Consider the following examples as  typical ROI calculations.  

Scenario A 

A small business is presently doing $3000/day in revenue.  If this business is open 6 days per week.  Weekly revenue will be $18,000 per week and $936,000 per year.   The Small Business Association states ” a business that utilizes an Electronic Message Center (EMC) will typically see and increase in sales of 15 to 150%”   The range of success will be impacted by visibility of the sign, traffic count driving by the sign, and the quality of message content.  Using the most conservative estimate of 15% increase in business will yield an annual revenue increase $140,400.  Assuming a gross profit margin of 35% an annual profit increase of $49, 140 can be expected.  LED Electronic Message Centers are extremely energy efficient and a typical 3 foot by 6 foot display with a 25 mm dot pitch double sided monochrome display typically would cost .17 cents per day to operate.  This translates into $62.05 per year of operating cost. These EMC’s are virtually maintenance free and provide over 10 years of life as the LED’s are rated for over 100,000 hours so we will assume zero maintenance costs.    This yields a net yearly incremental profit of $49,078.    The sign described above typically can be purchased for $12000 dollars,  assuming $8000 for installation yields a net cost of $20000.  ROI payback can be calculted as $20,000/$49078 = .4078/year or 4.89 months.

Scenario B

A business makes 30 sales per day at $80 per sale.  Assume a gross profit of 40% yielding a gross profit of $96 per day .  If  you assume a traffic count of 10,000 vehicle per day, which is only a slightly busy street you will get 10,000 exposures.    Conservatively let’s assume the business makes a new sale every 3000 exposures.   This will yield 3.33 new sales per day resulting in 3.33 x 80 x .40 = $106.56 dollars per day incremental gross profit.  Using the .17/day operating cost in scenario A the business will generate $106.37 x 312 days/year =  $33,187.44.  Using a total cost of $20,000 once again the ROI payback is .602 years or 7.23 months.

These ROI’s are very attractive and are based on conservative ranges.  Obviously even shorter ROI’s can be obtained with more aggressive sales growth numbers.    A free ROI calculator for LED based Electronic Message Centers can be found at http://www.empvisualsolutions.com/Choosing-a-Sign/Return-on-Investment

A Diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts electric current in only one direction.  The most common function of a diode is to allow an electric current in one direction while blocking current in the opposite direction . Thus, the diode can be thought of as an electronic version of a check valve. 

 Diodes are used to regulate voltage (zener diodes), electronically tune radio and TV receivers (varactor diodes), generate radio frequency oscilations(tunnel diodes), and produce light (light emitting diodes).

The discovery of diodes and their crystals’ rectifying abilities was made by German physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1874. The first semiconductor diodes, called cat’s whisker diodes were made of crystals of minerals such as galena. The first known report of a light-emitting solid-state diode was made in 1907 by the British experimenter H. J. Round   Today most diodes are made of silicon.  The first practical LED was invented by Nick Holonyak, Jr., in 1962 while he was at General Electric Company. The first LEDs became commercially available in late 1960s and were red in color.

Today LED’s are commonly available and in wide use in Red, Green, Amber, Blue, and White colors.   LED’s are used in a wide variety applications ranging from voltage indication, lighting, and displays.   They are very energy efficient and  have an extremely long life often exceeding 100,000 hours of operation.

Electronic Message Centers utilize LED’s in a pixel array to convey messages to their intended recipients.  These displays typically use red or amber LED’s for single color or monochrome displays.  A red – green cluster of LED’s make up a tri-color display with the third color being amber when both the red and green are on.  Full color displays use an array of Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) LED’s that can be fired in various combinations to create billions of color combinations.  

Recent breakthroughs in their efficiency and manufacturing costs have led to White LED’s being used in a wide variety of lighting applications.  Although they have a higher initial purchase cost, LED lights last significantly longer with a typical life of over 50,000 hours which at 12 hours/day will lead to at least 10 years of service.  LED lighting also uses significantly less energy and are mostly recyclable making them a “Green” alternative to traditional lighting solutions.   

The low cost of LED’s coupled with their energy efficiency, and their long life make them attractive for a wide variety of commercial and industrial applications.

Perhaps the most compelling reason businesses are installing these LED based Electronic Message Centers is their relative effectiveness and cost of advertising compared to traditional advertising mediums such as TV, Radio, Magazines, Newspaper, and Direct Mail.

The Small Business Association (SBA) reports relative advertising costs as follows:

Newspaper Advertising  $7.39 per 1000 exposures within a ten mile radius of the business

Television Advertising $6.36 per 1000 exposures

Radio Advertising $5.47 per 1000 exposures

LED electronic message center $0.42 per 1000 exposures

The cost of the LED electronic message center is calculated as follows.  Assume a $30,000 dollar expenditure with a useful life of 10 years  (these EMC’s typically have a rated LED life of over 100,000 hours).  The amortized daily cost of the display would be $8.22/day.  Energy costs per day will be about $0.26/day – LED displays are very energy efficient.   With a cost of $8.48/day and a typical traffic count of 20,ooo cars traveling by the business/day yields a cost of $0.42 per 1000 exposures.    This is for drivers only.  With higher traffic counts and cars with passengers this cost is even reduced further.

Obviously these LED Electronic Message Centers are cost effective consider further that the drivers going by the business with EMC’s are the ones likely living and working in the business vicinity.  Any small business owner knows these are the most coveted and targeted customers they wish to reach.  

Also, the messages can be changed instantaneously to reflect local conditions.  Imagine the day of a snowstorm and a message on the display of the local hardware store saying “Snowblowers in Stock”   

Electronic Message Centers are becoming the most important form of advertising and revenue generating signage that a business can utilize.  Their cost effectiveness, long life, energy efficiency, and programmability make them a clear choice for business looking to increase their revenues.

LED lighting offers improved Green attributes in the following manner over traditional lighting solutions.

1) LED lighting is recyclable and uses no Mercury

2) LED lighting is incredibly energy efficient consuming only 20 – 30 per cent of the energy of traditional lighting for comparable lumination.  Because of this efficiency very little heat is emmitted from LED lights

3) LED lighting has Dark Sky advantages.  Because LED lighting is focused with little diffusion, it significantly reduces the amount of night sky illumination

4)  LED lighting does not attract insects – I learned this one today.  Many insects are actually attracted by the heat traditional lighting emits, since LED lights run so cool it does not attract insects.

5) LED lighting typically lasts for 50,000 hours.  At 12 hours per day this is over 10 years of life.  Maintenance and light replacements are far reduced as well as the environmental impact of the Maintenance requirements.

The technology of LED lighting is relatively new but it is rapidly becoming accepted and implementations are accelerating rapidly as users seek to make their businesses more Green and Energy efficient.