We can’t take a look back at Vision Monday’s most read stories of the year without considering VM’s print Cover Stories which are also available to our readers electronically. Even against the backdrop of another year of the COVID pandemic, the optical industry still got down to business despite the personal and business hurdles they faced due to the ongoing and seemingly never-ending pandemic. A perennial VM favorite with readers, VM’s Most Influential Women in Optical, occupies the top spot for 2021 with the Special Report taking up a record 26 edit pages in our July issue. VM’s Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers Report, How Brick Is Learning to Click, Rising to the Challenge—A Look at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and The Vision Monday Leadership Summit—Retail and Healthcare: UPENDED! rounded out the list of the Top 5 most read Cover Stories for 2021. Also, don’t miss our Top 10 Coronavirus Briefing stories also included here.

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1. #HerStory 2021: Vision Monday’s Most Influential Women in Optical Report



As the pandemic continued to upend life in 2021, women, it seems, were bearing the brunt of extended responsibilities, both at home and in their work life. According to a recent Deloitte Global report, “Women @ Work: A Global Outlook,” heightened workloads and household responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic are driving deep dissatisfaction among many women in the workforce. The report found that these increased responsibilities are having devastating effects on working women as 51 percent of those surveyed are less optimistic about their career prospects today. And on top of that, women surveyed reported a 35-point drop in mental health. Apparently, the women we profiled in our 2021 Most Influential Women in Optical Report did not get the memo. While COVID-19 presented complex challenges for many women, our honorees persevered and in many cases thrived—their stories of achievement, innovation and sheer determination, as they faced personal and business hurdles due to the pandemic, are nothing short of inspiring. We hope you enjoy their stories.
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2. Crafting a Comeback: VM’s Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers Report 



NEW YORK—In a year like no other, against a backdrop of an overall vision care industry retail sales decline due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the collective sales of the VM’s Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers fared slightly better. In 2020, U.S. total market sales declined about 17 percent to $31.2 billion according to The Vision Council’s VisionWatch market research estimates. Compared to that, the Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers, according to VM’s report and estimates, saw a decline of 5 percent on average, for the year, and 6 percent, collectively, among the Top 10 Retailers. (The 2021 VM Top 50 Report reflects sales, locations and rankings based on calendar year, ending Dec. 31, 2020.) Looking more closely at the numbers, however, this year’s overall report and ranking reflected a very mixed range of performance and experiences—from positive to downright tough, across those companies in this year’s VM Top 50.

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3. How Brick Is Learning to Click 



NEW YORK—Brick must now Click. The adoption of technology throughout the retail sector and the health care field, from larger national players to smaller independent groups and providers, was already underway. But the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 pushed the trend ahead, and is likely to have been the watershed development that is transforming both sectors forever. Many of the world’s largest consultancies, including McKinsey, pointed out that the pandemic was the “tipping point” for technology. The company’s recent Global Survey of Executives underscores that adoption of digital technologies. With businesses fast-tracking their digital technology decisions, it was the behavior of American consumers who led that charge. As Accenture pointed out in late summer 2020, “People are living differently, buying differently and, in many ways, thinking differently. Long-term trends have been accelerated. The impact is profound. Retailers are reshaping their businesses in real-time, to permanent effect.”

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4. Rising to the Challenge, A Look at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion



NEW YORK—In a year of upheaval, which in the year 2020 escalated on every front, from health care, business, family, politics and culture, due to many things including a global pandemic, it became clear to many that a new awareness of inequities, access and a demand for change would bring about a new and more widespread dialogue within the optical industry and profession toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). DEI has become, for a growing number of companies, individuals, groups and organizations across the optical industry and vision care profession, more than a buzzword. It is a widening commitment. Executives and employees, doctors and associates, patients and patient advocates are starting to more openly address the issues of racism and institutional prejudice and to support diversity as part of their stated mission. Communications and steps forward are complex but are on a crescendo. They have taken different forms, from internal statements to employees and associates to formally posted letters of support and principle.

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5. The Vision Monday Leadership Summit—Retail and Healthcare: UPENDED!



