For many eyecare practices and retail stores, their wholesale lab is much more than just a supplier. They regard their lab as a trusted business partner that provides the vital products and services they need in order to give their patients the best possible vision care. That typically includes advanced lens processing technology and a carefully selected menu of lens options and frame brands. Perhaps most important though, is the expert dispensing advice the lab can offer as well as education and information about new products and technologies. It’s no exaggeration to say that behind every successful practice and store is a top-notch lab.

For this year’s annual L&T Lab Usage Survey, we asked 142 independent eyecare professionals to tell us about their experiences working with their primary lab (or labs). We learned about their reasons for choosing their lab, how they order product, how they rate their lab’s performance in various areas, and what types of products they order. They also told us details about the types of lens products they order as well as why they outsource certain types of finishing jobs while preferring to do others in-house. In short, we got a lot of important feedback about the lab-ECP relationship, the highlights of which are summarized here.

—Andrew Karp

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Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

Wholesale Lab Usage Survey 2014

• Just about three-quarters (74 percent) of locations work with more than one wholesale lab.
• 46 percent expect to do more business with wholesale labs in the coming year.
• The majority of locations purchase surfaced lenses (94 percent) and stock finished lenses (83 percent) from their primary lab.
• The factors in selecting a lab considered very important by most are lens surfacing quality (91 percent) and lens coating quality (90 percent), followed closely by lens finishing quality (89 percent) and product turnaround time (89 percent).
• Only 37 percent of respondents have ever sent in frame tracing data with an online order.
• The services provided most often by the respondent’s primary lab were lens product information (97 percent) and technical support (97 percent) and online ordering (95 percent).
• Most labs that sell spectacle lenses offer online ordering; however, 63 percent of respondents have never sent in frame tracing data with an online order.