NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, March 13 - 19, when compared with the previous week at a rate of -2 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 6 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 12) when compared with last year (2022), 1 point above the same period in 2021, 49 points above 2020, and 15 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.

Most optical sales categories were up last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of -2 index points for gross revenue, 3 index points for exams/refractions, 4 index points for frame units, 3 index points (for lens pairs, and 0 index points for contact lenses. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up with the exception of two, with the highest increase of 6 index points for gross revenue to the greatest decrease of -2 index points for contact lenses.

The other categories increased at rates of 0 index points for exams/refractions, 2 index points for frame units, and 1 index point for lens pairs.

With most optical sales categories increasing last week, most of the categories still reached levels above an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker)with the exception of two. These ranged from a high of 118 index points for gross revenue to a low of 92 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories reached 99 index points for exams/refractions, 105 index points for frame units, and 105 index points for lens pairs.

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