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What TECH does your frame shop use? 12th annual shop survey. (~5 mins) Please click

Mike Labbe

Forum Administrator
Forum Help Team
Messages
4,201
Location
Lincoln, RI
Company
Get The Picture
12th ANNUAL FRAME SHOP TECHNOLOGY POLL & DISCUSSION
Does your shop have a CMC? POS? WEBSITE?

A survey that compares how US and CANADIAN shops have applied technology such as matcutters, CMCs, pricing/POS systems, visualization, internet access, websites, social networking, etc A brief comparison of backup procedures and computer security.


CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE


This should take about 5 minutes...
Your input and discussion are greatly appreciated!


The survey runs 11/1/2014 - 11/30/2014. Results to be posted week of 12/1/2014

RESULTS from previous surveys: LINK TO RESULTS

-If an included vendor mass emails customers encouraging them to participate, their product will be disqualified
-One entry per shop or IP permitted
-This survey is intended for US and Canadian retail framers, but not vendors or reps.
-Your poll selections are anonymous, although discussion is public and encouraged.
-The results represent a small sample of the industry, and should NOT be used as a primary planning tool or business plan. This survey is purely for entertainment, to compare with our online peers, and to stimulate discussion about important frame shop technology issues.
 
Re: 12th annual frame shop survey RESULTS

The numbers have been crunched!

A special THANK YOU to everyone who participated. The survey was promoted via TPFG, PPFA Framers Corner, Facebook, and LinkedIn. We only had 10 participants from Canada, and the rest were from USA. Even though it said all over that the survey was for US and Canada only, we had a few people vote from Europe. Those entries were disqualified from the results.

Polling is done through third party freeonlinesurveys.com (such irony, its not free), and was conducted from November 1, 2014 - November 30, 2014. This is our 12th year conducting the tech survey, so it is interesting to watch the trends. Precautions are taken to prevent participants and vendors from influencing the results, or voting multiple times. (cookies are used, ip dupes are eliminated, vendors are prohibited from advertising the survey to their customers to seek votes)

While the survey results are consistent every year, and follow expected market trends, they should still be approached with caution. For the margin of error to be nil, EVERY framer would have to participate, even those who are not online and using social media/forums. For this reason, I always include a disclaimer that the results only represent those who took the time to participate in the survey - and are for discussion and entertainment purposes only.

With all of that said, enjoy!
smile.png


Mike Labbe
Get The Picture Framing
Lincoln, RI

This is a small sample of the results. The full results live at http://www.custompictureframing.com/poll_results.htm

In 2014, 97.4% of surveyed shops reported having internet available in the shop. Here is the breakdown:

45% Cable ISP
27% DSL ISP (being phased out)
14% Fiber
5% OTHER ISP (T1, T3, Frame, ISDN, Microwave, etc)
3% Cellular/Mobile ISP (Verizon, ATT, TMobile, ClearWire, etc)
2% Air/Satellite ISP (DirecPC, Microwave, etc)
2% WIFI (from someone ELSE'S router. permission or not)
1% Dialup ISP (being phased out)

Editor note: The full results from 2003-2014 clearly show how dialup went from the most popular to nothing, how DSL peaked in 2008 and is in decline, and how Cable and Fiber are currently on the rise.

internet-all.jpg



In 2014, 79% of surveyed shops said that they have a CMC. (gradually up from 49% in 2003)
cmc.jpg


12 year trend
cmc-all.jpg


SHOPS WITH MANUAL MAT CUTTERS (note: These shops may ALSO have a CMC)
39% We have a tabletop matcutter
12% We have a wall mounted matcutter
11% We have an oval manual matcutter
4% We have a hand held matcutter



pricejobs.jpg


pos.jpg



pos-all.jpg


For those who use computers to price, how many POS terminals are at the design counter?

  • 1 PC 57%
  • 2 PCs 24%
  • 3 PCs 10%
  • 4 PCs 2%
  • 5 PCs 2%
  • 6 or more PCs 5%

How frequently do you BACK UP your POS data?

  • 45% Daily Backup (alarming. Should be 100%)
  • 27% Weekly
  • 10% Monthly
  • 10% Once in a blue moon
  • 5% I DO NOT BACK UP MY DATA

Only 18% of shops surveyed are storing physical backups off-site (in case of fire, theft, etc)

87.5% have a company Facebook page

85.61% have a company website

29.69% have a Twitter page

18.75% have a blog

44% hired a professional to make their website.

Most shops update their website monthly, pay $5-$9.99, are happy with the effectiveness of the site. Approx 19% offer an online coupon, and 25% take payments through their website. 73% mention their site in advertising.

An alarming 8% have expired antivirus protection.

94% of shops have at least one Windows machine, 20% have at least one Apple machine. 26% offer wide format printing, 50% offer photo restoration.

58% of the shops surveyed have a wi-fi router in the shop, but only 73% of them are secured with encryption.

Editor note: This is something that we should all look at, to secure wi-fi in the shop. An unsecured wi-fi (or one using WEP encryption) opens your shop to being vulnerable to anyone with a smartphone/tablet/laptop within about a mile. A dishonest person could download illegal things with your account, and you would be held legally responsible for their actions. An unauthorized person using your wi-fi could also access or modify any data on shared drives (your pos server database, for example). It's really a good idea to secure wi-fi, if you must use it in the shop. Discussion welcomed, if anyone wants to learn how to secure their wireless connection.

The above are just a taste of the results. For the full results, please visit the web link mentioned at the top of this message.


Please note: These annual surveys are done merely for discussion and entertainment value, and should not be used as a primary planning tool. Results represent those who participated in a survey, from USA and CANADA ONLY. Participants represent a very technology active part of the US framing community (forum users), but the results may not necessarily represent the industry as a whole. Please use the results with caution. Details can be viewed at http://www.custompictureframing.com/poll_results.htm
 
Mike Thank Your for taking time to do this survey. It gives valuable insights into the framing business and how it has changed over the years.
 
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