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How many competitors in your town?
Hi guys,
Just wondering – how many signage competitors per capita in your area?
I now live in a town of about 30 000 souls, and we have 6 sign companies. ( 5000:1)All seem to make a decent living. Our town (Walvis Bay) is a huge fishing centre, and we all serve the fishing companies, or the providers to the fishing co’s. We also have one of the worlds biggest Uranium production areas in the vicinity. With another 5 Uranium producers due to start up in the next 3-4 years! Lots of business, that!! In Windhoek, where I lived until about 2 years ago, we used to have about 26 companies serving 250 000 people (9500:1), but, in the last 24 months this has gone up to 42 companies! (6000:1) All survive / make a good living. ( In Windhoek there is 1 company which holds about 50% of the NATIONAL market share! So, for the rest, the ratio is at best 3000;1)Please remember the population numbers include EVERYBODY, incl. children, unemployed – a few of those in 3rd world Africa! – old people etc.
How many people do you think you need to support you in the trade in your respective countries. My guess comes to 1 sign employee (not company) per 1500 people – for urban Namibia. Have you tried to figure this one out for your area? -
35 Replies
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In my entire area, as of 2000, there were 174,083 souls.
There are about 40 sign shops in the Yellow Pages.
In a 10 mile radius of me, there are at least 10 shops.
Love….Jill -
I have no idea about numbers but I do know that there are about 30 sign companies in a 5 mile radius of me which adds up to too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.
Anyone want to buy a well established sign company! 🙄
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there’s two of us in this town, one not far away, another in the next town, about 4 in eastbourne, GDI (more trade than retail now) in uckfield.
so i guess about 8 within about 10 miles. though we’re all pretty well spread out and i rarely come across them when discussing quotes with customers (i wont listen to any quote given unless i see it on paper !).
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dont have a clue how many there are round here and havent really thought about it to much i suppose there are going to be quite a lot as its a good way to make money.
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Yeah – it’s easy bucks. Get yourself a Rabbit cutter and some pirated software from ebay and you’re minted 😉
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whats a rabbit cutter Phill, is it something worth buying to make extra money. I didnt realise there were different types of cutter. is it for doing some special sort of work
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Its a national sport up here is rabbit cutting… a bit like tossing the caber 🙂
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I believe a rabbit cutter is a device that removes the ears from bunnies so they can get into Guinea Pig’s nightclubs.
Probably.
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sorry Smedia I don’t understand what you are saying, i am new to making signs and dont no any of the trade sayings or terms yet but i hope to learn them
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Hmmm, population about 150,000.
Can think of 13 others – but probably closer to 16 in a 5 mile radius, independents and one franchise.
not exactly saturated…but well covered!
But in a city famed for it’s unemployment, low wages, high crime, high taxes few of us concentrate solely on the local market, often taking in a 15 mile radius to generate additional income.
MOST of them get on OK with each other – just a few that stay aloof and deny help to others / are denied. (eg. a bit of vinyl), and generally, they produce reasonable stuff (without naming the notable exceptions!).
Dave
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quote :The population of Dundee was 26,000 in 1801 and reached 63,000 in 1841, 90,000 in 1861 and 140,000 in 1881.might have grown a bit by now dave
chris
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quote Chris Wool:quote :The population of Dundee was 26,000 in 1801 and reached 63,000 in 1841, 90,000 in 1861 and 140,000 in 1881.
might have grown a bit by now dave
chris
Nope, it’s on the decline (and I just took Dundee city – not surroundings) http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/ptrans/popmatts.pdf 2004 figures and STILL dropping.
Dundee City has an estimated population of 142,170 (GRO Scotland Mid Year Estimate 2005)
What with increased unemployment – the second highest council tax in Scotland – generally low wages it’s not "the place to be".
Dave
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stand corrected
do you think that as unemployment increases then people starting up on there own increases giving sign shops more work i must have one or two people a week starting up some business then up pops a new sign co. so swings and roundabouts
chris
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Dunno – weird thing is most of ‘us’ here seem to be pretty busy. Since the end of last year I’ve been pretty much non-stop. A fair few ‘start-ups’, but mainly it’s been existing businesses expanding / renovating. Although several large employers (NCR / Tesco) are set to shut up shop & a few others are ‘under administration’ the local economy seems to have taken an upturn for small to medium businesses. Go figure!
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I think Cardiff is much the same as David Roger’s description of where he is, lots of small signmaking businesses, a few large ones, seemingly plenty of work for most. The sign makers section in Yellow Pages seems to get larger every year though!
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We have 22,617 people registered living in my suburb, and 25% are under 14 years of age.
I have about 5 sign shops in that area. Needles to say, I do very little work in my local area. We don’t have a huge industrial or retail sector either, as most of the suburb in semi rural.
I have one client down the coast that uses me, yet has 5 sign shops in the same street as him. I always like driving down the street and waving to the opposition because it must irk them that I travel for 30 minutes to do a job that is sitting under their noses 😎
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quote Andy Gorman:I believe a rabbit cutter is a device that removes the ears from bunnies so they can get into Guinea Pig’s nightclubs.Probably.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Sounds a bit hare brained to me!
We have too many in the arwea but we all seem to be busy. I work anywhere from Torquay over to Exeter, and places north and south. People seem to be looking for suppliers further afield these days.
Peter -
None in my immediate area, but in the next town(s) 10 miles away, there are about 10. 4 in the same trading estate! They all seem busy, so there must be plenty of work around 😕
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quote Jason Cook:whats a rabbit cutter Phill, is it something worth buying to make extra money. I didnt realise there were different types of cutter. is it for doing some special sort of workJason, it’s a very cheap plotter! Not something that many would recommend, Phill was being flippant!
