July 12, 2021 — The Vision Council (TVC) has released its quarterly VisionWatch market research reports for the first quarter of 2021. The reports are designed specifically for the vision care industry and survey trends in consumer behavior regarding eye exams and eyewear, analyze developments in the U.S. eyecare market, and provide key market and product category statistics.
 
The latest release reveals that the vision correction industry generated $11.58 billion in sales revenue during the first quarter of 2021, representing an increase of 16.5% from Q1 2020 levels and an increase of 1.9% from Q1 2019 levels, shares TVC. In addition, total vision correction usage rose by 0.4%, an equivalent of 196.8 million adults, during the year-ending period March 2021. TVC’s Q1 reports indicate a 7.2% decline in the vision care market from March 2020 to March 2021 and $39.15 billion in retail revenues during the same period.
 
“The Q1 results indicate that the growth trends The Vision Council started observing in late 2020 have continued into early 2021 as many consumers continue to make eyewear purchases after postponing them during the early months of the pandemic,” says Steve Kodey, TVC’s senior director of industry research. “Furthermore, increasing vaccination rates and growing comfort levels among the consumer population as it relates to returning to a physical retail environment have led to increasing sales of optical products among brick-and-mortar retailers.”
 
TVC’s reports also indicate that while over-the-counter reader and prescription sunwear usage increased slightly during the year-ending period March 2021, prescription glasses and plano sunglasses usage was primarily flat—with declines in relative usage as percent of the population, but with slight increases in absolute usage attributable to growth in the U.S. population.
 
In terms of online sales statistics, TVC shares notable findings including that online/internet sales of eyewear increased by 22.7% during the year-ending period March 2021—generating $3.73 billion worth of sales during that time period. Furthermore, online eyeglasses sales (frames and lenses combined) increased by 33% during the year-ending period March 2021.
 
On the topic of managed vision care, TVC found that 125.7 million U.S. adults, or 48.3% of the adult population, had some type of managed vision care coverage by March 2021, representing a decline of 3.2% or about 4 million fewer covered lines compared to March 2020. The organization continues with the stat that despite the decline in covered lives, usage of managed vision care continues to increase as consumers with managed vision care benefits are utilizing those benefits more than ever: 75.9% of all adult eye exams conducted and 61% of all frames purchased during the period ending March 2021 (76.5 million exams and 42.7 million frame pairs, respectively) were purchased with the assistance of managed vision care.
 
TVC members can access the reports (and nonmembers can purchase them) at the TVC Research Download Center, available here.