Daily-use contact lens sales now higher than weekly lenses

GfK’s POS Tracking team reported that dollar sales of daily disposable U.S. soft contact lenses have surpassed that of weekly lenses from June to November in 2015 vs. the same period in 2011, according to a press release.

Dollar sales of daily disposables increased from 16% in the monitored 2011 period to 31% in 2015. These sales are keeping a steady growth rate of 3.7%, GfK reported in a press release.

In contrast, weekly contact lens sales dropped from 44% to 28% during the same 4-year time frame. Monthly lens sales remained relatively flat, with a 1% increase from 39% to 40%. Annual supply sales remain at 30% of all soft contact lens sales, according to the GfK’s report on the soft contact lens market.

The continued growth of daily soft contact lenses, particularly from the specialty segments, has been disruptive to reusable lens sales, GfK stated. The daily multifocal segment has increased 140%, and daily toric is up 31%, while reusable sales have declined for spherical by 21% and for multifocal by 7.2%, with a flat growth for toric at 0.1%.

Sonia Martins, business group director (optics) of GfK’s POS Tracking team, said in the release that the daily lenses are outselling reusable options due to their low-maintenance and high-cost vision solution. However, she added, “Reusable lenses are not dead — they are evolving through the latest innovations and a more palatable price point.”