Who is the American ECP? How does he or she do business? What are the main challenges they face? Our inaugural Big Survey set out to find the answers and 505 owners and managers of American vision businesses answered our call. Here are the results.
The Basics
We find it’s always best to start at the beginning … the basic stuff that makes up so much of your business’ identity. The Who, What, How and Where are all here; we’ll get into the fun stuff — like how much and what’s selling — later on.
1. Need to swing on chandeliers? Head to Missouri: 60 percent of stores have these fixtures.
2. They don’t take kindly to strangers asking questions in South Dakota. It, along with Louisiana and New Mexico, were the only states not to be represented in our survey.
3. Michigan ECPs are some of the hardest working in the industry: 25 percent work more than 50 hours a week.
4. Eyewear trend capital? That might just be New York where 21 percent of ECPs thought of themselves as being primarily in the fashion business (as opposed to health or retail), the highest level in the land.
5. Move over Austin. Connecticut was tops for self-declared weirdness with ECPs there giving themselves an average score of 8.2 out of 10 on our oddball scale.
6. Ohio ECPs have been listening to our sales experts – 44 percent use role-playing in training staff.
7. Florida had the most male owners and managers in our survey at 76 percent. Washington state had the most female owners at 86 percent.
8. Is there something in the water in the Midwest? ECPs in a band of states from Illinois to Ohio to Missouri were the happiest vision professionals (along with their cousins in NJ), with half or more (50-57%) ranking themselves 9 or higher out of 10 for professional satisfaction.
9. North Carolina vision businesses have among the highest turnover rates in the country, with 72 percent saying their staff stay less than 4 years.
10. Californian ECPs were the least likely to own their places of business with 82 percent renting. Must have been those pesky legal limitations…
11. Kansans were most likely to be open on Sunday with one in four stores and practices open on this traditional “rest” day.
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1. How many locations does your business have?
One
|
| 74% |
| Two |
| 13% |
Three to five
|
| 8% |
| Six or more |
| 5% |
2. Please indicate the type of location that houses your store:
Free-standing building
|
| 43% |
A strip mall
|
| 22% |
Business park or office building
|
| 16% |
Downtown storefront
|
| 9% |
Lifestyle center
|
| 3% |
In a hospital/medical wing/health center
|
| 3% |
The Internet
|
| 1% |
Mobile practice
|
| 1% |
A mall
|
| 1% |
Other
|
| 2% |
3. Do you own or rent your business property?
Own
|
| 39% |
| Rent |
| 62% |
NA (For online and mobile only businesses)
|
| 2% |
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4. How well are things going in your business this year?
COMMENT: As our heat map shows, there’s very little to be blue about for an ECP right now. Note that white indicates states with statistically invalid responses. Figures in parentheses represent the number of survey responses.
5. How would you describe the market where your store is located?
Large city
|
| 15% |
Medium-sized city (250,000-1 million people)
|
| 24% |
| Small city (25,000 to 250,000) |
| 29% |
| Country town (up to 25,000) |
| 13% |
| Resort area |
| 1% |
| Other |
| 1% |
6. How long has your business been in operation?
COMMENT: Businesses that have been in operation for 11-20 years seem to be this survey’s sweet spot. Not only did they slightly edge out other lengths of time in business, as seen above, but those in business for that long also reported the highest proportion of revenue between $500K-$1.5M (50%).
Wondering what the rest of this group’s demos looked like? Well, 59 percent classified themselves as a private practice with a strong focus on retail, 49 percent were in the South and 39 percent operated out of a freestanding building in a small city or suburb. Forty-five percent of owners in business for that long reported salaries over $100,000 and, best of all, the majority reported their satisfaction with their professional life at an 8 or higher (66%).
7. Which description of your business do you most closely identify with?
Hospital or VA setting
|
| 1% |
| Medical model private practice, no retail |
| 1% |
| Medical model private practice, small dispensarybuilding |
| 22% |
| Private practice, strong focus on retail |
| 53% |
| Corporate optometry location |
| 3% |
| Eyewear boutique, employed or leased OD |
| 10% |
| Eyewear boutique, no OD |
| 9% |
| Mobile optician |
| 1% |
8. How big is your (main) location?
Less than 500 sq. ft.
|
| 4% |
| 500-999 sq. ft. |
| 10% |
| 1,000-1,499 sq. ft. |
| 24% |
| 1,500-1,999 sq. ft. |
| 17% |
| 2,000-2,499 sq. ft. |
| 15% |
| 2,500-2,999 sq. ft. |
| 11% |
| 3,000-3,999 sq. ft. |
| 8% |
| 4,000-5,000 sq. ft. |
| 6% |
| More than 5,000 sq. ft. |
| 5% |
9. Check the paid services you offer: