Latest News OBB Q4 for 2016 Shows Growth Over 2015 Ratings By Staff Wednesday, February 15, 2017 12:27 AM NEW YORK—The latest Optical Business Barometer (OBB) report from Jobson Optical Research, which gauges the attitudes about their business and their business outlook among independent eyecare professionals is now reported quarterly instead of monthly. The survey is still fielded each month, but the data is aggregated and analyzed on a quarterly basis. Independents are asked to rank their perception of their own business and ratings are created based on the scoring. In reporting on the OBB rating for Q4 of 2016, the ratings show that 2016 finished somewhat ahead of 2015’s ratings. Overall optical, eyeglasses, exams and contacts lenses each showed ratings growth in 2016 between 1 percent and 2 percent over 2015. On a regional basis, the West and Midwest regions of the U.S. showed the highest rate of ratings growth in 2016 at 3.2 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively The Northeast and South regions finished out the 2016 year with ratings gains of 0.2 percent over the 2015 year. Additionally, the ratings in Overall Optical in 2016 increased by 1.5 percent over 2015, and the strongest performance in 2016 over 2015 occurred in Q1 with a ratings growth rate of 3.5 percent. Q4 of 2016 showed a 1 percent improvement in ratings over Q4 of 2015. When surveying independents, 75 percent said they recycle eyeglasses while 24 percent said that it’s important to them that their location employs environmentally friendly practices. In addition, 40 percent of independents said that they have the ability for patients to make appointments online and 44 percent have Wi-Fi access in their waiting area. The Optical Business Barometer (OBB) is designed to gauge the optical business trends of eyecare professionals at independent optical locations and to provide independent optical retailers with a comparative "how's business" benchmark. OBB is a study of a representative sample of independent optical retailers (single locations and groups of no more than 3 locations). It is conducted online by Jobson Optical Research and is designed to take the temperature of the independent optical business.