The UK’s eyewear sector has rapidly expanded online, with retailers competing less on geographic presence and more on the depth of their digital catalogues. This 2025 review examines leading e-commerce platforms by the number of frames and brands they offer, providing a clear picture of where British consumers can now find the broadest range of styles. The landscape includes everything from specialist optical boutiques to global multi-brand marketplaces, resulting in a varied but increasingly scale-driven market.
Key Takeaways
- SmartBuyGlasses.co.uk tops both rankings, listing 47,000+ frames and 265 brands, establishing itself as the UK’s most comprehensive online destination for eyewear.
- Pretavoir.co.uk and SelectSpecs.com follow with sizeable catalogues exceeding 12,000 frames, creating a competitive mid-tier.
- Traditional high-street giants such as Vision Express and Specsavers sit lower in the rankings, aligned with their model of prioritising in-store clinical care over online volume expansion.
UK Retailers Ranked by Total Frames (2025)
| Rank | Domain | Total Frames |
| 1 | smartbuyglasses.co.uk | 47,401 |
| 2 | pretavoir.co.uk | 12,581 |
| 3 | selectspecs.com | 12,391 |
| 4 | spex4less.com | 5,980 |
| 5 | shadestation.co.uk | 5,742 |
| 6 | fashioneyewear.com | 3,235 |
| 7 | opticiansdirect.co.uk | 3,027 |
| 8 | visionexpress.com | 1,118 |
| 9 | specsavers.co.uk | 1,075 |
| 10 | mandsopticians.com | 818 |
| 11 | discountedsunglasses.co.uk | 736 |
| 12 | glassesdirect.co.uk | 722 |
| 13 | glasses2you.co.uk | 677 |
| 14 | directsight.co.uk | 333 |
| 15 | rxsport.co.uk | 45 |
| 16 | sunglasshut.com | 33 |
UK Retailers Ranked by Total Brands (2025)
| Rank | Domain | Total Brands |
| 1 | smartbuyglasses.co.uk | 265 |
| 2 | selectspecs.com | 243 |
| 3 | fashioneyewear.com | 110 |
| 4 | spex4less.com | 76 |
| 5 | shadestation.co.uk | 64 |
| 6 | opticiansdirect.co.uk | 63 |
| 7 | pretavoir.co.uk | 44 |
| 8 | discountedsunglasses.co.uk | 41 |
| 9 | visionexpress.com | 33 |
| 10 | glassesdirect.co.uk | 26 |
| 11 | specsavers.co.uk | 24 |
| 12 | mandsopticians.com | 23 |
| 13 | glasses2you.co.uk | 14 |
| 14 | sunglasshut.com | 3 |
| 15 | directsight.co.uk | 2 |
| 16 | rxsport.co.uk | 1 |
A Market Moving Beyond the High Street
While UK opticians have traditionally relied on strong high-street visibility, the online eyewear sector has evolved into a catalogue-led competition. SmartBuyGlasses and SelectSpecs command the largest inventories, offering thousands of niche variants unavailable through local stores. Pretavoir takes a premium stance, curating a high-end product selection with notable depth.
Legacy optical chains — despite their brand equity and clinical expertise — show smaller digital assortments. This reinforces a structural divide: traditional opticians still focus on service-led in-person experience, while e-commerce specialists pursue assortment-led growth.
What Builds Trust for UK Shoppers
For British consumers ordering prescription eyewear online, confidence comes from more than vast product choice. Key factors influencing satisfaction include:
- clear and user-friendly prescription upload options,
- accurate measurements (PD, bridge width, hinge-to-hinge fit),
- lightweight, comfortable materials,
- robust virtual try-on tools that help reduce uncertainty before purchase.
Retailers successfully blending these elements with expansive catalogues are best positioned to grow long-term loyalty.
Methodology
- Data collected in September 2025 from publicly available product and brand listings.
- Only active online retailers shipping to the UK were included.
- Metrics assessed:
– Total Frames – number of unique eyewear SKUs displayed.
– Total Brands – number of distinct eyewear brands offered. - Duplicated listings, discontinued items, and non-eyewear products were excluded.
- The results provide a clear snapshot of assortment variety, not market share or commercial performance.
If you’d like to propose additional UK domains for future reviews, please get in touch.