The global orthokeratology lens market is characterized by the presence of many global, regional, and local vendors. This is an emerging market with all the players involved in developing best in class products to gain the market share. Intense competition, rapid advances in technology, frequent changes in government policies, and environmental regulations are key factors that confront market growth. The vendors compete based on cost, quality, and reliability. It is decisive for the vendors to provide cost-efficient and high-quality products, to survive and succeed in an intensely competitive market environment.
The growth of market vendors is dependent on market conditions, government support, and industry development. Thus, vendors should focus on expanding geographically and improving their products. Although international players are dominating the market, regional and foreign players with small market shares also have a presence. The international players are likely to strengthen their presence through acquisitions during the forecast period.
Bausch & Lomb Incorporated develops, manufactures, and markets eye care products and operates as a subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. The company specializes in eye health, ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, ophthalmic surgical products, and contact lenses, and lens care products. The company provides a line of Rx products, which include antibacterial eye drops, steroid eye drops, and retinal diseases treatment products; daily eye vitamins; cataract and vitreoretinal surgery products, such as intraocular lenses and delivery systems; equipment, and other surgical instruments and devices; and diagnostic lenses. In addition, it offers contractual manufacturing services for sterile and non-sterile solutions, suspensions, ointments, gels, creams, nasals, and injectables.
Alcon, Inc., being a truly global company, works in over 70 countries and serve patients in more than 140 countries. It also develops and manufactures medicines and devices for eye care. The company offers a line of ophthalmic surgical devices and ocular health products, as well as viscoelastic, surgical solutions, surgical packs, and other disposable products for cataract and vitreoretinal surgery.
CooperVision is a global medical device company which manufactures soft contact lenses. The company operates through two business units, CooperVision and Coopersurgical. The company offers contact lenses in a variety of materials, which include phosphorylcholine technology (PC) and silicone hydrogel aquaform technology. It primarily manufactures its products in facilities located in the UK, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and the US and distributes its products in the US, UK, Belgium, and various smaller international regions.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
The bargaining power of suppliers shows how easy it is for the suppliers to influence the prices of the global orthokeratology lens market. The supplier’s bargaining power is considered to have a high-level impact on the orthokeratology lens market. Businesses must obtain the necessary resources that they need from the resource suppliers to carry out their activities. The price of the orthokeratology lens is determined by the interaction between the suppliers and the end users. The number of suppliers serving the global orthokeratology lens market is high as compared to the number of orthokeratology lens manufacturing firms operating in the sector, while the competition among the suppliers is moderate to high due to the high value of the transaction. Thus, the firms have a strong position due to lower switching cost relative to the suppliers. The factors favoring the suppliers are the moderate degree of differentiation and high quality of inputs used in the manufacturing of orthokeratology lens products, which lowers the chances of a reliable and quality supplier being substituted. Thus, the supplier’s power is high in the global orthokeratology lens market.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
The bargaining power of the buyers will be low for orthokeratology lens products as the tolerance for substandard products and substitutes is less due to the critical role of the orthokeratology lens products in the therapeutics industry. The switching cost from one firm’s products to another seller’s product is high due to high sensitivity, selectivity, and specificity needed in the orthokeratology lens products, which reduces the bargaining power of buyers. Proprietary nature of lens coupled with the difficulty in developing a similar substitute product also reduces the buying power of the buyers. Thus, beginning from scratch in such specialized industries is very difficult, which reduces backward integration chances.
Threat of New Entrants
The threat of new entrants is moderate to high in the global orthokeratology lens market. Orthokeratology lens products market is a specialized market with high growth potential and requiring high technological knowledge. The global orthokeratology lens market is also highly sensitive to technological advancements and disruptive innovations. Any development in orthokeratology lens with even a small advantage over existing orthokeratology lens will have a disastrous effect on the existing players. The orthokeratology lens industry has a high capital and research intensity, which raises the bar for market entry, with the capital investment in technology being very high. The global orthokeratology lens market also needs highly skilled manpower. The research intensity and higher intellectual property utilized in the industry makes a new technology highly disruptive of existing technology and players.
Threat of Substitutes
The orthokeratology lens market has moderate to the low threat of substitute. The other substitute method for treating myopia (nearsightedness) other than orthokeratology lens are refractive surgeries (laser procedures and photorefractive keratectomy), contact lenses, and eyeglasses.
Eyeglass lenses for nearsightedness include high-index lenses (for thinner, lighter glasses) and lenses with anti-reflective coating. Photochromic lenses are used to protect the eyes from UV rays and high-energy blue light.
In the current scenario, refractive surgery can reduce or even eliminate the need for glasses or contacts. But these surgeries are expensive in compared to orthokeratology lens.
Intensity of Rivalry
The degree of competition in the global orthokeratology lens market is moderate to high. The restrained degree of product differentiation among existing players increases the intensity of rivalry in the market. Manufacturing companies are trying to develop cost-effective orthokeratology lens to make product differentiation more affordable in the developing region. Players are engaged in developing a process to lower their manufacturing cost to overcome the competition. Moreover, the players are also developing advanced techniques to differentiate their product from their rivals.
