Practices slow to cash in on summer of sport

With the Olympic Games starting in London today (July 27), 76 per cent of optical practices were not planning to use the major sporting events of 2012 to market sports vision correction/contact lenses in their practices.

This is in spite of 70 per cent agreeing that the Olympic Games would increase demand for sports-related vision correction.

These are just two of the findings of a CIBA Vision-sponsored Sports Eyewear Research study carried out by Reed Business Insight in March that saw over 300 participating practitioners (optometrist 55 per cent, dispensing optician 33 per cent) respond to an online questionnaire.

Of the respondents (55 per cent independent, 38 per cent chains) 65 per cent admitted they did not specialise in providing patients with eyewear for particular sports, with 35 per cent indicating some level of specialisation. Among those who did, the main area of specialism was in water sports at 75 per cent, followed by golf on 58 per cent and racket sports at 48 per cent, football closely following on 47 per cent.