NEW YORK—National optical sales changed little over the course of last week, April 5-11. All product/service categories were down by 1 index point, except gross revenue, which was flat when comparing overall optical sales last week with those of the previous week (March 29-April 4), according to the latest Jobson Practice Performance Tracker. These U.S. optical retail sales trends occurred as the country experienced its fourth consecutive week of increasing nationwide coronavirus cases, according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review. 

Optical sales were either flat or declined slightly on a regional basis. The West experienced the largest decreases in optical sales, ranging from -1 index point for lens pairs to -3 index points for exams/refractions and contact lenses. All other product/service categories ranged from no change at all to -2 index points. This coincides with upticks in coronavirus cases, not just in the West but in all four census regions being tracked, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

The Jobson COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker data is compiled by Jobson Research from GPN/EDGEPro and ABB Analyze data.

This index baseline was developed by Jobson Research from total sales from an average 7 days in the first quarter of 2019.

Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker