With the new year upon us, many shops may be reexamining their business plans, considering new equipment purchases, and searching for uncharted profit avenues. Change is the topic of the day.
Of course, it’s easier to plan for the year ahead when you have an idea of what’s coming. We spoke with Catherine Monson, CEO of FASTSIGNS, about trends to look for in 2017.
Printing. Monson sees four factors affecting digital printing in 2017:
Speed & Reliability. “We’re seeing higher speed, higher quality, better reliability, and inks drying faster so you can do same-day lamination on roll-to-rolls,” says Monson. “We’re thinking that that’s going to become the norm at some time in the future. The manufacturers are also using new and proprietary technology that’s reducing the effects of banding and increasing print speeds.”
Varnish & White Ink. Almost every printer manufacturer now offers one or both of these options to allow for special effects like textures on a print.
Textures. Speaking of textures, Monson says a few flatbed printers now even allow for the creation of Braille—giving shops another inroad into the ADA market.
Substrates. New fabrics allow for more interior décor projects like wall murals.
The dye-sublimation process isn’t limited to fabrics. It’s also being used on rigid substrates like aluminum, glass, acrylic, plastic, etc. The crisp, high-quality look on these flat, sleek surfaces is starting to get attention in the U.S. market.
Digital Signage. Monson believes the growth of digital signage will continue in 2017—especially in relation to cloud-based digital signage. The Cloud allows for a user anywhere in the world to control a screen’s messaging through the Internet.
Monson also foresees a greater focus on beacon technology, which enables devices like smartphones to alert apps/Web sites that a user is approaching a location. Those apps, Web sites, retail locations, etc., can then push content, such as messages from digital signage, to the customer’s phone. Monson believes this concept will see greater growth in 2018 and 2019.
Media players for digital signage are also becoming easier to work with, as shown in the Google Chromebit plug-and-play media player that FASTSIGNS offers.
“There’s a real positive side to Google Chromebit and that is that it’s forcing prices down on hardware, and it’s also bringing more secure and more powerful solutions to the market,” says Monson. “I think long-term it’s going to make the price points better, but it absolutely requires education and then of course the creativity for creating good content.”
Creating that content is an opportunity for sign shops, but it can also be a stumbling block as they contend with moving images and the challenge of dayparting—targeting specific messages to specific audiences at specific times of day.
“The difference between static design and moving design really seems to be the challenge for sign companies to wrap their heads around,” says Monson. “You also have to have folks that can create moving images.”
Selling digital signage also takes some getting used to. “It’s a different mindset and a different skill set to sell digital signage because you very often have to interact with the client’s IT department—you have to work through that and it’s a little bit longer sell cycle.”
Hurdles or not, 2017 promises to offer new opportunities to those shops willing to take the leap.
By Ashley Bray
Photo: FASTSIGNS.
