NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, Jan. 1–7, when compared with Week 52 of 2023 at a rate of -26 index points. That places gross revenue at a level -10 index points below where it was at this point in time (Week 1) when compared with last year (2023), 3 points above the same period in 2022, 1 point above 2021, 1 point below 2020, and 29 points above 2019. Keep in mind this variation can be attributed to where the holidays and end of the year falls on the calendar, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.

Most optical sales categories were down last week when compared with Week 52 of 2023, at rates of -26 index points for gross revenue, -28 index point for exams/refractions, -25 index points for frame units, -21 index points for lens pairs and 1 index point for contact lenses. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, most of the categories were down as well, ranging from the greatest decrease of -27 index points for frame units to the only increase of 3 index points for contact lenses.

The remaining categories decreased by -10 index points for gross revenue, -7 index points for exams/refractions and -21 index points for lens pairs.

With most optical sales categories decreasing last week, only 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 107 index points for gross revenue to a low of 83 index points for exams/refractions. The other three categories reached 89 index points for frame units, 90 index points for lens pairs and 103 index points for contact lenses.

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