Page 16 - 2015 Best Practices of Spectacle Lens Management

Product Implications of consumer behavior and attitudes for eyewear selection

Mix • ECP decisions should be the major determinant of which lenses are dispensed in a practice. Few consumers are equipped
to sort through the options and make good decisions about their lenses. ECPs should determine which few of the hundreds
continued of lens types and brands available offer the best performance and produce the highest satisfaction among patients, then guide patients to
these products. If a practice is overwhelmed by the complexity of spectacle lens offerings, it is certain that patients will be as well.
• In most practices, ECP lens selections should be weighted to lenses that satisfy the discriminating requirements of affluent,
educated patients. These patients account for a high share of eyewear purchases in most practices. Their needs and desires are shared
by people with more modest income. Orienting the product mix to the affluent conveys to all patients that the practice offers the latest
technology and appeals to sophisticated consumers.
• Spectacle lenses should be presented as complete (or “bundled”) packages of features, not as a series of choices
of material, design and other treatments. This approach simplifies the purchase process and assures that a higher proportion of patients
have the benefit of the latest technology. In presenting spectacle lens options to patients, the precept “less is more” definitely applies.
Overwhelming patients with technical detail and add-ons creates indecision.
• Spectacle lens packages should be presented to patients starting with the highest performance option with the assumption
that patients want the best.

What’s at Stake
Impact of Increasing Average Eyewear Retail Sale
Because eyewear accounts for such a large
share of total practice revenue, upgrading Annual Practice Gross Revenue
the eyewear product mix has a major impact $500,000 $750,000 $1 million
on financial performance of the practice. The Annual Eyeglasses Sales $220,000 $330,000 $440,000
only other eyewear management initiative
that can produce comparable revenue gains, Eyeglasses Pairs 969 1,454 1,938
with minimal investment, is upgrading recall (Average Retail Price =$227)
processes. The table at right shows that Average Eyewear Retail Sales Annual Eyeglasses Sales
increasing the average eyewear sale by just $250 $242,287 $363,442 $484,574
$23 (a 10 percent increase in the average $300 $290,737 $436,142 $581,474
retail sale of the median U.S. practice) $350 $339,187 $508,842 $678,374
increases revenue by approximately $33,500
in a typical $750,000 practice. Increasing the average eyewear sale to $350 (achieved by the 20 percent of practices with the highest
eyewear transaction size), generates an additional $178,900 or so in a $750,000 practice.

The following tables illustrate the revenue
Impact of Increasing Progressive Lens % impact of increasing usage ratios, above
of Presbyopic Rxes current national norms, of specific spectacle
lens types, including progressive, anti-
Annual Practice Gross Revenue reflective, high-index and photochromic
$500,000 $750,000 $1 million
lenses. In each table the percentage of lens
Annual Eyeglasses Sales $220,000 $330,000 $440,000 units dispensed by typical U.S. practices is
Total Eyeglasses Pairs 969 1,454 1,938 shown, followed by estimates of the revenue
Presbyopic Lens Pairs 481 721 961 generated when higher usage ratios are
(49.6% of total) achieved. For each lens type, the highest
Progressive Lens Pairs 246 369 492
(25.4% of total, 51% of usage ratio shown is currently being achieved
presbyopic Rxes) by the best-performing practices. For most
U.S. practices, the largest revenue increase
Progressive Lens % of can be achieved by raising the ratio of anti-
Presbyopic Lenses Annual Eyeglasses Sales* reflective lenses dispensed.
60% $224,558 $336,784 $449,010
70% $229,646 $344,416 $459,186
80% $234,734 $352,048 $469,362
90% $239,822 $359,680 $479,538

Source: PAA projections

16 Best Practices of Spectacle Lens Management 2015