Who Are We? Part 1 in a Series


By signhugger


Fifteen years after our first national survey of digital sign shops during the Spring of 1995 (which came on the heels of digital print’s injection into the “vinyl sign shop” industry by way of the Sign Biz Network) we sought to understand what constitutes the client base of this generation of digital sign shop.

This blog posting, first in a series, encourages a more extensive and inclusive dialogue around the long-term interests of the digital sign industry.

This poll was conducted online through Zoomerang, in the fourth quarter of 2009 and queried 180 shops. The 35% who responded serve as a contribution to the conversation on the characteristics of digital sign companies in the current pentad. (We use a five-year period for charting changes in this industry, versus a decade-marked examination, due to the rapid deployment of new technologies, and rapid growth of the digital sign enterprise. That combination of technological advances and strong growth pushes fast metamorphosis of many digital sign operations.)

These companies represent mature (more than 50% were in business five years or longer), small businesses (around 85% of them had eight or fewer employees) and represent the core of our market in the retail, commercial, digital sign space. Many of the respondents produce or service electrical signage, but probably wouldn’t identify themselves as such- and all started life as digital sign companies. None of the respondents were part of a franchise chain. Essentially, the data serves as a good cross-section of companies that make up our target market in this particular space.

The central question asked was, What number of clients make up 80% of your company’s revenue? Sign Biz, Inc. conducted the poll, and interviews were conducted with a cross-section of respondents. The following narrative discusses the results.

We found that more than half (54%) of digital sign shops earned 80% of their revenue from client bases ranging from 42 to more than 200 regular customers.

The group making up the “30 clients or less” category, 46% of the shops, were not strictly “traditional” digital sign shops. Of those reporting in the “30 clients or fewer” bracket, the vast majority fell into two categories: Either this was the new shop (24 months or less in business), or the mature shop (12+ years in business) with a distinct, commercial niche.

The small shop client base report is easy to understand: Fewer clients built into the base, so fewer generating the 80% mark. The other group in this category, however, could now be considered outside of the traditional digital sign shop definition. In other words, shops that grew over a 12 to 20-year-period to fulfill a unique market such as ADA signage, electrical, or other distinctly commercial-style applications often relied upon a small client base of large accounts that generates the bulk of the business.



It is easy to infer some the nature of these diverse operations with a simple introspection of the numbers. In the course of speaking with a variety of the respondents, it was possible to not only validate these inferences, but also to discern the edges of a clearer definition of a digital sign shop.

A surprising and telling feature of this segment of the sign industry is that it shows no correlation between shop revenues and client base.

Of those shops responded to the question with figures greater than 30, the breakdown is as follows:

• A significant number -- 30% -- have client bases ranging from 42 to 80 companies.

• A further 10% see 80% of their revenue from 90 – 130 clients.

• Another 8% say 130 - 200 companies generate 80% of their revenues.

• And 6% have client bases with more than 200 businesses generating the lion’s share of sales.

While there was alignment between “traditional digital” and larger client base, there was no correlation between the range in client base size and revenues. Some multi-million dollar shops had 30 clients, while others had more than 200. This would beg the question: What is the definition of a digital sign shop?


A traditional digital sign shop that is more than 2 years old is most likely to have between 42 and 130 companies that generate the bulk of their revenues. This also substantiates the results of an earlier survey (Q4, 2008) that shows less impact from the recession on shops with a wide range of retail establishments being served. In contrast, shops with few, large accounts were more likely to experience a deeper cut from the downturn in the economy.

I am particularly pleased that the underlying shifts in the digital sign industry that we noted in 1999 are not a one-time phenomenon but instead represent the professional development path of a digital sign company, capturing the dominant market share of clients with a full-service line of digital products and related services, with the option to develop a specialization. The retail-flavored enterprise in a visible location, equipped with large-format output devices and well-trained CSR staff, continues to provide ideal sowing conditions for new, entrepreneur-driven sign companies -- a driving force in the sign industry.

In the coming months, additional polls will help to illuminate the varied styles of professional digital sign shops today.
Category: 1 comments
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1 comments:

Planners said...

An insightfull post. Will definitely help.

I have used the AV Planners Inc for all "digital sign" and their serivice is the best.
You can know more about them in http://www.avplannersinc.com/index.php/digital-signage.

Thanks,
kavel - digital sign

November 17, 2009 12:07 AM

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