Back To School by the Numbers
A new report from Optimove highlights that for the 2025 back-to-school season, inflation, tariffs, and tighter budgets are reshaping how parents shop — and examines what they expect from retailers. Key findings from a national survey of K–12 parents found that 81% are concerned about tariffs and 79% about inflation; 46% cite budget pressure as their top concern, while 89% actively seek discounts. Additionally, 64% split their purchases between online and in-store and 85% unsubscribe from overwhelming marketing emails. optimove.com
“Myopia’s” Meanings
The International Myopia Institute (IMI) has published “Myopia Correction, Myopia Control, and Myopia Management: Definitions and Recommended Usage” for free in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS). With myopia’s increasing prevalence worldwide, consistency in terminology is critical. Confusion between “correction,” “control,” or “management” can complicate communication. To resolve ambiguity, IMI offers clear, distinct definitions for each term. IMI calls on ECPs, researchers, educators, regulators, and industry partners to adopt these definitions in their work. myopiainstitute.org
Why Consumers Go Online for CL Info
Contact Lens Institute (CLI) has published Digital Discovery: Consumer Searches Reveal Contact Lens Realities, to explore how and why people seek more CL info online. It examines multiple aspects of search behaviors, culled from public data sources, primarily from the U.S. and Canada. These include diving into the most common contact lenses searches via Google auto-complete results, 65% of which are purchase driven. A companion review of related topics illustrates that frequent brand and retailer searches indicate comparison shopping — reasons for practices to actively speak with patients about buying decisions. CLI data also reveals that wearers may benefit from increased focus on health and safety, cost, wear and care, and how brands differ. Some questions posed to internet-connected ‘smart speakers’ uncover a different opportunity: the importance of optimizing a practice’s website for location-based search. The report is available for free. contactlensinstitute.org
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