Eyewear Trend
A new study commissioned by the American Contact Lens Research Institute shows that the American eye care industry, especially the sales of contact lenses and glasses, has shown strong resilience in the face of severe economic challenges.
This research is a part of the SEE Tomorrow project initiated by the Contact Lens Research Institute. Last week, at the Vision EXPO West Innovation Conference held in Las Vegas, the research institute released the data of contact lens wearers' consumption trade-off preferences, expenditure changes and behavior changes.
The research institute asked respondents to evaluate 26 different products and services, including personal health, entertainment, clothing, catering and other discretionary spending options.
According to the survey, respondents ranked contact lenses (84%) and glasses (75%) as the most important expenditure - higher than any other category.
American consumers also said that if the budget is particularly tight, they are willing to give up most of the expenses and also want to keep the contact lens budget.
When asked about the impact of inflation pressure on household expenditure, the survey results show that the two categories with the smallest budget change are contact lenses (8%) and glasses (7%).
Chalissa Lee, a member of the board of directors of the Contact Lens Association who presided over the panel discussion, said: "It is obvious that eye care professionals should not refuse to prescribe the best corrective vision for patients, even in times of economic hardship. Consumers are very willing to pay for what they value, and healthy vision certainly includes“
Respondents were also asked how their contact lens use habits might change under economic pressure.
Although about a quarter of adults said that there would be no change (27%), about the same proportion said that they might reduce the frequency of wearing contact lenses (30%) and look for cheaper contact lenses through the Internet (27%) or professionals (26%).
A few people said that they would consider using a pair of contact lenses for a long time (24%) and reusing cleaning fluid (12%), but this kind of behavior may harm the health of the eyes.
