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3D printed eyewear, a global phenomenon | ClickZ Eyewear Newsletter

PLUS: Gen Z vs. Gen Alpha: Key sunglasses trend insights

Author

Zihan Lyu
April 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

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Welcome to ClickZ Eyewear, your essential newsletter for eyewear eCommerce professionals.

Editor’s Pick 🌟

Marketing thought leadership has a tendency towards binaries. The funnel is either completely dead or very much alive. Brand marketing is either pointless or the solution to all your problems, and ChatGPT is ending 30 years of search overnight.

At Fospha, we love the measurement challenge of any new channel that offers our clients ways to reach more customers. However, Google is still very much the biggest advertising platform. Performance Max (PMAX) and Search products alone represent around 30% of our clients’ digital share of wallet.

In uncertain times, it’s more important than ever for brands to nail these core channels, so we produced the definitive best practice guide on PMAX and Paid Search. Here were our top findings:

  • ⚖️ Best performing brands allocate 55% of Google budget to PMAX and 12% to Paid Search.

  • 🏆 Brands that pair Search and PMAX with ~50% of their budgets in YouTube, Demand Gen and Paid Social see optimal results.

  • 🎨 Especially for PMAX, high-volume creative is key for AI-powered optimization.

 What’s In Focus? 👓

BEAUTY MARKET TRENDS

Gen Z prefers oversized, angular frames in dark, neutral palettes and premium materials, prioritizing bold aesthetics to align with social media-driven self-branding, while Gen Alpha favors smaller, playful shapes in bright colors with lightweight comfort for imaginative self-expression.

For eyewear brands, segmenting marketing strategies and product development by these distinct generational preferences is essential for relevance and sustained engagement. AI-powered virtual try-on technologies strengthen digital experiences and conversion opportunities in eCommerce for both groups.

BRAND CAMPAIGN INNOVATION

Irina Shayk headlines Tory Burch’s Spring/Summer 2025 eyewear campaign.

The collection’s structuring around sculptural shapes, sport references, and bio-based materials addresses the industry shift toward eco-conscious design with marketable appeal. Marketers can leverage these product differentiators—visual contrast, versatile fit, and sustainable materials—to inform messaging strategies and align with evolving consumer expectations.

@TORY BURCH

BRAND ACCESSIBILITY

Sunglass Hut has cemented its market position by curating exclusive designer eyewear collections—partnering with global fashion brands like Cartier, Prada, and Ray-Ban—and making these premium products accessible through both physical stores in central locations and a robust online presence.

This strategy drove notable sales growth, contributed significantly to parent company EssilorLuxottica’s revenue, and bridged key gaps in high-fashion accessibility. For marketers, this case highlights the powerful impact of limited-edition partnerships and omnichannel distribution in driving both exclusivity and mass-market reach within the eCommerce landscape.

INNOVATIVE PRODUCT LAUNCH

Reebok Smart Eyewear, powered by Lucyd technology, integrates high-fidelity audio and AI features tailored to athletes, enabling connectivity without sacrificing environmental awareness—a compelling solution for urban and active consumers.

With a global distribution strategy beginning in Latin America and cross-category retail appeal, this launch positions marketers to capitalize on the projected $13 billion smart glasses market by 2030.

INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN

3D printed eyewear is capturing global attention as brands leverage industrial additive manufacturing, particularly EOS technology, to offer unparalleled customization, faster product cycles, and measurable sustainability benefits compared to conventional frames.

This shift empowers marketers to differentiate products with made-to-order designs, reduce waste, and capitalize on consumer demand for personalization. The trend presents actionable opportunities to optimize supply chains, branding, and customer engagement in a competitive eCommerce landscape.

Influencer Corner 📢

Meta Ads vs. Google Ads: Which One is Better for D2C Brands?

Meta ads excel at:
👉 Building brand awareness.
👉 Nurturing new customers with engaging content.
👉 Retargeting cold leads who didn’t convert initially.

Google ads are great for:
👉 Capturing demand when people are actively searching for solutions.
👉 Generating high-intent traffic with low CPC.
👉 Converting cold leads into paying customers quickly.

Which one should you focus on?
👉 Meta ads work best if you’re focusing on top-of-funnel and brand-building.
👉 Google ads work best when you’re ready to convert customers actively searching for your product.

Rumour has it that OpenAI might be quietly working on a native Shopify checkout inside ChatGPT.

Apparently ‘leaked’ code shows:

👉 'shopify_checkout_url'
👉 'buy_now'
👉 'product_offer_ratings'

No redirects. No search. Just chat, compare, and buy in one flow. Unconfirmed, but catching attention.

If this happens?

Google, TikTok, even product pages as we know them are all about to change.

Optimization Hub ⚙️

SEARCH INNOVATION

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) integrates traditional SEO with AI-focused strategies, ensuring content is both visible in classic search results and cited by AI models like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Marketers must structure content to answer specific questions, prioritize authority, and track AI-driven citations. Adapting to GEO is essential for maintaining discoverability in an AI-driven search landscape.

DISCOVERY COMMERCE INNOVATION

TikTok Shop’s newly released playbook, developed with Accenture Song, provides marketers and brands actionable frameworks for driving growth through discovery commerce, leveraging real-time creator content and robust measurement. With TikTok Shop rapidly capturing eCommerce market share, ignoring these trends risks falling behind competitors capitalizing on content-driven online retail.

INNOVATIVE PERSONALIZATION STRATEGIES

Cookieless personalization is reshaping digital marketing by requiring brands to use first-party and zero-party data, contextual targeting, and server-side solutions instead of third-party cookies, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. This shift enables marketers to maintain effective, consent-driven customer engagement while safeguarding user privacy. Marketers must adapt quickly to sustain relevance and trust.

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