Today’s post reviews the state of the sign industry in 2018 to help you determine whether or not the timing is right for you to open your sign shop.
Surging digital signage demand: good or bad for business?
The demand for digital signage is undergoing aggressive growth that promises to continue for the next few years. In fact, by 2020, the digital signage market, which includes display set systems, hardware, and content management solutions, is expected to reach $27.34 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7%.
This growth is owed to a number of different factors.
First, digital signage is simply more versatile, giving owners the ability to program whatever sign content they want. As we wrote elsewhere on our blog this month, this versatility means digital signage effectively pays for itself, since owners will be saving big money they’d otherwise have spent on new signs.
Furthermore, digital displays are getting more and more affordable as technology improves.
In addition, a favorable regulatory climate has helped foster the adoption of digital signage in outdoor settings across America, which effectively doubled the market demand.
So how does this affect sign shop opportunities?
Some traditional sign shops have started to sweat, but modern sign shop owners are rejoicing.
If you’re of the former, then it might be time to consider either expanding in digital signage, or further establishing yourself in the artisan niche. There will undoubtedly be a market for traditional physical signage for the foreseeable future, so don’t lose hope – just understand that you may lose the business of certain industries facing public pressures to go digital.
Meanwhile, modern sign shop owners will enjoy a surge of demand that supports long-term profitability and unprecedented ROIs. Though dedicating yourself entirely to digital signage would be a mistake, now’s the time to adopt product differentiation strategies to target different segments of the market. While traditional A-frames, banners, and signs will still be popular for small-to-medium sized businesses in certain industries, digital sign production gives you new opportunities to target high-budget clientele in retail, hospitality, transportation, and healthcare.
Technology is now vital to sustaining competitive advantages
Traditional sign shops used to compete on a relatively level playing field, but now the industry is highly stratified, with your company’s rank largely decided by its technological fluency. In addition to the growing pressure on shops to develop the capability to produce wraps, digital signs, and modern custom graphics that meet color management and profiling standards, there’s also a new demand for businesses to have online assets – social media, ecommerce options, strong SERP visibility, and so on.
Fortunately, Signworld business partners are equipped with the latest and greatest sign business technologies. In fact, in the words of founder Ken Kindt, our starter package gives you the tools and resources needed to outperform 90% of your competition. Plus our website and online marketing packages can’t be beat.
Get full details at https://www.signworld.org.
The sign business is more fun (and profitable) than ever
As Ken Kindt of Signworld always says, this is a fun business. Every day brings exciting new products and people to work with. In 2018, that’s never been more true, as digital signage and internet connectivity continue to change the industry landscape for the better.
With the continued growth of e-commerce in 2018, our business partners generate more than 50% of their sales via their websites, and enjoy global sales opportunities in addition to their local territory assurances. Moreover, the internet has made outsourcing work easier than ever, which has opened up entirely new revenue streams for sign shop owners who cannot complete certain projects in-house.
Wrapping up on t he state of the sign industry in 2018
As you can see, the sign industry is undergoing some significant changes, but all for the better. While traditional sign shops may see emergent digital demand and increased expectations for web presence and authority as threats, our modern sign shop alliance celebrates the opportunities these market changes will bring!
Get more info on what to expect in 2018, and what our business alliance has to offer, at https://www.signworld.org