NEW YORK—With a compelling speaker roster in place, The Vision Monday Leadership Summit culminated in October this year in two dynamic sessions which explored how new market forces, unleashed and amplified by the global pandemic, are rewriting the fundamental rules of customer/patient engagement for both retailers and healthcare providers. Part of the series of VM Leadership Summit sessions that started earlier this spring, the Oct. 20 and Oct. 27 virtual programs were themed “Retail and Healthcare: UPENDED! Ripping Up the Rulebook.”  Here are summaries and highlights of the Summit sessions.

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At the beginning of the pandemic, Vision Monday set its sights on covering how the pandemic was affecting the optical business and our Coronavirus Briefing section was hatched. The top Coronavirus briefing story was about Vision Expo East moving to Orlando, Fla. in June followed by a vaccine rollout plan calling for more professionals to take part in administering shots, including optometrists. The rest of the Top 10 field was dominated by stories generated from two ongoing pandemic-themed Jobson Research efforts: the COVID-19 Practice Performance Trackers and the Jobson ECP Coronavirus Surveys. Here’s a look at the top 10 stories from our Coronavirus Briefing section for 2021.


1. Organizers of Vision Expo Announce That Vision Expo East 2021 Will Now Take Place June 2-5 in Orlando, Fla. 



ALEXANDRIA, Va.—In late January of 2021, The Vision Council and Reed Exhibitions, organizers of Vision Expo, announced that Vision Expo East 2021, originally scheduled to take place at the Javits Center in New York City from May 25-28, 2021, was scheduled to take place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. from June 2-5, 2021. The Show’s educational program, together with OptiCon@Vision Expo, was set to open Wednesday, June 2 and exhibits on Thursday, June 3. The decision was based on the current restrictions on large gatherings in New York State due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the successful track record of previous events held at the Orange County Convention Center, the announcement said.

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2. White House's Accelerated Vaccine Rollout Plan Calls for More Professionals to Take Part in Administering Shots, Including Optometrists 



WASHINGTON D.C.—In March, President Biden addressed the nation on the one-year anniversary of the WHO declaration of the coronavirus pandemic and detailed plans to continue to escalate vaccinations for all Americans, characterizing it as a "war-time effort to vaccinate the U.S. population with the goal of getting the nation closer to normal by July 4th." Just afterward, The White House issued its fact sheet that called for more health care professionals to get directly involved with the efforts and contribute to the administration, including, specifically, optometrists. In addition to significantly increasing the number of places that Americans can get vaccinated, the White House said it would look to increase the number of people providing and supporting vaccinations.

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3. Seven States Permit Optometrists to Administer COVID-19 Vaccines, AOA Reports 



NEW YORK—As of the beginning of March, there were now seven states, up from four in late February, that permit optometrists to administer COVID-19 vaccines, as professional groups on the state and federal level continue to advocate to expand it further. A new update from the American Optometric Association (AOA) reported that these seven states now explicitly grant doctors of optometry authority to administer COVID-19 vaccines. The seven are: California, Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. As VMAIL reported, four of those had granted that authority previously. In its news update, the AOA noted that on March 1, the White House COVID -19 Response Team said "Coronavirus case counts presently are only about a third of what the nation experienced during a record-devastating holiday surge that saw over 250,000 cases/day.

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4. U.S. Optical Sales Fall Further Entering a Third Straight Week of Declines in February, Jobson Practice Performance Tracker Says 



NEW YORK—Entering the third week of declines, U.S. optical sales fell further for the week of Feb. 8-14, according to the Jobson Practice Performance Tracker. Decreases in national optical sales were slightly larger this past week when compared with the two previous weeks. Last week, all service/product categories decreased by either -3 index points (gross revenue, exams/refractions) or -4 index points (frame units, lens pairs, contact lenses). That compares with smaller declines ranging from -1 index point to -3 index points over the previous two weeks. Decreases in optical sales last week were most likely due to weather conditions impacting travel and keeping people indoors and off the roads rather than because of coronavirus cases, which are actually decreasing in all 50 states, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

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5. Signs of Concern Seen Among ECPs as Delta Variant Raises COVID-19 Infection Rates, Jobson Research’s Survey Finds 



NEW YORK—In August, with the coronavirus Delta variant driving a rise in COVID-19 infection rates higher across much of the U.S., optical retail and eyecare practices began to show an indication they were concerned about this trend even as business in July returned to levels comparable to those seen pre-pandemic in July 2019. These were among the findings of Wave 25 of the Jobson Research ECP Coronavirus Survey. The survey was conducted July 26 until July 28, 2021, by Jobson Research, and was completed by 529 eyecare professionals. More than 90 percent of the respondents were either optometrists, ophthalmologists or optician/dispensing professionals.

