Confidence levels in contact lenses assessed by GfK

In August the GfK Consumer Confidence Index measure of economic confidence among UK consumers achieved a marginally positive measure of +1. This reflected a slight increase in the proportion of consumers holding a positive economic sentiment from the neutral measure achieved in June.1 In truth, however, the index has entered a stable period with readings for all of the past five months within a range of -1 (plus or minus 2) following a significant improvement in economic sentiment over the previous year.

In our last update for Optician we stated how against this more positive economic backdrop the optical categories tracked by GfK had remained stable, with sales value marginally down -0.1 per cent between the second quarter of 2013 and the second quarter of 2014. However, within this we saw a shift away from spectacles, with spectacle frame value down -3.7 per cent over the same period, and towards contact lenses which saw sales values increase by 5.4 per cent. In this edition we will look more closely at the contact lens fitting trends seen over this time of growth for the product group.