1999 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Report

Editor’s Note: Each year Signs of the Times magazine publishes a State of the Industry report for the commercial sign industry. In March of this year, Signs of the Times sent a letter and survey to a sample of their subscribers identified as being part of the CAS/commercial business. The letter requested their help with this year’s industry survey, which included new questions concerning planned equipment investment in the year 2000. Then, ST‘s research supplier, Smyth Marketing Resources, randomly selected 506 of the magazine’s subscribers to participate by telephone, thus providing a sampling error of plus or minus 4.4%, with 95% confidence. The fourth annual report shows that the CAS/commercial sign industry grew by an estimated 7% in 1999 to reach the $4.3 billion level. The report also reveals that the critical statistics of profit margin and sales per employee went in opposite directions. What follows are some of the highlights from that survey. This year’s complete report can be found in the August 2000 issue of Signs of the Times, which can be purchased online. Preview:

 

Table 1: Distribution of CAS/Commercial Respondents by Sales-Volume Classification
Sales Volume	# of Shops	% of Total Shops	Total Sales	% of Sales	Ave. Sales/Resp.
$500,000 +	79	15.6%	$68,674,000	50.9%	$869,300
$250,000 to $499,999	98	19.4%	$32,180,000	23.8%	$328,400
$100,000 to $249,999	186	36.8%	$26,986,000	20%	$145,100
$50,000 to $99,999	80	15.8%	$5,362,000	4%	$67,000
Less than $50,000	63	12.5%	$1,727,000	1.3%	$27,400
Totals	506	100%	$134,929,000	100%	$266,700

 

Table 5a: Three-Year Comparison of Annual Change in Sales Volume
	1996 to 1997	1997 to 1998	1998 to 1999	1997 to 1999
-10% +	6.7%	6.7%	4.4%	-2.3%
-9% to -1%	3.5%	1.5%	3.4%	-0.1%
0% (No Change)	12.7%	12.6%	17.4%	+4.7%
+1% to +19%	30.9%	32.7%	37.5%	+6.6%
+20% to+49%	28.3%	24.2%	25.9%	-2.4%
+50% +	11.7%	16.0%	6.3%	+5.7%
Don’t Know	6.2%	6.3%	5.1%	-1.1%
Mean Ave. Change	18.3%	27.2%	16.8%	-1.5%
Median Ave. Change	13%	13%	10%	-3%

A 27.2% 1997 to 1998 increase appears to be an aberration, however, because the increases from 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 were both approximately 18%. Overall, sales continue to increase, but at a slightly slower pace.