Do you notice more price resistance in the optical this year? Recent research from The Vision Council (TVC) reveals a consumer landscape shaped by economic caution. The Consumer inSights Q1 2026 report from TVC offers a detailed look at U.S. consumer behavior across optical products and services for the first quarter of the year and noted an uptick in lower-priced purchases to start the year.
“Consumers are making more value-conscious choices, and that extends to vision care,” says Kris Stevens, VP of Research with TVC. “With inflation and broader economic uncertainty continuing to shape household budgets, it’s no surprise that discretionary spending is under pressure, and eyewear is not immune.”
Amidst patient cost concerns today, what is the best pathway for eye care professionals to continue to share the distinct benefits of premium lens products across technology, innovation, and quality? Here, we share two peer-tested strategies.
“Consumers are making more value-conscious choices, and that extends to vision care.”
Kris Stevens, VP of Research with The Vision Council.
Strategy One: Start from the Top
Dispensing experts agree that presenting lenses starting from the top is still crucial.
“I never start at the bottom, because you have nowhere to go,” says Master Optician Phernell Walker, MBA, ABOM, newly appointed chair of the American Board of Opticianry and author of the study guide Pure Optics. “If a person is price sensitive, I am aware of that.”
Walker recommends offering the highest-performing lenses, even for a price-conscious buyer. However, “it needs to be presented slightly differently,” he says, by using terminology other than “premium” lenses. “When people hear the word ‘premium,’ they think it will have a higher retail cost,” he says. “We need to change not just the word but even our thinking around it. The way I like to position products is based on performance.”
“I don’t talk so much about the attributes of the lens itself. I talk about the solutions.”
Phernell Walker, MBA, ABOM, chair of the American Board of Opticianry
Strategy Two: Focus on ‘Performance’ vs. ‘Premium’
When offering the highest-performing lenses, Walker suggests discussing just that and using the word “performance” instead of “premium.”
“I always start with the highest-performing lens for the patient when we greet, meet, and seat,” he shares. “Greet the patient, meet the patient, and sit down with the patient.” At that point, it’s a matter of discussing what the patient has and what they are looking for. I say, ‘Tell me about your current lenses, what you love about them, and what you don’t like about them.’”
That gives the optician an abundance of information about the direction in which the patient would like to go. Then, with this information, Walker will direct the patient to the highest-quality lenses, “prescribing” premium lenses without using the word “premium.”
“I will talk about the technology of the highest-performing lens and explain how that maps back to what they told me,” Walker says. “I use a solutions-based approach based upon the highest-performing solution.”
What that means is focusing on the benefits of the lens rather than its features. “We know that benefits are going to connect with the patient; features don’t,” shares Walker. “I don’t talk so much about the attributes of the lens itself. I talk about the solutions.”
It’s clear that by highlighting benefits alone without discussing features, opticians can redirect the patient’s attention to lens performance and solutions rather than pricing, thereby prescribing premium lenses without focusing on cost.
A Presentation Primer: New Performance Lens Solutions
Rethinking the features-and-benefits presentation approach, Walker suggests focusing on presenting just the solutions for premium lenses. Here, we unveil a guide to the specific solutions from numerous major spectacle lens maker’s most recent premium offerings, complete with links to key features.
The Product: Avulux
The Solution: Delivering comfort for light-sensitive patients.
The Features:
• Designed for people living with light sensitivity and migraines, Avulux lenses filter harmful wavelengths while preserving soothing green light, according to the company.
• Aavulux says its photochromic Adapt lens provides better light quality indoors and near total protection from harmful light outdoors when the lens is fully activated.
• The Avulux Atlas lens is designed for outdoor enthusiasts—the company delivering comfort, safety, and clarity in intense sunlight by blocking harsh reflected light from surfaces such as water, roads, snow, and glass.
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The Product: CamberPure from Younger/IOT
The Solution: Designed for comfort and clarity.
The Features:
- A collaboration of IOT and Younger Optics, this premium progressive lens made its debut at VisionExpo 2026.
- Designed to deliver consistent optical clarity across multiple lens materials regardless of prescription or frame selection.
- Combines two technologies—Chromatic Aberration Reduction Technology and Camber Variable Base Curve Technology—aimed at delivering wide near-vision zones, sharp visual edges, and natural transitions between viewing distances.
- Designed to produce truer color perception, reduced visual fatigue, and comfortable adaptation, the company says.
The Product: ClearMind from ZEISS
The Solution: Reduces visual noise and blur
The Features:
- Zeiss, which introduced ClearMind in April 2026, says the lens is designed to provide clear vision throughout the day while supporting wearer comfort and well-being.
- Developed in response to increasing visual demands in modern environments.
- Designed to provide clear vision, decrease the difficulty of interpreting complex visual stimuli.
- Aimed at reducing fatigue, maintaining focus, and supporting sustained concentration during daily tasks.
The Product: Crizal Natural Look from EssilorLuxottica
The Solution: Advances personal aesthetics
The Features:
- Crizal Natural Look new anti-reflective lens coating introduced in April 2026.
- Reduces the intensity and visibility of reflections, which the company says delivers a more natural look.
- Appear clear in a range of lighting conditions during indoor and outdoor use.
- The anti-reflective coating also delivers scratch resistance along with protection against smudges, dust, water, and UV.
- Described by the company as an aesthetic advancement in anti-reflective coatings.
- Crizal Natural Look maintains color neutrality and minimizes reflection across multiple viewing angles, allowing for clear eye visibility.
The Product: VisuPro from HOYA
The Solution: Treats emerging presbyopes
The Features:
- Designed for emerging presbyopes (typically in their late 30s and early 40s).
- HOYA says its proprietary technologies deliver sharper focus, greater comfort, and a natural vision throughout the day and during digital and near-vision tasks.
- The built-in Binocular Harmonization Technology is designed to improve viewing experience for multitasking, reading, or when shifting between screens and surroundings.