Maintaining the right number of frame brands in your inventory is essential for balancing variety and operational efficiency. A broad selection can attract more customers, but carrying too many brands increases costs and complexity. On the other hand, limiting your brand options can reduce choices for customers and may push them toward competitors.
By analyzing demographic data, eyecare practices can make smarter inventory decisions, catering to diverse customer needs while keeping operations streamlined. Understanding how many distinct brands are preferred by each customer segment—such as by gender or region—helps practices fine-tune their assortment to offer enough variety without overstocking.
GPN examined data from more than 2.3 million frame transactions across a GPN sample of 2,300 practices in the U.S., grouped by gender and region. Here’s a summary of the average number of distinct frame brands purchased by gender across four major regions: the Midwest, Northeast, South, and West.
The data shows that, across all regions, women tend to buy a wider variety of frame brands (45.5) compared with men (36.5). Interestingly, the overall brand count per region is lower than the combined male and female numbers, indicating overlap in brand preferences. For example, in the Midwest, women purchase 48.6 brands and men purchase 38.8, yet the overall count is 59.4, showing significant overlap in preferences.
Understanding this overlap in brand preferences between genders is helpful in refining inventory strategy. The data highlights that, while there is a distinction in the number of brands men and women purchase, many brands are consistently chosen by both. This suggests that practices can focus on stocking a core set of unisex or shared-brand offerings that appeal broadly to both genders. By doing so, the business can satisfy the diverse tastes of its patients without the need to significantly increase the total number of brands carried. This strategic approach not only simplifies inventory management but also helps ensure that the practice’s offerings resonate well across its customer base.
By regularly reviewing sales data, eyecare businesses can adjust their frame brand offerings to ensure they meet patient needs, optimize inventory, and boost patient satisfaction and sales growth. —RON KREFMAN, O.D.
Practice Resources
The GPN Visions business solutions channel (visions.gatewaypn.com) offers timely webinars and resources to ECPs. The open-forum webinars feature some of the industry’s most successful O.D.s, practice management consultants, and business owners. GPN Visions members are invited to attend live webinars, view recorded presentations, download useful tools, and participate in live Q&A sessions with industry pros.
• All industry data provided by GPN: gatewaypn.com
