Vision Expo Daily March 2019

The vision Council Market Research team conducted its yearly VisionWatch internet influence study and found that online sales reached over 2.1 billion in 2018. The study surveyed over 4,900 respondents who shared information regarding their online habits when shopping for and buying eyewear.

VisionWatch examined their presence in the optical industry. Here are a few of the online sales finding from the internet influence survey

• 34.8 percent of recent buyers reported using the internet to varying degrees during their last contact lens purchase.
• 25.5 percent of prescription eyeglass buyers used the internet for assistance during their last purchase.
• Unit sales of online eyewear increased by about 11 percent in 2018, on par with growth rates of online eyewear sales from 2014 to 2017.
• About 28 percent of recent eyewear buyers with easy access to the internet claimed that they will not use the internet for any assistance or functions when purchasing eyewear in the future
• 32.1 percent of recent eyewear buyer with easy access to the internet indicated that they may possibly or probably will use the internet to directly purchase eyewear in the future.