NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased last week, Sept. 19-25, at a rate of 2 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 11 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 39) when compared with last year, 2 points above the same period in 2020, and 13 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker. All optical sales categories, except one, were up last week when compared with the previous week.
 
The contact lenses category experienced the only decrease last week, by 1 index point. The other categories’ increases ranged from gross revenue’s 2 index points to 4 index points for both exams/refractions and lens pairs. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up, ranging from the largest increase of 11 index points for gross revenue to the smallest increase of 5 index points for contact lenses.
 
With most optical sales increasing last week, one category reached a level above an average week in 2019 and one matched that index baseline of 100 index points. Gross revenue reached a level of 112 index points, exams/refractions matched the 100-point benchmark, and the other three categories fell below that level—lens pairs at 98 index points, frame units at 97 points, and contact lenses at 89 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