Focus On Style
Transitions Optical offers new materials to help ECPs find the style in eyewear and merchandise their office to better display options to patients. The three new tools are a Lens Style Guide PDF by Transitions Change Agents Sheena Taff and Darryl Glover to help ECPs talk to patients about trends in eyewear, pair frames with lenses, and display eyewear; a Style One-Page Handout, a shortened version of the Lens Style Guide; and Style Brainshark, an overview of the style ABO course. Transitions also provides social media posts that can be shared on practice accounts. transitionspro.com/style
Optical Show Slow Growth
The Vision Council released its quarterly VisionWatch report for Q2 2017. Results indicate the vision care industry generated $40.17 billion in revenue, up 0.2 percent, or nearly $85.7 million, over 2016. Eyeglasses claimed the largest share at 55.6 percent, or $22.32 billion in revenue, while contacts revenue rose 3.1 percent to $4.89 billion. Sunglasses rose 1.9 percent to $4.21 billion with 103.85 million pairs sold, the same as the previous year. Independents are the largest component of the U.S. vision care industry — generating $18.3 billion in revenue, up 0.4 percent. While lenses and frames make up the bulk of revenue for independent opticals, exams are a close third with over $4.22 billion in revenue.
thevisioncouncil.org
Dalies Domination
Data from ABB OPTICAL GROUP shows daily disposables dominated market share in January-September 2017. The data, which represents organic practice growth or same-store sales within the group, indicates dollar growth of soft contact lenses was up 7.4 percent, fueled by daily disposables, which grew nearly 20 percent. Dailies’ share is 44 percent compared to 21 percent for the two-week modality. Dollar growth of multifocals was up 15 percent; torics grew 11 percent. abboptical.com
For the Kids
VSP Vision Care and Prevent Blindness launched Vision to Share: ‘Clicks for Kids’ to help bridge the gap in access to vision care for children. With every click or share, VSP will donate $1, up to $20,000, so Head Start children ages 3-5 in 25 underserved communities have more access to screenings, comprehensive exams, and treatment before entering school. VSP will provide one of the 25 Head Start centers with additional screening equipment. seemuchmore.com/clicks-for-kids
Eating Out > Eye Exams
The majority of Americans prioritize eating out over spending on eyecare, according to a survey by STAAR Surgical, makers of the Visian ICL. Asked about spending priorities, only 20 percent named eyecare, compared to 64 percent for eating out, 47 percent for clothes, and 39 percent for gadgets. Almost half said they only get an eye doctor appointment if their sight has deteriorated. A quarter said they don’t find appointments important. invmag.us/111701
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This article originally appeared in the November-December 2017 edition of INVISION
