NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased last week, Dec. 12–18, when compared with the previous week by a rate of 2 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 4 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 51) when compared with last year, 5 points above the same period in 2020, and 2 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.
 
All optical sales categories were up last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of 2 index points for gross revenue and contact lenses, 1 index point for exams/refractions and 4 index points for frame units and lens pairs. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were down or flat besides one, ranging from the highest increase of 4 index points for gross revenue to the greatest decrease of -4 index points for contact lenses.
 
The other categories decreased at rates of -2 index points for exams/refractions, -1 index point for frame units, and the rate for lens pairs was unchanged.
 
With all optical sales categories increasing last week, every category reached levels at or above an average week in 2019 with the exception of one—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. These ranged from a high of 121 index points for gross revenue to a low of 92 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories reached 104 index points for exams/refractions, 106 index points for frame units and 105 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