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3. What is the average length of time that a U.S. consumer keeps their prescription eyeglasses before buying a new pair, in the years 2010-2016?
Hi! Thank you for your question about the average length of time that a U.S. consumer keeps their prescription eyeglasses before buying a new pair.
OVERVIEW
The short version is that the average length of time that a U.S. consumer is keeping their new prescription eyeglasses before repurchasing has been decreasing in the last few years, as consumer confidence is on the rise due an increase in employment rates. The years from 2010 - 2013 were effected by the recession, however, as will be discussed below the repurchasing of prescription eye glasses is increasing due to a number of US industry related factors. Please note that statistics for the year 2016 are not yet available, therefore they will not be reported on.
Below you will find a deeper dive into my findings on this topic.
METHODOLOGY
As noted in your question you would like to find the average length of time that a U.S. consumer keeps their prescription eye glasses before buying a new pair from the years 2010-2016. To provide you with the best possible answers and a summary of my findings, I have researched several key sources to discover the most up-to-date, reliable information in this area. Please note that statistics for the year 2016 are not yet available, so research stops with 2015's data. The links to the sources of information are provided below. I have then analyzed, synthesized and evaluated the information from these reliable resources and I have provided you with an interpretation of the information.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
The following information was collected from a large-scale consumer research program that The Vision Council of the US produces called VisionWatch. VisionWatch (VW) conducts large scale consumer research studies based out of the US. VW interviews over 110, 000 American adults every year. The VW surveys asks people questions pertaining to eye wear and eye care. The following information provided below pertains to a 12 month period of data collection beginning in January 1, 2015 and ending on December 31, 2015. Found in the information below are comparisons to previous years, dating back as far as the early 1990s. Thus, the period from 2010-2015 is reported on. However, please note that statistics for 2016 with regards to The Vision Council of the US have not yet been released. Therefore the most recent statistics and information being reported on are from the year 2015.
In the year 2015, approximately 2 out of 3 US adults wore Rx eyeglasses. This is a total of approximately 159.2 million US adults. In the same year, approximately 22‐25 million children under the age of 18 wore eyeglasses (2015).
The percentage of US adults wearing Rx eyeglasses declined from the 1990s through to the year 2006. However, consumer confidence in the US rose during the year 2011 and the year 2012 and as a result there was in increase in Rx eyeglass usage.
Due to consumer confidence, increases in the US population and the declining interest in LASIK and contact lens usage there has been an actual increase in the number of adults wearing Rx eyeglasses. The increase in the number of adults wearing Rx eyeglasses in the year 2015 was reported to be over 2.8 million. Moreover, in the past five years between 2010 and 2015, Rx eyeglass usage with US adults has increased by approximately 10.0 million. RX eyeglass usage increased from 2010 through 2015 as the US economy improved and many people continued to take advantage of MVC benefits. Most of this increase in eyeglass usage can be traced to the increase in people with MVC benefits and the decline in LASIK / refractive surgery procedures.
Over the year 2015, Rx eyeglass usage has increased mainly among American males over the age of 55, as well as Americans from the SE and MP regions of the country. People with some form of MVC coverage and Americans with an annual household income of $60K+ are the group of people that are increasing their usage in terms of Rx eyeglasses.
However, while the US industry is seeing more Rx eyeglass users, many of those users are still waiting relatively longer periods of time between making a new eyeglass purchase. Therefore, the growth rate of unit and dollar sales for eyeglasses is not growing as fast as the growth rate of eyeglass users in the US. This phenomenon has lasted for about four years in a row from the years 2010 to 2014.
The eyeglass repurchase cycle is heavily influenced by income. In the year 2015, households with annual incomes under $60K typically wait 2.5 years between purchases whereas over $60K buyers only wait an average of 1.9 years (23 months). This was a slight decrease from the years 2010-2015.
There were 74.0 million pairs of eyeglass frames sold in the US during the 12 month period ending on December 31, 2015. These numbers were up by approximately 3.5% from the previous year, 2014. These numbers indicate that about 26.4% of the adult population purchased a pair of Rx glasses during the time period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Women purchased a larger portion of eyeglasses than men during the time period of 2014 to 2015. However, the pace of eyeglass purchasing has risen more among US men more during 2015, which is a result of more men embracing eyeglass usage over the past year in comparison to women.
Whereas, the eyeglass repurchase cycle - the average amount of time between the purchase of a complete new pair of eyeglasses - for both women and men as of 2015 now stands at approximately 2.15 years. The repurchase cycle for both women and men dropped by about 2.5 weeks over 2015. This has been the first noticeable decrease in the repurchase cycle of eyeglasses in the previous 4 years between the years 2010 - 2014.
Before the recession, women purchased eyeglasses two to three months sooner than men. After the recession from 2010 through to 2013, men tended to purchase eyeglasses about 1 to 2 months sooner than women. Now, in 2015, the repurchase cycle is almost equal between men and women.
On an aggregate level, the eyeglass repurchase cycle for all consumers has remained steady, declining only slightly over the five year period from 2010 to 2015. The repurchase cycle at the end of December, 2015 was 2.15 years. The eyeglass repurchase cycle was at it’s lowest, 2.0 years, in the years 2006 and 2007. However, when the recession hit between 2008 and 2009 eyeglass wearers, particularly women and Americans over the age of 45 were lengthening the amount of time between eyeglass purchases.
The increase in frame buying activity that has happened in the US is a result of both increased eyeglass usage, 2.8 million increase during the 12 month period ending in December 31, 2015 and also an increase in buying activity. The increased result can also be attributed to the increase in multiple eyeglass pair purchases which was up slightly by about 1.1% during the 12 month period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Over a 12 month period ending in December 31, 2015, eyeglass frame buying activity increased among the following consumers:
- US men (+3.9%);
- US adults over the age of 55 (+5.4%);
- US adults from higher income households (+5.1%); and
- US consumers from the SE region of the country (+3.8%).
However, e yeglass frame sales among current contact lens users has decreased by - 1.9%, during a 12 month period ending on December 31, 2015. This is the third year in a row that metric has declined.
From the years 2014-2015, there has been a steady decrease between the average length of time that a U.S. consumer keeps their prescription eyeglasses before buying a new pair. This can be attributed to consumer confidence, rising employment and additional employers offering vision insurance benefits. After the recession, as the economy improves so has consumer confidence and so the average length of time between buying new eyeglasses has decreased. From the years 2011 and 2012 many eyeglass wearers without insurance coverage were postponing their eyeglass purchases for significant periods of time due to the recession. Many of these buyers stayed out of the eye glass market for 2-3 years. However, since 2013 and 2014 these buyers have been coming back to the market as people have found new employment, they have a vision plan care with their new employment and consumer confidence is on the rise.
SUMMARY
To wrap up, from the years 2014 to 2015, there has been a steady decrease between the average length of time that a U.S. consumer keeps their prescription eyeglasses before buying a new pair. This can be attributed to consumer confidence, rising employment and additional employers offering vision insurance benefits. Prior to this time period, from 2010- 2013, the results of the recession increased the average length of time that a U.S. consumer kept their prescription eyeglasses before buying a new pair.
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