232 | How to Write a business Plan
• There are at least a dozen manufacturers of programmable strip signs that can perform a somewhat similar but less efficient function. The total annual sales of these products has been estimated (Advertising Graphics Magazine, Fall 1999) to be $10,000,000. This represents a 27% increase from last year.1 The existent products are all very similar. No one manufacturer commands a dominant share of the market. • The published prices of the strip signs that come the closest to having features similar to the Kinet-O-Scroll are in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. As a result of efficiencies of design inherent in the patented technique used in the Kinet-O-Scroll, DAY’s published list price is under $1,000. • DAY’s service contract (available on request) is above average for the industry. • DAY’s warranty policy (available on request) is above average for the industry. The accompanying chart shows the sales volume of programmable signs in the United States in millions of dollars. In 2005, the total market for programmable signs is estimated to be $12,000,000. The corporation forecasts sales of 1,200 Kinet-O-Scroll units by the second year of production at a wholesale price of $550. These sales forecasts are considered conservative in that they are based on a market penetration of only 5%.
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