Keeping Score in 2024
For more than 15 years, Eyecare Business has been surveying readers every spring. The reason? To pinpoint and then present up-to-the-minute market, practice, business, and economic trends across the U.S.
To make EB’s exclusive findings the most relevant to you and your corner of the country, we survey readers nationwide and then analyze and present the results by Census region. To make the report even more meaningful, and to add perspective, we also gather the latest information from outside optical. Sources range from the National Retail Federation to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics and from the Federal Reserve to the Congressional Budget Office.
The point? To help you lay the groundwork and develop a game plan for the remainder of 2024 and beyond. From staffing to stress points, what’s selling and what isn’t, and product purchasing to practice priorities, the industry-specific portions of this annual report are based on EB’s exclusive research conducted in May.
Employment Ups and Downs
Just a year ago (April 2023) an unemployment rate of 3.4% represented the lowest rate since May 1969. What about this year? Here’s what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is reporting for April 2024.
HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT
California 5.3%
District of Columbia 5.2%
Nevada 5.1%
Washington 4.8%
Illinois 4.8%
LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT
North Dakota 2.0%
South Dakota 2.0%
Vermont 2.1%
Nebraska 2.5%
Maryland 2.6%
*Source: BLS for April 2024Participant Profile
Who did we communicate with inside optical? In this year’s survey, 38% of respondents are O.D.s and 55% are opticians. Another 7% are frame buyers or other optical pros. The majority (67%) are affiliated with a single location, while 17% are at practices that have two or three offices, and 16% have four or more.
Business Directions
According to the National Retail Federation, retail sales across the U.S. rose significantly in May. “Consumers…are driving solid economic growth,” says NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. “Spending is being supported by the job market and real wage gains. Inflation remains stubborn but is almost entirely in services rather than retail goods. May’s year-over-year gains are in line with what we saw earlier this year, and the month-over-month increases are the largest in more than a year.”
Most of the survey respondents (81%) agree, saying that business is up over 2023. That’s great news. And, as EB’s research indicates, that’s just some of what’s making 2024 look like a mostly good, albeit somewhat mixed, year for business.
• UNEMPLOYMENT. It’s also a year that is perplexing business analysts. For the first time in 27 months, the unemployment rate rose to 4% this May. And during Q1, the economy, as seen in consumer spending, grew more slowly than previously estimated.
• GDP. What about gross domestic product, which is the main measure of economic activity? For the first quarter, it increased by 1.5%, which was below estimates and decidedly down from the 3.4% rate in Q4 of 2023.
• CONSUMER CONFIDENCE. According to the National Retail Federation’s chief economist, Jack Kleinhenz, retail sales are expected to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% this year. Though still lower than pre-pandemic levels, consumer confidence, as indicated by purchasing patterns, is nonetheless up from a year ago.
Demographic Data
The median age in the U.S. is 38.9 years. That’s significantly higher than at the turn of the century, when the median age in the U.S. was just 35.3 years of age.
It should be little surprise then that the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population is men and women over age 65. In fact, 1 in 6 Americans was at least 65 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
What about the youngest? The group referred to as multiracial Americans is the youngest of any group in the U.S. and increased nearly fourfold (from 9 million to 34 million) in the decade between 2010 and 2020.
These are important numbers to know when defining who your customers are and how their needs may be changing over time.
HOW STRESSED ARE ECPs?
Good news here. Stress levels are down from a year ago. While ECPs in the South report being the most stressed out, and those in the Northeast the least, the nationwide average is 3.9 out of 10. That’s way down from 6.1 last year, 5.7 in 2022, and an all-time high of 6.5 in 2020.
Optical Insights
This year’s report suggests several directions that ECPs may want to take for the remainder of 2024 and in the year to come. Here’s a quick look at some of the information this spring’s research uncovered:
• Purchasing Plans. When asked about purchasing plans for the year in comparison to 2023 levels, 38% said they plan to increase frame purchases, 50% plan to increase spectacle lens purchases, and 48% plan to increase contact lens purchases.
• Online Selling. The most-sold category for online sales this year is contact lenses. Nearly one-third (31%) of respondents nationwide report that they currently sell contacts online. In other categories, like plano sunwear, readers, and accessories, online sales are way down. For example, 34% of ECP respondents indicated they sold plano sunwear online last year. This spring, it’s just over 7%. When asked, “If you don’t sell online now, do you expect to be in the next two years?,” 29% of ECPs just surveyed said yes. That’s down from more than 80% a year ago.
• Social Media. Just over 40% of respondents nationwide post either weekly or monthly, with an even split. Another 12% report that they post on a daily basis and nearly 5% a few times per day.
• Communication Platforms. A year ago, less than a third of respondents (31%) said Facebook was their platform of choice. This year, however, 64% pointed to it as their preferred social media channel for business use.
PROFITABILITY PICTURE
Q: How is your bottom line trending in 2024 versus 2023?
PRICE POINT POTENTIAL
Q: In which pricing tier for all products (frames, lenses, contact lenses) are you seeing the most growth in your business today?
THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
Q: What is the greatest area of opportunity on the retail side of your practice/business today?
The Northeast
Are things looking up? Here is a deeper dive into this region’s ebbs and flows.
Measuring only 181,000 square miles, the Northeast is the smallest geographic region in the country, but one of the most densely populated areas in the entire world, with the vast majority of residents living in urban areas.
Patient + practice convo starter: Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Maine is the first lighthouse in the U.S. to have its likeness featured on a state quarter.
The Northeast also has the highest median age of any region in the U.S. Maine has the oldest median age of any state, 45, putting it on a par with countries like Italy and Greece, reports Visual Capitalist. On the other hand, according to the state’s website, maine.gov, Maine has more successful small business start-ups than any other state.
Overall, the Northeast has traditionally led the nation’s economy. As reported by Bloomberg, however, several states in the South have contributed more to the economy than the Northeast over the past 12 months.
HOW STRESSED ARE ECPs?
The Northeast is currently the most relaxed region in the country, with an average stress level among ECPs of 2.8 out of 10. Nationwide, the average is 3.9 out of 10.
That’s not to say the picture is grim for the Northeast—not by any means. In fact, according to preliminary Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) numbers for 2023, both individual personal income and gross domestic product by state increased last year throughout the Northeast. In terms of personal income, reports BEA, Rhode Island and Massachusetts experienced the largest rises (4.7% and 4.1%, respectively).
According to this year’s EB Annual Regional Market Trends Report, practices in the Northeast reported many more ups and downs in their bottom line than those in any other regions. While 60% of the region’s respondents said business is trending up this year, 40% reported that it is going down. That’s much, much more than any other region. In fact, coming in second in terms of a downturn is the South, where only 8% of respondents report seeing a decline in their practices.
How does this compare to previous years? The 60% of practices that reported an upturn this year is an improvement from 2022, when 55% of the region’s ECPs reported an increase. It’s slightly less, however, than the 65% in last year’s survey.
Employment Ups and Downs
According to recent data from the BLS, unemployment in the Northeast census region was 3.5%, compared to 3.9% in March and 3.2% one year earlier.
NORTHEASTERN STATES WITH THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT
Vermont 2.1%
New Hampshire 2.6%
Massachusetts 2.9%
Maine 3.1%
Pennsylvania 3.4%
NORTHEASTERN STATES WITH THE HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT
New Jersey 4.7%
Connecticut 4.4%
New York 4.2%
Rhode Island 4.1%
*Source: BLS for April 2024In Practice
What are some of the practice trends to look for during the rest of 2024 and beyond?
• Scheduling Frequency. Nationwide, 12% of practices book patients for one hour, and 64% schedule slots shorter than that. Bucking that trend, 60% of practices surveyed in the Northeast report they schedule appointments for shorter than one hour.
• Purchasing Patterns. Six out of 10 respondents plan to increase frame purchases by 10% to 20% this year. That compares to 31% nationwide.
• Frame Materials. Contrary to national numbers showing that 57% of respondents say their practice mostly sells plastic frames, 80% of ECPs in the Northeast report that their most sold frame material is metal.
• Lens Materials. Northeast region ECPs prescribe more than twice as many lenses made with high-index materials than their peers in other regions. Nationwide, high-index represents 17% of lens prescriptions.
• Contact Lenses. Twice as many ECPs here than in other regions report they have no plans to change their buying of contacts. However, four out of 10 ECPs in the Northeast are increasing their purchases by at least 10%.
• Web Sales. Northeast practices sell fewer products online than those in any other region. Eighty percent of ECPs in the Northeast say they don’t sell any product online. The same number state that they have no plans to do so within the next two years either.
• Social Media. In the region, 60% of respondents who use social media for business purposes prefer Facebook. In terms of frequency for all channels, an equal number of practices (20%) post daily and weekly. Fully 60% of practices surveyed do not post at all for their business. That’s in contrast to the 31% of practices nationwide that report they don’t use social media for business.
