NEW YORK—Optical sales increased slightly last week, July 19-25, with most product/service categories on the upswing, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker. The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased by 1 index point, bringing it to within 1 index point of the level it reached at this point last year and 3 index points above where it was in 2019. All optical sales categories, except contact lenses, experienced slight upticks last week. Exams/refractions had the largest increase of 3 index points, while contact lenses at the other end of the sales spectrum decreased by 1 index point. Rounding out the increases were lens pairs, which were up 2 index points and frame units, up 1 index point.
Gross revenue continues holding its position well above an average week in 2019, the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. Lens pairs sales, with their 2-point increase this week, now match an average week in 2019, while the other categories are getting close at 99 index points for frame units and exams/refractions, and 97 index points for contact lenses.
Jobson Optical Research selected 1,500 optical locations that have been operating and reporting their sales to its partners, GPN and ABB Analytics, since 2019. The index has been rebased to an average week in 2019. Going forward, this new index base will be used as an arbitrary benchmark and assigned a value of 100.
Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker