New uses for unused space
Canopy price signs from Skyline Products can be configured to display as many gasoline grade prices as the marketer chooses.
By D. Gail Fleenor

What can marketers do when local sign ordinances make it difficult to place price signage on monument or pylon signs for high visibility? Why not take advantage of unused space on the station canopy and install electronic price signs? FutureMedia Displays, Inc., based in Dallas, and Skyline Products, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., are major manufacturers of electronic canopy price signs, which are growing in popularity.

Canopy electronic signs offer several advantages for marketers. Employees do not have to climb a sign multiple times per day to change prices so there is greater safety, especially when weather is bad. Price changes are also more immediate so, if a marketer’s competitors don’t have this capability, the marketer has a distinct advantage in adjusting prices in a timely manner.

FutureMedia Displays, Inc. offers PriceVision LED signs including a version which can be mounted on the canopy or designed to fit flush through a hole in the canopy.

“Canopy price signage is the new trend,” Joseph Wilson, FutureMedia’s president and CEO said. LED visibility and readability has improved drastically over the past few years, according to Wilson. In the past, the view angle of LED was limited and had to be ‘head-on’ to see the price or message. PriceVision displays have the widest viewing angle currently available and are visible in bright sunlight. The price signs can be controlled by using either a wireless handheld or from a control unit at the point-of-sale in a direct interface with the POS.

“We believe that viewing price signs is a critical mission item for gas stations, that they must be able to be seen 24/7, during all weather conditions and that marketers must be able to post prices at any time. There could be losses of profits or of customers if marketers have problems with the equipment,” Wilson said. Some marketers may use LED price signs as part of their image. “We are finding that some marketers are very specific about the font style they want in these price signs. We offer various fonts and will work with marketers on specific requirements. LED canopy signs can project a contemporary, modern, high-tech image,” he said.

Beavercreek, Ohio-based Duncan Oil Company is the primary and preferred fuel supplier for supermarket chain Supervalu’s central region. Duncan has a turnkey fuel-center program for supermarkets and high-volume retailers which includes site evaluation, design/build, fuel supply, marketing and management. Duncan has used PriceVision at many locations.

“We have seen huge savings in installation costs (no concrete footings, no poles, minimal electric, no crane charges, no trenching through the parking lot), as well as avoidance of many zoning-related issues that occur with traditional price and ID signage such as set back or height requirements,” said Don Gose, vice president of operations for Duncan Oil. “The biggest benefit to a retailer is that there is no procedure that has to be followed when changing your prices because when you change your prices the sign changes as well.”

“There is existing space on canopies not being used. Why not use it to advertise your gas?” said Greg Stadjuhar, vice president of sales/marketing for Skyline Products. “Lots of times there are restrictions on the height of signs. Canopies are 15 feet in the air so a canopy sign gives higher visibility of prices, actually higher than it would be on an authorized monument sign.”

Stadjuhar said many retailers prefer to display only one price on the canopy, primarily unleaded, for more emphasis although several grades will fit easily in the space available. Skyline offers both LED or scroll price signs for gasoline station canopies — two different technologies. “The scroll looks like a static sign which customers like but the sign is really electronic.”

Prices on Skyline canopy signs can be changed through handheld RF devices or through central control software at a main office. “Central control of price setting is becoming more popular now that prices are changing three to four times per day,” Stadjuhar said.

Stadjuhar confirmed that canopy signs are becoming more popular and said business has tripled over what it was a half-dozen years ago. Marketers who have had to scurry around to find first numeral “3s” and now numeral “4s” for price signs can put this time and money into something else when they use electronic signs. “All signs can go to $9.99, but we hope it never gets that far!” he said.