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Survey Says…

Stephanie K. De Long

When EB conducted a virtual focus group on spectacle lenses late last year, we learned a lot about current and upcoming trends. Though we'll be looking at those trends by region in our soon-to-be conducted surveys of ECPs for our annual regional issue in July, here's a more national look at what some of your peers recently told us.

TWO YEARS: Over the next 24 months, categories expected to grow the most are, in order, PALs, free-form product, and sunlenses.

60.5%: In the practices we surveyed, more than six out of every 10 dollars in product sales now come from spectacle lenses.

ALL ABOUT ME: Nearly half of survey participants (46.8 percent) said they are very likely to take additional measurements in order to “process personalized lenses.”

3/4: A total of 74.9 percent of practices reported they're getting lens pricing resistance from patients.

MORE INFO, PLEASE: When asked where they go for information before making spectacle lens purchasing decisions, the number-one source was “in-person visits from a rep,” followed closely by print media.

ON EDGE: Nearly 60 percent (58.5 percent) of ECPs who don't currently edge in office said they're considering doing so in order to reduce costs.

1.74: Sixty-five percent of survey participants expect 1.74 materials to gain more momentum over the next few years.

DOWN, DOWN DOWN: In terms of lens categories, bifocals and trifocals are expected to shrink the most over the next two years, according to 45 percent of the survey's respondents. EB