Jan. 7, 2021 — The Vision Council (TVC) has shared its quarterly VisionWatch market research reports for Q3 of 2020, revealing a net increase of 1.2 million vision correction users year over year from September 2019 to September 2020 and $37.46 billion in retail revenues during the same period.

Designed exclusively for the optical industry, the VisionWatch research reports are released on a quarterly basis and survey trends in consumer behavior regarding eye exams and eyewear, analyze developments in the U.S. eyecare market, and provide market and product category statistics. 

“As 2020 comes to a close, the results of the Q3 reports reflect the many challenges faced by the vision care market this year in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The vision care market generated $37.46 billion in retail revenues, representing a steep decline of 14.2% compared to the previous year,” says Steve Kodey, TVC’s senior director of industry research. “We are seeing some positive growth, however. After experiencing quarterly declines in frame unit sales earlier this year, for example, frame unit sales increased by 3.5% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2019. This increase seems to reflect a change in consumer behavior as consumers were able to follow through with purchases that were postponed during the first and second quarter.”

Based on the latest results, TVC predicts that independent eyecare providers, the largest segment of the vision care community, have experienced a 13.2% decline in sales since September 2019. However, TVC has shared that despite this decrease in independent eyecare provider revenues, the number of consumers making purchases after receiving an eye exam at an independent eyecare provider, also known as the capture rate, has increased by 5% since March 2020.

TVC also shared key online sales findings that occurred during the 12-month period ending September 2020, including that about 12.9% of all eyeglass Rx lens and frame unit purchases occurred online during the 12-month ending period September 2020 (8.57 million pairs of eyeglasses). 

Separately, the results of TVC’s Q3 report indicate that the contact lens market was the only major optical market to experience revenue growth during the 12-month period ending September 2020, with sales up 1.1% to $4.42 billion, even after experiencing a slight decline in the overall number of users during the same 12-month period.

In the managed vision care area, TVC found that the number of adults with managed vision care coverage dropped by about 3.7% since September 2019, which is a net loss of roughly 4.8 million adult covered lives. 

TVC’s Steve Kodey will present a Q3 analysis and future outlook presentation at the organization’s upcoming 2021 Executive Summit, taking place in a virtual format from Jan. 26–28. To register, click here.