Page 31 - 2015 Best Practices of Spectacle Lens Management

Eyewear It’s been said that there are three principal ways Frequency of Purchase of Prescription Eyewear

Purchase for retail businesses to increase revenue: attract (% of eyewear buyers)
more customers, sell more to each customer
Cycle or get customers to buy more frequently. This Less often than every three years 7%
section addresses the last of these revenue
growth strategies. About every three years 9%
About every two years 38%
About every 18 months 15%
The fact is, most patients buy eyeglasses Usually at least once a year 32%
infrequently. A 2009 Essilor study among Estimated average interval
eyeglasses wearers shows that two-thirds 25 months
purchase eyeglasses less frequently than once Source: Essilor Eyeglass AR Research, 2009
a year, and the estimated average interval
between purchases was 25 months. Frequency of Updating Prescription Eyewear among
Presbyopes (% of presbyopic eyewear buyers able to estimate interval)
Another Essilor study indicates that presbyopes
typically replace eyewear approximately every Less often than every five years 11%
32 months, with 47 percent saying they buy Every 3-5 years 36%
eyewear every three years or less often. Every 1-2 years 48%
More than once a year 5%
VisionWatch estimates that the 153.4 million Estimated average interval 32 months
eyeglass wearers in the U.S. purchased 69.1 Source: Essilor Eyeglass AR Research, 2009
million complete eyeglass pairs during 2012.
These data yield an average interval between
purchases of 26 months (wearers divided by Eyeglasses Re-purchase Cycle: 2012
pairs purchased times twelve). That’s similar to
the estimate from the Essilor consumer study.
Example of Retail Pricing Calculation The VisionWatch eyewear re-purchase cycle Eyeglasses Pairs Eyeglasses Re-purchase Cycle*
Years
Months
Purchased (million)
Wearers (million)
Applying Margin Goal to Wholesale Cost estimate has been stable in recent years.
Total 69.1 153.4 2.2 26
Gender
But the VisionWatch estimates probably Male 32.1 70.6 2.2 26
understate the actual purchase interval because Female 37.0 82.7 2.2 26
10 to 15 percent of eyeglasses wearers purchase
multiple pairs. That means that approximately Age 18.9 38.8 2.1 25
18-34
60 million people buy one or more pairs of 35-44 12.5 23.6 1.9 23
eyeglasses each year and that the average 44-54 14.6 20.3 2.1 25
interval between purchases is probably closer 55 and older 23.2 60.7 2.6 31
to 30 months. VisionWatch data show that the Annual Household Income
interval between purchases is longer for older $60,000 and over 38.8 76.3 2.0 24
people and for those with lower incomes. Less than $60,000 30.4 77.1 2.5 30

*Calculated by dividing the number of glasses wearers by the number of eyeglass frames
Closely related to the interval between eyewear purchased during 2012.
purchases is the interval between eye exams
among eyeglasses wearers. It only makes sense Source: VisionWatch, year ending December 2012
that the shorter the average interval between Eyeglasses-only Wearer OD-Recommended Exam Interval
exams, the shorter the interval between (% of practices)
eyewear purchases. A 2005 CIBA VISION survey
among eyeglasses wearers indicates that the Pre-Presbyope Presbyope
average interval between eye exams among Less than 12 months * *
glasses-only wearers was two years. 12 months 69% 80%
18 months 4% 2%
A 2008 survey among independent practice 24 months 24% 15%
ODs shows that 69 percent of ODs recommend Other 3% 2%
*Less than 0.5%
yearly exams to pre-presbyopic eyeglasses-only
Questions: What interval between comprehensive eye exams do you typically recommend to non-presbyopic patients who
wearers, and 80 percent recommend yearly exhibit no chronic ocular condition and wear eyeglasses only? What interval between comprehensive eye exams do you
exams to presbyopic eyeglasses-only wearers. typically recommend to presbyopic patients who exhibit no chronic ocular condition and wear eyeglasses only?
Source: MBA Exam Frequency Survey, 2008
Best Practices of Spectacle Lens Management 2015 31