NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased last week, Dec. 26– Jan. 1, when compared with the previous week at a rate of 5 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 13 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 1) when compared with last year (2022), 11 points above the same period in 2021, 9 points above 2020, and 39 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.
 
All optical sales categories were up except for one last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of 5 index points for gross revenue, -8 index points for exams/refractions, 15 index points for frame units, 13 index points for lens pairs and 9 index points for contact lenses. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up, ranging from the highest increase of 13 index points for gross revenue to the lowest increase of 3 index points for exams/refractions and contact lenses.
 
The other categories increased at rates of 12 index points for frame units, and 10 index points for frame units and lens pairs.
 
With most optical sales categories increasing last week, the majority of categories did reach 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 117 index points for gross revenue to a low of 89 index points for exams/refractions. The other three categories reached 116 index points for frame units, 111 index points for lens pairs and 100 index points for contact lenses.
 
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