WHAT DOES YOUR SIGN SAY ABOUT YOU PART 2

University of San Diego Survey Part II (continued)

The results showed that “on-premise signage has a statistically significant and financially substantive impact on the revenues of a site [and]… is a significant constituent of the factors causing the success of a retail endeavor.” In brief:

1. The addition of new signage to previously unsigned buildings, and the replacement of existing signage (generally, with larger signs) resulted in an average revenue increase of 5%.

2. The addition of a pole sign, or a plaza identity sign including the store’s name, resulted in an average increase in weekly sales of 5-10%. The increase was attributed by the researchers to the new signs’ enhancement of site visibility to passing traffic.

3. The addition of small directional signs indicating entrance and exit routes resulted in weekly sales increases ranging from 4-12%. The increases were attributed to the signs’ ability to guide a site-bound shopper more than any specific advertising effect.

These increases in revenues, as a result of signage, demonstrate the positive effect on profitability at a specific site, especially given that normal profits in the retail industry are approximately 1-2%.

The California Electric Sign Association (CESA), the International Sign Association (ISA), the Sign User Council of California, and the Business Identity Council of America sponsored the study. A summary of the findings appears in The Economic Value of On-Premise Signage, a compendium of signage-related research results and articles (e.g., sign amortization; copyright and trademark protection.) The booklet was published jointly in 1997 by CESA and ISA.

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