| Together, the words credit and crunch litter media headlines. Therefore it is of no surprise that in the past decade consumer confidence is at an all time low1.
Within the retail sector, many product areas have been heavily impacted with sales of consumer electronics, domestic appliances, DIY products and the automotive industry showing significant negative growth. Even within the optical sector, otherwise resilient product areas such as optical lenses, frames, sunglasses and care products all showed a decline in value in September 2008 as compared to September 2007. Contact lenses on the other hand are the only optical products that have delivered 3.5% growth over the same period2.
TNS, a global leader in market research conducted research on behalf of CIBA VISION® to understand how contact lens wearers are reacting to the economic recession and correspondingly, how you can respond to optimise your business during an economic downturn. Online research was conducted over a four week period to November 2008 and 3146 individuals responded offering a very robust data set.
The research shows that more than two thirds of contact lens wearers consider contact lens wear as a necessity rather than a luxury, giving contact lenses a position of high priority in the consumer budget. However, some contact lens wearers will still try and tighten the spend on contact lenses through non-compliance, by making a pair last longer than manufacturers’ recommended wear schedules. To prevent non-compliance, practitioners should reiterate the importance of compliance to eye health at every check-up.
Consumers clearly demonstrate that they are prepared to pay more for healthier and more comfortable lenses. 56 % of consumers would be willing to spend an additional £2 per month for healthier lenses and 40% would be willing to spend up to £8 more. Offering patients the opportunity to upgrade to healthier and more comfortable contact lenses can be an effective way of gaining incremental revenue from existing wearers and enhancing patient loyalty, even during an economic recession.
What is also interesting is that almost a third of non-contact lens wearing consumers showed a high level of interest in wearing contact lenses. When the propensity to try contact lenses is broken down by age profile, almost half of those aged between 16 years and 24 years show a high interest in trialling contact lenses. Within this age group the cost of contact lenses and its transparency is also very important. Offering professional fees based pricing may help make prices more transparent and help build patient loyalty.
Although many practices offer a home delivery service, research shows that almost half of contact lens wearers still purchase contact lenses in-store. To generate ‘walk in’ demand or offer a faster service to patients, practitioners could consider holding contact lens stock in-store. Also, offering larger pack formats can drive loyalty and consumption and offer greater convenience to patient.
Consumers see regular check-ups at the opticians as a very important part of their regular spending commitments. Practitioners can continue to reinforce the importance of regular eye checks at every opportunity and proactively focus on building patient loyalty to ensure patients return for future appointments.
During the current economic climate of low consumer confidence, businesses need to be proactive in responding to the changing economic needs and demands of our patients. Identifying areas of threat to existing businesses and developing action plans to minimise the impact of the recession is critical. Equally, identifying potential opportunities could drive significant gains. ‘Doing nothing’ is dangerous, especially during vulnerable times as these.
1. GfK NOP on behalf of the European Commission
2. TNS Consumer Confidence Index. December 2008 |
