NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, Sept. 26-Oct. 2 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 40) when compared with last year, equal to the same period in 2020, and 11 points above 2019. All optical sales categories, except one, were down last week when compared with the previous week. The contact lenses category experienced the only increase last week, by 4 index points.
 
The other categories’ decreases were gross revenue’s -2 index points, frame units and lens pairs, both down 3 index points, and -4 index points for exams/refractions. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up or unchanged, ranging from flat for the lens pairs category to an increase of 7 index points for gross revenue.
 
With all but one optical sales category decreasing last week, only one category reached a level above an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. Gross revenue reached a level of 110 index points, three categories, exams/refractions, frame units and lens pairs, hit 95 index points, and the contact lenses category was at 93 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.
 
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