NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased by -1 index point last week, October 24–30, when compared to the previous week. Despite the decrease, that still places gross revenue at a level 7 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 44) when compared with last year, 4 points above the same period in 2020, and 13 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.
 
Optical sales categories were all down or flat last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of -1 index point for gross revenue and lens pairs, 0 index points for exams/refractions and frame units and -4 index points for contact lenses. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up besides one, ranging from the highest increase of 7 index points for gross revenue to a decrease of -3 index points for contact lenses. The other categories increased at rates of 5 index points for frame units, 3 points for lens pairs, and 1 point for exams/refractions.
 
With optical sales categories being mostly down last week, only one category reached levels above an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. These ranged from a high of 112 index points for gross revenue to a low of 84 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories reached 98 index points for exams/refractions, 99 index points for lens pairs, and 100 index points for frame units.
 
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