NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased last week, October 28–November 3, when compared with the previous week, at a rate of 3 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 16 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 44) when compared with last year (2023), 20 points above the same period in 2022, 27 points above 2021, 24 points above 2020 and 33 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.

Most optical sales categories increased last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of 3 index points for gross revenue, 2 index points for exams/refractions, 2 index points for frame units, 0 index points for lens pairs and 2 index points for contact lenses). When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all the categories were up, ranging from the largest increase of 16 index points for gross revenue, to the smallest increase of 5 index points for frame units. The other categories increased by 6 index points for exams/refractions, 9 index points for lens pairs and 6 index points for contact lenses.

With most optical sales categories increasing last week, four of the categories reached a level 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 132 index points for gross revenue to a low of 90 index points for contact lenses. The other categories reached 108 index points for exams/refractions, 102 index points for frame units and 105 index points for lens pairs.

Jobson Optical Research selected 1,500 optical locations that have been operating and reporting their sales to its partners, GPN and ABB Analyze, 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.

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