NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased last week, Nov. 27–Dec. 3, when compared with the previous week at a rate of 45 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 6 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 49) when compared with last year (2022), 11 points above the same period in 2021, 9 points above 2020, and 14 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 45 index points for gross revenue, 35 index points for exams/refractions, 36 index points for frame units, 37 index points for lens pairs and 31 index points for contact lenses. These large increases are following the large decreases in the previous week due to the extended Thanksgiving weekend.

When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, most of the categories were up. Ranging from the greatest increase of 6 index points for gross revenue to the only decrease of -1 index point for contact lenses. The remaining categories increased by 3 index points for exams/refractions, 1 point for frame units and 1 index point for lens pairs.

With optical sales categories increasing last week, four of the categories reached a level above an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. These ranged from a high of 123 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, 102 index points for frame units, and 102 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