NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, Dec. 19-25,  when compared with the previous week at a rate of -9 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 22 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 52) when compared with last year, 32 points above the same period in 2020, and 35 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 -9 index points for gross revenue, -7 index points for exams/refractions and lens pairs, -5 index points for frame units, and 0 index points  for contact lenses. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up, ranging from the highest increase of 22 index points for gross revenue to the lowest increase of 12 index points for contact lenses.
 
The other categories increased at rates of 16 index points for exams/refractions and 17 index points for frame units and lens pairs.
 
With all optical sales categories decreasing or remaining flat last week, most categories did not reach levels at or above an average week in 2019 with the exception of two—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. These ranged from a high of 112 index points for gross revenue to a low of 91 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories reached 97 index points for exams/refractions, 101 index points for frame units, and 99 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