NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations remained flat last week (October 2 – October 8) when compared with the previous week at a rate of 0 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 2 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 41) when compared with last year (2022), 11 points above the same period in 2021, 5 points above 2020, and 16 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.

Optical sales categories were mixed last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of 0 index points (gross revenue), 0 index points (exams/refractions), -1 index point (frame units), -1 index point (lens pairs), and 3 index points (contact lenses). When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were down or flat besides one, ranging from the only increase of 2 index points for gross revenue to the greatest decrease of -3 index points for contact lenses. The other categories moved at rates of 0 index points for exams/refractions and -1 index point for both frame units and lens pairs.

With optical sales categories being mixed last week, only one 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 113 index points for gross revenue to a low of 87 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories reached 97 index points for exams/refractions, 95 index points for frame units, and 95 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.

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