LEDs continue to steal neon's marketshare.
The number of responses we received for this eighth-annual study was quite disappointing (the second lowest ever), but they’re sufficient to confidently state that LEDs have grabbed another chunk of marketshare directly from neon, although the latter remains preferred by more than an overall 2:1 ratio. And for the third consecutive year, fluorescent lighting reigns rock steady as the most popular illumination source.
Next year, we will undoubtedly need to ratchet up our sales-volume categories, because companies with annual sales of less than $500,000 are negligibly represented. Similarly, in July’s upcoming Electric State of the Industry (SOI), you’ll see higher level, sales-volume categories.
As usual, we received one response from a disproportionately large sign company, one with annual sales of $100 million. In some instances, we’ll present data with and without that company’s response. For example, in the amount spent on illumination in 2006, even without the $100 million company, the figure significantly establishes a new standard and more than doubles last year’s total. (Remember, any reference to “this year” means 2006 data, and “last year” means 2005.)
Overall, 2006 was a good year, with only four of 53 companies reporting a decline in sales from 2005, and the overall sales-volume increase approached double figures.
Here are some of the highlights, and chronological discussion of the individual tables will follow:
• LED usage continued its ascent to a noticeable record high of 14.7%, while neon’s usage fell to a record low of 34.1% (Table 2). Meanwhile, fluorescent lighting remains the choice illumination source.
• Electronic power supplies, by a small margin, evidence thei r greatest popularity to date. For the first time, traditional ferromagnetic transformers aren’t used twice as often as their smaller, lighter counterparts (Table 7).
• For the third consecutive year, red LEDs are slightly preferred over red neon. Among other colors, white LEDs gained considerable ground, although white neon remains preferred by an approximate 3:1 margin (Table 10).
• “Durability” edged past “initial cost” as the most critical of seven factors when choosing between neon and LEDs. For the first time in four years, “energy savings” didn’t finish last. The range of colors claimed that dubious honor by a slight margin (Table 11).
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