Market Facts

One–in–Six Contact Lens Purchases are on Internet

A 2011 Jobson survey indicates that 17.1 percent of most recent contact lens patient purchases are made on the Internet, including 2.2 percent made on websites of independent ECPs (13 percent of all Internet purchases on contact lenses). The share of purchases made on the Internet appears to be steadily growing.

New MBA Practice-Building Resources

New MBA Monograph: Optimizing Retail Pricing
Many ODs fail to maximize profitability of eyewear and contact lens sales through inattention to retail pricing strategies and methodologies. A thorough review of eyewear and contact lens gross profit margins will reveal discrepancies that can be corrected to improve profitability.

New Implementation Track: Practice Marketing and Optical Merchandising
The second in a series of MBA Practice Growth Implementation Tracks has been posted. Practice Marketing and Optical Merchandising provides an 11-step guide in how to analyze and refine your practice brand, develop a marketing budget and execute a marketing plan. Also included are merchandising techniques to maximize dispensary profits.

MBA Survey: Prescription Eyewear Management
Results for the recently conducted MBA Prescription Eyewear Management Survey have been posted. This report assesses the prescription eyewear dispensing habits, mark–ups, and eyewear marketing tactics used by independent ODs.

Findings from a dozen MBA surveys conducted since 2008 are found on the MBA site. Click here.

New MBA Webinar Available for Replaying

The recent MBA webinar "Managing Eyewear and Contact Lens Inventory to Maximize Profitability" is archived on MBA-ce.com, where it can be replayed in its entirety. This one–hour webinar is one of a series of business management webinars sponsored by the MBA. It includes a half–hour Power Point presentation by Dr. Mark Wright, followed by Q & A with participants in the second half of the recording. The webinar is posted alongside another MBA webinar, in which Dr. Wright discusses benchmarking.

Click here to play.

Two Upcoming MBA 2 Seminars with Disney Institute

The principles of world-class service that were pioneered by The Walt Disney Company are presented—and interpreted for the optometric practice—at two upcoming MBA 2 seminars. The program is presented by Disney Institute, and it includes a lecture by MBA faculty member Dave Ziegler, OD, FAAO, that provides strategies to apply Disney service principles to the optometric practice.

The MBA 2 is being held in Anaheim, California, on August 3-4, and also in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on September 21-22. The cost of each program in $1,760, which includes curriculum, meals and a one-night stay at a Disney resort hotel. Travel costs are in addition to that.