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6. Staffing Is a Challenge for Many ECPs as Business Builds Back; New CDC Mask Confusion Is Creating Tension, Per Jobson's Coronavirus Survey 



NEW YORK—In June, the character of business among ECPs and optical retailers was running significantly higher in May 2021  in terms of  profitability per patient (+29 percent), number of patients per day (+34 percent), revenue (+34 percent), optical sales (+35 percent) and capture rate (+23 percent) versus the May 2020 shutdowns and closings in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, each of these practice business benchmarks were again, in Wave 23 of the Jobson Research ECP Coronavirus Survey, which was conducted May 26 to May 28, starting to even up to flat in comparison with the same period of 2019. When asked if their practices could accommodate more patients than they are currently seeing now, there has been a primary problem for most of the respondents—some 48 percent indicated that lack of staff is their big challenge at the moment.

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7. Optical Sales in the U.S. Continued its Month-Long Decline, Jobson Practice Performance Tracker Says 



NEW YORK—In April, optical sales throughout the U.S. continued their gradual decline that started in March, according to the latest Jobson Practice Performance Tracker. Over the course of  the week of April 19-25, all product/service categories being tracked declined by 2 index points. This downward trajectory began when comparing the week of March 29-April 4 with the week of March 22-28, when national optical sales began falling during the Easter and Passover holidays and have continued in that direction since. The decline in optical sales coincided with the current seven-day moving average of daily new COVID cases decreasing by about 10 percent when compared with the previous seven-day moving average, according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review.

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8. ECPs Express Increased Concerns About Patient Traffic, Professional Staffing Issues and More Hesitancy About Travel in Jobson Research Aug. 13-16 ECP Coronavirus Survey 



NEW YORK—In August, increased uncertainty, fueled by a surge of COVID cases across the country due to the Delta variant as well as patient traffic and growing professional staffing concerns, impacted the current near-term business outlook among those eyecare professionals and optical retailers responding to Wave 26 of the Jobson ECP Coronavirus Survey, conducted from August 13-16, 2021 by Jobson Research. That being said, survey respondents indicated that overall revenue, optical sales, the number of patients they are seeing per day and the profitability per patient were up about 10 percent to 12 percent comparing August 2021 to August 2020, although those counts were 1 percent to 2 percent down from levels experienced in August 2019.

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9. Many Eyecare Practices Still Operating Below March 2019 Level, Wave 21 of Jobson Research Survey Finds 



NEW YORK—After an almost complete shutdown of eyecare practices across the nation in the latter part of March 2020, it’s not unexpected that practices overall performed much better across many of the key office metrics in March 2021. However, in a few key areas—such as patients per day and profitably per patient—March 2021 performance trailed the results of March 2019, the most recent time that ECPs were not dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings on practice performance and operations were developed from Wave 21 of the Coronavirus ECP Survey conducted March 26-30, 2021, by Jobson Research. One important finding that came through in Wave 21 is that a large number of respondents said their practices continue to operate below capacity.

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10. Worldwide E-commerce Is on the Rise, Despite Retail Downturn



E-commerce managed to perform above pre-pandemic expectations in 2020, despite a 3 percent downturn in total worldwide retail sales. Worldwide retail ecommerce sales posted a 27.6 percent growth rate for the year, with sales reaching well over $4 trillion, according to an analysis by eMarketer. This represents a substantial uptick from eMarketer’s mid-pandemic assessment that global e-commerce would decelerate to 16.5 percent growth and demonstrates the remarkable extent to which consumers transitioned to e-commerce last year. “We anticipate that consumers will maintain many of their newfound digital behaviors in 2021,” said Ethan Cramer-Flood, eMarketer forecasting writer at Insider Intelligence and author of eMarketer’s new report, “Global Ecommerce Update 2021."

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