Latest News August 2015 OBB Rating Shows Independents' Attitudes Remain Positive Toward Business By Staff Monday, September 28, 2015 12:30 AM NEW YORK—The latest Optical Business Barometer (OBB) report from Jobson Optical Research, which gauges the attitudes about their business and their business outlook among independent eyecare professionals, shows that the overall optical business rating for August 2015 increased slightly to 3.88 from a July 2015 rating of 3.87. Additionally, compared to August 2014, the rating is even staying at 3.88, and when further compared to August 2013, the rating increased from a rating of 3.72. According to the report, January through August ratings for Overall Optical are up by 2.8 percent over the same period in 2014. The average ratings for January through August 2015 stood at 3.85. That compares to 3.74 in 2014 and 3.71 in 2013. The confidence rating, a measurement of independent eyecare professionals’ outlook for overall optical retail business for the upcoming six months, was down slightly, showing a rating of 3.87 as compared to July’s 3.97. The August 2015 rating of 3.87 compared to 3.94 in 2014 and 3.72 in 2013. The average rating for January through August 2015 stood at 3.91, the highest of January through August rating for the past five years. The Optical Business Barometer is designed to gauge the optical business trends of eyecare professionals at independent optical locations and to provide independent optical retailers with a comparative “how's business” benchmark. The Optical Business Barometer is a monthly study of a representative sample of independent optical retailers (single locations and groups of no more than three locations). It is conducted online by Jobson Optical Research and is designed to take the temperature of the independent optical business. The OBB is based on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is very negative, 3 is neutral and 5 is very positive.Additionally, the August 2015 monthly scores for eyeglasses and contact lenses were even with the same period in 2014, while exams showed a slight increase from 2014. The August rating for eyeglasses remained at 3.85 for both 2015 and 2014 but increased from the 2013 rating of 3.68. The rating for exams rose from 3.94 in 2014 to 3.96 in 2015 (and further compared to 3.76 in 2013). The rating for contact lenses remained at 3.76 for both 2015 and 2014, but when further compared to 2013 showed a slight increase from a rating of 3.59.For VM’s full report, visit the Research + Stats section on VisionMonday.com. For more information, visit jobsonresearch.com/obb or contact Elana Lehrhaupt at (212) 274-7135 or elehrhaupt@Jobson.com.