Media Influence on Consumer Choice: Eye Care & Vision Correction

The U.S. eye care industry appears to be holding steady, with prescription lens sales up slightly for 2008 versus 2007. As with most categories, the Internet plays a prominent role in eye care and vision correction with approximately 40.8 million Americans adults researched eyeglass styles and contacts online recently. Another nine percent of consumers researched a specific optical store.

This report breaks down online influence by various demographic classifications, including the lucrative older consumer who is still influenced by traditional media types and younger groups who are influenced by online and social media and are more likely to research and purchase online.

The report includes extensive detail on the level of influence 22 different types of online and traditional media had on pharmacy choice and reveals how many people have initiated a conversation with their doctor about a specific brand of medication, broken down by demographic. Online media covered: Email, Fashion Web sites, Health Web sites, Local Web sites, Manufacturer Web sites, News Web sites, Online Yellow Pages, Search Results, Online Video. Social media types covered: Blogs, Forums, Negative Comments, Positive Comments, Product Reviews, Social Networks. Traditional media types covered: Direct Mail, Magazine, Newspaper, Out-of-Home, Radio, Television, Yellow Pages.

Many factors play a role in how consumers choose and buy vision correction products and the report examines the importance of factors like price, product quality, product quality, and a knowledgeable staff.

The report also offers insights on how receptive consumers are to buying these products online instead of in a store.