NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations fell dramatically, by 20 index points last week (Sept. 6-12) due to Labor Day falling on Monday, Sept.6. When comparing this with the same week (Week 37) of the previous two years, 2021 was comparable to 2020 because Labor Day also fell within Week 37 of 2020 but not 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker. All optical sales categories decreased substantially last week because of the Labor Day holiday.
 
Gross revenue fell the most, by -20 index points, and contact lenses fell the least, by -16 index points. The other three categories, including exams/refractions, frame units, and lens pairs, fell by -19 index points.
 
Last week’s decreases in optical sales brought all categories to a level far below an average week in 2019 the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker. Gross revenue remains closest to that baseline at 82 index points, while exams/refractions remain furthest from the baseline at 73 index 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