June 10, 2020
Are you wondering how long it will take your patients to return comfortably to shopping in person for eyewear? New survey findings from The Vision Council’s VisionWatch Insights offer a glimpse of how consumers are feeling right now about in-person shopping.
Nearly 70 percent of consumers indicate that they will likely return to physical eyewear retailers after COVID-19. “In recent surveys, most consumers report that they are likely to return to physical brick and mortar optical retailers and optometry offices to try on and purchase eyewear. Nearly a quarter of consumers indicate that they are not sure or that it is too soon to tell, while only 8 percent say they are unlikely to return to physical optical stores,” the survey findings note.
Consumers 35 years or older are more likely to return to physical stores than consumers 18–34 years old, with a higher percentage of older demographic age segments reporting a likelihood to return than the national average for all adults. “A greater percentage of consumers with managed vision care or an optical subsidy indicate they are likely to return compared to those consumers without. And, not surprisingly, more consumers whose most recent eyewear purchase was from an independent ECP or corporate retailer indicate they are likely to return to physical stores compared with recent online eyewear shoppers,” according to the survey findings.
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Most consumers want to see additional safety and protective measures in place before going back to a physical optical stores to make a purchase, the findings note: “Specifically, 41 percent of eyewear shoppers want retailers to sanitize any eyewear before they try it on at the store. Equally large numbers of consumers want retailers to limit the number of people in the store at any one time (38 percent) or to have retail employees wear personal protective equipment like face masks and gloves (37 percent).”
For more information about this report and others from The Vision Council VisionWatch, click HERE.
