NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, Aug 15-21, at a rate of -1 index point. That places gross revenue at a level 10 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 34) when compared with last year, 4 points above the same period in 2020, and 9 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker. All optical sales categories were down last week when compared with the previous week.
 
Most categories, including frame units, lens pairs and gross revenue were down 1 index point, while contact lenses were down 4 index points, and exams/refractions were down 2 index points. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all optical sales categories were up. Increases ranged from a high of 10 index points for gross revenue to 2 index points for contact lenses. The other categories, exams/refractions and frame units, increased by 4 points and lens pairs were up 5 points.
 
Although all optical sales categories decreased last week, all but one 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 116 index points for gross revenue to a low of 99 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories were slightly higher than the 100-index-point benchmark—frame units at 101, lens pairs at 102, and exams/refractions at 103.
 
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