PRICE POINT POTENTIAL
Q: In which pricing tier for all products do you see the most growth in the retail side of your business today?
PROFITABILITY PICTURE
Q: How is your bottom line trending in 2024 versus 2023?
THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
Q: What is the one greatest area of opportunity in the retail side of your practice/business today?
SELLING ONLINE
Q: Which of the following products do you sell online (Rx eyewear, Rx sunwear, plano sunwear, reader glasses, contact lenses, accessories)?
The West
Some boom, no bust: presenting trends in the West.
From the Rockies to the Pacific, the Western region stretches beyond the coast to include Hawaii and climbs northward to include Alaska. Today, its 13 states are home to close to 79 million people. According to the Census Bureau, that represents nearly 24% of the nation’s population, a number that hasn’t changed much in several years. Only the South has more residents.
Patient + practice convo starter: An architect of the Golden Gate Bridge, Irving Morrow, submitted a nearly 30-page document to the bridge’s board of directors to approve its striking (and at the time radical) color, officially named International Orange.
According to the Census Reporter (censusreporter.org), the majority of the West’s population (66%) is white, while 29% is Hispanic. The average age is 38, and the per capita income is just under $45,000, which is 10% above that of the average U.S. household. Housing is more expensive than in other regions, with the median value of a single-family home in the West reaching $555,500.
The oil-rich Southwest has led the region in terms of gross domestic product, reports the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Outpacing all other areas of the U.S. last year, that area’s growth was fueled by rapid population expansion and booming oil production.
HOW STRESSED ARE ECPs?
Not as laid back as their reputation might suggest, the average stress level among ECPs in the West is 3.3 out of 10. Only those in the South and Midwest are more stressed.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the region’s consumer price index was 3.7 in April, the highest so far this year. Despite the West’s high cost of living, some boom and no bust seems to describe the region.
That holds true in optical as well. While business isn’t down or even flat in 2024, 75% of practices reported that their bottom line is up, but by less than 10% year over year. While not a huge stride, that makes the West’s bottom line one of the healthiest in optical so far this year.
As for a number of locations, there’s much less of a mix here than in other areas. In fact, nearly 90% of Western eyecare professionals reported having one location. That compares to 67% nationwide.
Employment Ups and Downs
According to recent BLS data, unemployment in the West remained at 4.6%. Looking back, the region’s record high was 15.5% in April 2020, and its all-time low was 3.4% in April 2022. Within the region, the current unemployment rate in California stands out for the wrong reason: At 5.3%, it’s the highest in the U.S.
WESTERN STATES WITH THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT
Utah 2.8%
Wyoming 2.8%
Hawaii 3.1%
Montana 3.1%
Idaho 3.3%
WESTERN STATES WITH THE HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT
California 5.3%
Nevada 5.1%
Washington 4.8%
Alaska 4.6%
Oregon 4.2%
*Source: BLS for April 2024What do those mostly single-location practices in the West look like? At 80% versus 63%, only eyecare professionals in the Northeast sell more premium products than their Western counterparts.
In Practice
What are some of the practice trends to look for during the rest of 2024 and beyond?
• Scheduling Frequency. Nationwide, 12% of practices book patients for one hour, and 64% schedule slots shorter than that. More ECPS in the West (25%) schedule one-hour appointments than their counterparts in other regions. Exactly half (less than any other region) see more than one patient an hour.
• Frame Materials. In contrast to the national average of 10%, the metal-plastic combination is the most sold frame material for 38% of respondents in the West.
• Lens Materials. In line with the national average, 50% of respondents in the West report that their most-prescribed lens material is polycarbonate. ECPs there sell more high-index lenses than the national average (25% versus 17%) but fewer Trivex lenses (13% versus 19% countrywide).
• Contact Lenses. Right in line with national numbers, 38% of practices in the West plan to increase contact lens purchases by 10% to 20% this year.
• Web Sales. An incredible 88% of Western region respondents report that they don’t sell products online at all. That compares to 64% nationwide. Looking ahead, 75% of Western respondents say they won’t change this in the next two years.
• Social Media. Over a third (38%) of Western region ECPs don’t post to social media at all for their business. On the other hand, an equal number (13%) post daily and monthly, while exactly one-quarter post weekly. No Western ECPs report that they post every day.
PRICE POINT POTENTIAL
Q: In which pricing tier for all products do you see the most growth in the retail side of your business today?
PROFITABILITY PICTURE
Q: How is your bottom line trending in 2024 versus 2023?