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We have far too many sign companies round here as it seems to be the thing to get into. I think there are too many as we all seem to be chasing after the same work 😕
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I’ve never counted but we have probably about ten in a ten mile radius, which takes in Market Harborough, Corby and Kettering – all sizable towns.
It’s never been a major concern because something like less than a fifth of our business originates locally. We have to compete with folks a lot further afield.
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Just had a look on yell.com seems to 26 in exeter where we are probaly 10 in marsh barton seems to enough work most of the time though.
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Just had a look on yell.com seems to 26 in exeter where we are probaly 10 in marsh barton seems to enough work most of the time though.
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I thought it was more like one of those rabbit vibrators. Not that I’ve ever seen one.
David, are you responsible for the Stevo-style sign I saw near the big shopping center in Dundee? I know this is a vague question.
But it was a fascia sign, had maybe a red background, and in-shaded lettering. I think it might have been for a restaurant, even a hot-dog one. No chance for a photo that day. But it looked great, and made me feel good to know that there are some hot sign makers in Dundee.Love….Jill
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quote Jillbeans:I thought it was more like one of those rabbit vibrators. Not that I’ve ever seen one.
Love….Jill
:lol1: :lol1: :lol1: ……….. your mind is in the gutter again Jill!
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There’s 3 in my town. One of them seems to get a huge percentage of the work, but then they’ve been around since the fifties and are a top notch outfit, so I don’t have any argument with that.
What is unknown is the amount of businesses that are buying plotters to do their own work; garages and the like are starting to do this, I’ve noticed.
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looked in yellow pages anit depends on how far out you look, not to many here but loads round about and i expect theres other people like me that arent in yellow pages and dont have a shop. its quite cheap to get the gear now so anyone can really make signs so im not surprised if garages are doing it.
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none i burnt all there units down shhhhhh 😉
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quote George Elsmore:none i burnt all there units down shhhhhh 😉You dodgy geezer Georgio!! wouldn’t surprise me in the least 😀
I would say around 7 of us within a 5 mile radius, then you hit places like Chelmsford and Braintree where I would say there is one sign company per every 3 households. 🙁
Frightening now that you can start up for a couple of quid.
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Same sentiments everywhere!
I guess one should distinguish between "Sign Companies", "Blokes with cutters" and "skilled/gifted blokes with cutters" What gets up my bum is when some idiot dives into the market with used cutter, pirate software, and dad’s old car. Not to mention working from dad’s garage for free, living in his house for free, using cheap short term vinyls for vehicle branding, etc. These guys undercut you, and the your long term client goes: These guys (us) have been over charging. Daylight robbery and all that. Two years (if that long) down the line Mr. Fly By Night stopped "trading", Ive lost lotsa business, and you keep hearing "so and so only charged so much" These clients forget some of us are in it for the long run – business and career wise – and spend tons of money to try and procure the technology that could give them – the clients – access to work that used to be available from abroad only. In the past few years we’ve added digi print, and lazer engraving.(In addition to vinyl cutting, hand painting etc we always did) When everybody was still engraving manually, we purchased a CNC router. All equipment and vehicles are new or being systematically replaced. Experienced staff earn higher wages … the list goes on and on.
I guess I’m somewhat peeved by the local upholstery company, and a service agent for fire extinguishers (!) who recently started mucking about in our market! Methinks I’ll have to trade ’em into the ground.
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I’ve never really counted or looked in to it, I just do what I got to do and get what I get, only time will tell if I can get enough or not.
besides I am moving soon and will try look for a good place with less competition.
Does anybody on the boards work around the area between Basingstoke and the Surrey border as this is where I will be moving to, not decided exactly where in that area but it will be around there somewhere.
Warren
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no idea how many people in my area other than that its dying all the time and today heard another competitor in the business is moving out foreign. so 1 less competitor to worry about
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quote Jillbeans:good to know that there are some hot sign makers in Dundee.
Love….Jillyou sure you were in dundee jill :lol1: :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:
nik
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there will always be lots of people who call themselves sign makers. – problem is – low cost of entry
my "other business" is a Litho Printer where you cannot really get into it for less than £40k.
anyone can start a "sign business" with a vinyl cutter for £3k
of course they often fail but that’s business life!
and these wonderful boards are one major reason why people with no real hope of establishing a long term business, think of signage as their future.
but I really like that – it’s sometimes called capitalism – everyone can try but the market of supply an demand will decide who fails and who succeeds.
Good luck to all who harbour ambitions of running their own business
John
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quote Jason Cook:its quite cheap to get the gear now so anyone can really make signs so im not surprised if garages are doing it.
I had a big business in Race car teams and Movie (Warner Bros) sets here some years ago, but Spandex approached them all and now most race teams have their own machines (cutters) and most major teams have printer/cutters. The movie people were offered machines and/or wholesale prices to buy vinyl rolls direct. Over a 12 month period I lost a substantial income stream.
Most of my clients now are happy to let me do it, have no need or intention to buy their own machine, but I do have semi retired people coming up from Sydney and Melbourne, who fancy themselves as graphic artists (they are experienced in publisher doing newsletters 🙄 ) who decide that they can make a quid doing signs too. Results are that they cut the prices to get business, then we all lose because when they go broke 12 months later, no one wants to pay anymore than the cheap guy was charging, but they want a 1st rate job.
One of the downsides to the industry I’m afraid 🙁
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