NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, May 9-15, at a rate of -2 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 7 index points above where it was at this point in time (week 20) when compared with last year and 12 points above 2019. Gross revenue during Week 20 of 2020 was 42 index points below Week 20 of this year at a level of 68 index points, as it continued to gradually emerge from the pandemic-related low of 14 index points it had reached during Week 15 of 2020, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.
 
All optical sales categories decreased or remained flat last week. When comparing last week with the previous week, contact lenses remained flat while decreases ranged from -2 index points for gross revenue and exams/refractions to -6 index points for lens pairs.
 
Frame units decreased by -5 index points. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, categories were both up and down. Up were gross revenue at 7 index points, contact lenses at 6 points, and exams/refractions at 4 points. Down were lens pairs at -3 index points and frame units at-2 points.
 
With all optical sales either flat or down last week, only one category remained above an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. At 110 index points, gross revenue is the only category above that benchmark. The other categories below that benchmark range from frame units, which at 97 index points is the closest to an average week in 2019, to contact lenses, which is the furthest at 91 index points.
 
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