75% of survey respondents in the West say their bottom line is trending up less than 10% over 2023 levels.
THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
Q: What is the one greatest area of opportunity in the retail side of your practice/business today?
SELLING ONLINE
Q: Which of the following products do you sell online?
The South
A tracking of key trends in the South, where population growth outpaces other regions.
While other markets have mostly experienced movement out of their area, the South welcomed the most people relocating from other regions last year. That holds true so far this year as well. The Census Bureau reports that since the beginning of 2023, 2 million people have moved into the South, mostly from the West (nearly 760,000). Another 639,000 folks have migrated from the Northeast, and just over 570,000 moved from the Midwest.
Patient + practice convo starter: The Great Egret, seen here in a depiction of the Everglades National Park, is one of the largest wading birds of the Florida Everglades, with a wingspan of more than four feet.
It works both ways, however, and just over 1.25 million Southerners have pulled up stakes since the beginning of 2023, according to the Census Bureau. All told, 489,522 went to the West, 437,565 relocated to the Midwest, and 337,518 now call the Northeast home.
There’s even been a lot of shuffling within the South itself. In fact, according to SmartAsset.com, 11% of its population—more than any other region—has moved within its borders over the past year. That’s a lot of people, considering that the South has more inhabitants than any other region (approximately 127 million).
HOW STRESSED ARE ECPs?
The South is certainly stressed out. The average stress level for ECPs in the South is 4.5 out of 10. That’s much higher than any other region, and significantly higher than the national average of 3.9.
How are those folks faring? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the region’s consumer price index was up 0.4% from March 1 to April 1, the smallest month-over-month increase this year. On the other hand, the BLS reports the region’s unemployment rate rose to 3.5%, after holding steady at 3.4% since last December. That is still well below the national April average of 3.8%.
Moody’s Analytics points to three Southern states as experiencing the highest 12-month inflation rates in the U.S. As of April 1, those states are Tennessee and Virginia, both at 3.8%, and Florida at 3.9%.
What about gross domestic product? At $1.57 trillion, Florida also stands out as having the fifth largest GDP in the country.
Employment Ups and Downs
According to April BLS data, unemployment in the South census region was 3.5%, compared to 3.4% in March and 3.4% one year earlier. At 2.6%, the state of Maryland in this region has the fifth lowest rate of unemployment in the U.S.
SOUTHERN STATES WITH THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT
Maryland 2.6%
Mississippi 2.8%
Virginia 2.8%
Alabama 3.1%
Georgia 3.1%
Tennessee 3.1%
SOUTHERN STATES WITH THE HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT
Kentucky 4.6%
West Virginia 4.3%
Louisiana 4.3%
Texas 4.0%
Delaware 3.9%
*Source: BLS for April 2024How does all this translate into optical? At 85%, the majority of ECPs in the South say their bottom line was up so far for the year compared to 2023, reveals EB’s survey. That’s above the national average of 81%. Only 8% of practices in the South report a downturn so far in 2024.
In Practice
What are some of the practice trends to look for during the rest of 2024 and beyond?
• Scheduling Frequency. Nationwide, 12% of practices book patients for one hour, and 64% schedule slots shorter than that. In the South, 15% of ECPs schedule hour-long appointments, 69% schedule shorter ones, and nearly 8% schedule longer ones. No other region reports that any practices book appointments lasting more than an hour.
• Frame Materials. Fewer eyecare professionals in the South report selling metal frames (8% versus 26% nationwide), and they sell more plastic ones (77% versus 58% nationwide) than their counterparts. They also sell more bio-based frames (8% versus 5% nationwide).
• Lens Materials. ECPs in the South report prescribing less Trivex (8% say it’s the most-sold lens material versus 19% countrywide) but substantially more polycarbonate (62% versus 50% nationwide) than those in other regions. They also sell more plastic lenses than their peers in any area other than the Midwest.
• Contact Lenses. Nearly a quarter (23%) of Southern ECPs report that they plan to increase contact lens purchases by more than 20%. That’s more than any other region.
• Web Sales. ECPs in the South are more likely to sell online than their counterparts in other areas. Less than half (46%) don’t sell anything online compared to 64% nationwide. What do practices in the South sell online? More of absolutely everything than practices in any other market. Of those who don’t currently sell online, 42% of ECPs in the South report that they plan to do so within the next two years. That’s more than in any other region.
• Social Media. Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents in the South don’t post to social for their business. While 15% of ECPs say they post more than once daily, no respondents in any other region say they do so that frequently. Eight percent of ECPs in the South post once a day, and the same number report that they post on social platforms weekly. Another 31% post once a month.
