2020. And with an average customer order only costing $40, consumers have embraced the ability to purchase more than one pair of frames to show off their unique style.
“As we enter the company’s seventh straight year of more than 20 percent growth, we’re appreciative of our amazing customers who trust us for all of their eyewear needs. This past year, we continued to broaden our offerings by introducing anti-fog lenses and launching collections hand-selected by style icons Iris Apfel and Coco+Breezy,” said Bai Gan, Chief Product Officer of Zenni. “We pride ourselves on our award winning customer service and product innovation, and see these investments pay off in the high rate of repeat Zenni customers. Coming off another banner year of growth, we’ll continue to find new ways and products to excite our loyal Zennistas, while introducing more glasses-wearers to our affordable and high-quality eyewear.”
Earlier this year, Zenni introduced anti-fog lenses to combat the common COVID-19 mask frustration of fogging glasses, and provide an affordable solution to healthcare and essential workers who depend on glasses while they work. Zenni also continued to grow its impressive sports and e-sports partnership roster, with ongoing multi-year partnerships with the San Francisco 49ers and the Chicago Bulls, and forged new partnerships with the Boston Red Sox and Call of Duty League. As the official eyewear company for these organizations, players and performance staff use Zenni’s Blokz as an eye recovery tool to block blue light from digital screens (e.g., watching film, scrolling through phones in the dark after games, etc.).
Zenni’s partnerships also include fashion-forward collaborators such as Rashida Jones, Cynthia Rowley, The Kittles and Coco+Breezy. Most recently, Zenni announced an exclusive Iris Apfel X Zenni partnership with larger-than-life eyewear aficionado, Iris Apfel. The partnership kicked off with a curation of 100 Zenni styles in honor of Apfel’s upcoming 100th birthday this August with a designed by Iris addition coming in the late summer.
In 2020, Zenni introduced a global B2B program to help underscore the importance of eye health in workplace health and wellness programs. The B2B program includes a corporate gifting program for businesses to order customizable eyewear and signature Blokz lenses in bulk for their employees, customers and prospective clients.
Zenni also launched a partnership with Snap Inc. to offer augmented reality to customers, starting with an AR-powered try-on experience with a handful of Zenni stylish frames this past fall. The campaign quickly saw success and led to a Valentine’s Day themed experience which captured over 1.5 million try-ons from customers around the country. The collaboration with Snap Inc. is ongoing, as a new Snapchat AR campaign will start later this summer.
This past year wasn’t just about business growth for Zenni, but also about giving back. As the pandemic emerged in spring 2020, Zenni set out to make a real difference by offering PPE packages to those in need. Zenni donated more than 3.2 million PPE items to 46,195 recipients across the country, which included 1.8 million masks. Zenni was awarded the COVID-19 Social Responsibility Achievement of the Year by the China Healthcare Awards for this donation program. More recently, as part of its “Framing the Future” initiative to provide blue light-blocking glasses and combat digital eye strain to students in need, Zenni gave back to its local SF Bay Area community by donating Zenni Blokz to nearly 2,000 underserved students from Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto, Calif. Zenni also has a multi-year partnership with the It Gets Better Project, donating proceeds from its annual Pride Collection.
About Zenni
Zenni pioneered the online eyewear industry in 2003 with a mission to make prescription eyewear affordable and accessible to everyone. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Zenni offers men, women, and children the freedom to express their personal style through high-quality prescription and protective eyewear curated with a sense for fashion and incredible selection. With complete prescription pairs starting at just $6.95, and averaging just over $40, the company has brought massive price disruption to the traditional retail model. With over 40 million frames sold worldwide, a pair of Zennis is owned in every country across the globe. Zenni is proud to be the Official Eyewear of the San Francisco 49ers, Boston Red Sox, Call of Duty League and the Chicago Bulls. For more information, please visit Zenni.com/Press.
