NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, Feb. 12–18, when compared with the previous week at a rate of -1 index point. That places gross revenue at a level -1 index point below where it was at this point in time (Week 7) when compared with last year (2023), 6 points above the same period in 2022, 11 points above 2021, 14 points above 2020, and 22 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.

All optical sales categories were down or flat last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of -1 index point for gross revenue, -1 index point for exams/refractions, 0 index points for frame units, 0 index points for lens pairs, and -3 index points for contact lenses.

When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, the categories were all down, ranging from the greatest decrease of -6 index points for frame units to the lowest decrease of -1 index point for both gross revenue and exams/refractions. The remaining categories decreased at -5 index points for lens pairs and -3 index points for contact lenses.

With all optical sales categories decreasing or remaining flat last week, two 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 120 index points for gross revenue to a low of 92 index points for contact lenses. Two categories, exams/revenue and frame units, matched the index baseline of 100. Len pairs reached 101 index points.

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