PRICE POINT POTENTIAL
Q: In which pricing tier for all products do you see the most growth in the retail side of your business today?
PROFITABILITY PICTURE
Q: How is your bottom line trending in 2024 versus 2023?
THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
Q: What is the one greatest area of opportunity in the retail side of your practice/business today?
SELLING ONLINE
Q: Which of the following products do you sell online?
The Midwest
Movement in the middle—tracking trends in the Midwest.
Heartland. Corn Belt. Breadbasket. Call it what you will, the Midwest combines city and country, the land is fertile, and the people are friendly. Some parts are conservative. Others are anything but.
Patient + practice convo starter: Nebraska’s Scotts Bluff National Monument is more than 4,500 feet above sea level and 800 feet above the North Platte River.
That makes tracking trends in the Midwest’s 12 states interesting and sometimes downright difficult.
Encompassing Motown to manufacturing, the Midwest is roughly twice the size of France. That also happens to be the country from which most of the land in this region was purchased.
How does it compare to the other three regions in the U.S.? On this these pages, we’ll dig deep…much the way farmers do to plow the corn they grow on nearly 91 million acres there (according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture).
HOW STRESSED ARE ECPs?
Second only to the South, ECPs in the Midwest report an average stress level of 4.1 out of 10. Nationwide, the average is 3.9 out of 10.
When it comes to its overall economy, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the Midwest is mixed and continues to trail the other three regions. The good news? According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, its inflation rate of 2.7% over the last year is less than the national average of 3.1%.
With a mix of urban industrialization and fertile fields, the Midwest has a gross domestic product of $4.2 trillion, making its economy the fourth largest in the world, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, it grew less last year than those of the other three U.S. regions.
Employment Ups and Downs
According to recent data from the BLS, unemployment in the Midwest was 3.5%, compared to 3.9% in March and 3% one year earlier. By way of comparison, both are lower than the region’s average long-term jobless rate of 6.01%.
MIDWESTERN STATES WITH THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT
North Dakota 2%
South Dakota 2%
Nebraska 2.5%
Minnesota 2.7%
Iowa 2.8%
MIDWESTERN STATES WITH HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT
Illinois 4.8%
Ohio 4.0%
Michigan 3.9%
Indiana 3.6%
Missouri 3.4%
*Source: BLS for April 2024How does all this translate to optical? Three-quarters of Midwestern ECPs say their bottom line was up so far for the year over 2023 levels, at just under the national average of 81%. On the other hand, 6% of Midwest practices report a downturn for this period.
In Practice
What are some of the practice trends to look for during the rest of 2024 and beyond?
• Scheduling Frequency. Nationwide, 12% of practices book patients for one hour, and 64% schedule slots shorter than that. In the Midwest, 69% of practices report that they schedule more than hourly (i.e., two patients/hour).
• Purchasing Patterns. A whopping 82% of Midwest ECPs have no plans to change their buying habits for frame purchases from last year. That’s a big contrast to 45% nationwide.
• Frame Materials. Nearly 7 out of 10 ECPs (69%) in the Midwest say plastic is their frame material of choice. Only in the South are plastic frames more popular than in the central states.
• Lens Materials. Midwest ECPs prescribe substantially less high-index material than those in other regions, but more plastic and Trivex lenses than in other areas. In fact, close to one-third of Rx’s are for Trivex lenses in the Midwest, compared to 19% nationwide.
• Contact Lenses. More than 4 out of 10 ECPs here (44%) plan to increase contact lens purchases by 10% to 20%. That’s more than any other region.
• Web Sales. ECPs in the Midwest seem to sell a little bit of everything online except for accessories and readers. While just over 60% don’t sell online at all, nearly 4 out of 10 ECPs from the region say they sell contact lenses on the internet. Of those who don’t currently do so, 77% report that they do not intend to add online sales to their mix in the next two years.
• Social Media. Exactly one-quarter of Midwestern ECPs don’t post to social media at all for business purposes. Another quarter post monthly and 13% post daily. More practices post weekly in the Midwest (31%) than in any other region.
PRICE POINT POTENTIAL
Q: In which pricing tier for all products do you see the most growth in the retail side of your business today?
PROFITABILITY PICTURE
Q: How is your bottom line trending in 2024 versus 2023?
75% of respondents in the midwest region say their bottom line is trending up over 2023 levels.
THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
Q: What is the one greatest area of opportunity in the retail side of your practice/business today?
