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 May 2015 decreased slightly to 3.81 from an April 2015 rating of 3.83. However, as compared to the May 2014 rating of 3.73, the May 2015 rating has increased, and when further compared to May 2013, the rating also increased from the rating of 3.65.

According to the report, the January through May ratings for overall optical are up 3.6 percent over the same period in 2014.

Between April 2015 and May 2015, the confidence rating, a measuring of independent eyecare professionals’ outlook for overall optical retail business for the upcoming six months, was up slightly, showing a rating of 3.93 as compared to April’s 3.87 rating. The May 2015 rating of 3.93 compares to 3.87 in 2014 and 3.82 in 2013. Additionally, the average rating for January 2015 through May 2015 stood at 3.90, the highest January through May 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 May 2015 monthly scores for eyeglasses, exams and contact lenses all showed increases from the previous year. The May rating for eyeglasses rose from 3.71 in 2014 to 3.80 in 2015 (and further compared to 3.64 in 2013); the rating for exams rose from 3.77 in 2014 to 3.80 in 2015 (and further compared to 3.62 in 2013); and the rating for contact lenses rose from 3.64 in 2014 to 3.65 in 2015 (compared to 3.52 in 2013).

For VM’s full report, visit the Research + Stats section on VisionMonday.com.

For more information, visit jobsonresearch.com/obb or contact Jennifer Waller at (212) 274-7164 or jwaller@jobson.com.