InfoTrends, a consulting firm for the wide-format printing industry, describes digital signage as a complementary medium, rather than a threat.
In fact, InfoTrends has surveyed professionals in the wide-format printing industry about these trends; 83 per cent of respondents who had added digital signage to their business said it had no effect—positive or negative—on the sales of wide-format printed graphics.
Organic investment
The main question this notion raises is how to integrate digital signage into a sign shop’s existing product mix. While some sign companies and PSPs have entered the digital signage market through joint ventures, corporate acquisitions and partnerships, most sign shops are too small and risk-averse for these strategies. To remain fiscally sustainable, Greene says, their investments must instead be more ‘organic.’
These investments will be guided by the sign shop’s choice of a path to growth, which could include entering new competitive arenas, adopting new corporate structures, taking new approaches to delivery, adding products and services, seeking to increase volume to existing customers, selling into new territories and/or marketing existing products to new customers.
As Greene points out, sign shops that now handle wide-format digital printing already have access to their customers’ digital assets, which can be repurposed for screen-based display.
“Many of your existing customers may be looking for something new, whether it’s interactivity, gamification or integration with social media,” says Greene. “You already know the customer and you have their content.”
Greene describes the digital signage market in three tiers, comprising high-end broadcast-scale, mid-range networked and small stand-alone deployments. The first category has been dominated by specialized digital signage firms. The second has proven fruitful for audiovisual (AV) professionals, many of whom have already added digital signage to their offerings. The third, however, still represents a strong opportunity for growth, to the benefit of smaller sign shops.
Small stand-alone digital signage deployments represent a largely untapped market, ripe with opportunity for sign shops.
“The AV guys can compete at the middle range, but not so much at the smaller scale,” says Greene. “A lot of signmakers want to segue into the digital signage market and implementation at this range is pretty simple.”
A turnkey approach
With this in mind, some suppliers and vendors to the sign industry have introduced complete ‘turnkey’ systems, including all of the hardware and software components required for signmakers to get started in the digital signage market quickly, easily and profitably.
These systems are compatible with the common file types seen among the aforementioned sign shop customers’ digital assets and are designed to facilitate their repurposing. Existing graphic files can be loaded into libraries and scheduled into playlists. This is similar to processes that sign shops already handle, particularly with respect to wide-format printing. For that matter, the dynamic output may well be similar to wide-format printed graphic applications, ranging from point-of-purchase (POP) displays to restaurant menu boards.
The key to any sign shop’s success is to keep up with its customers’ needs. Today, many of these longtime customers are considering implementing digital signage to complement their static signage. Given they already trust sign shops to provide banners, wraps and other sign graphics, it is only natural for this new business opportunity to involve sign shops, too, if they are ready for it.
With files from Roland DGA, which supplies inkjet printers/cutters and DisplayStudio turnkey digital signage systems. For more information, visit www.rolanddga.com.
