By The Numbers: Advantages Of Business Awnings At Your Commercial Establishment

By Author: Michael Richman
Total Articles: 12
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Using awnings at your commercial establishment brings with it several advantages. They help in business promotion, add décor, provide protection from rain and sun, and reduce your power bills. These reasons (and more) should prompt you, as a business owner, to invest in awnings and reap the rewards.

Awnings, in their most basic form, are shelters attached to the outer walls of buildings. They are often affixed to the tops of windows and doorways to shield them from direct sunlight and glare. Awnings are made of a variety of materials, such as canvas or vinyl stretched over an aluminum or metallic frame for support or even completely made of various metals such as aluminum or steel. Commercial awnings can also be retracted, if desired, using several methods, including manual, hand retraction, or through electric motors and remote control. Some awnings are even installed with weather sensors, which operate automatically. As such, awnings for shops can be a great asset and “made to order”, suiting your most detailed specifications and requirements.

Advantages of Awnings
The advantages of awnings ...
... are numerous, so let’s examine the top five advantages for the installation of awnings at your commercial establishment.

* Protection from Rain and Sun:
Awnings offer protection from the extremes of nature – harsh sunlight and heavy rainfall, snow, ice, dust and wind, too. And if you’re thinking especially eco-friendly, the sloped nature of awnings make them ideal rain catches and flood mitigation solutions. While all captured water should be tested before human consumption, it certainly can be used for basic watering needs, such as decorative plants or trees outside your shop. Awnings are also an efficient means of protecting the outdoor furniture at commercial establishments as well as outdoor decorative items used at these shops.

Besides all these eco-friendly reasons, awnings, by their very nature, protect customers and clients at these business establishments from the harmful effects of the UV radiation. UV, or ultraviolet, is an electromagnetic wave beyond humans’ ability to see in visible light. As we approach the equinox on March 20, the intensity of UV radiation will steadily increase in the northern hemisphere and decrease in the southern. Already by that date, cities like sun-soaked Los Angeles will record midday UV indexes in the “high” range of 6 out of 10+. By contrast, cities like New York will begin registering a UV index of 5 or “moderate,” sun intensity while Miami reaches over 9.

* More Space at Less Cost:
Awnings simply provide additional outdoor space for commercial establishments. This additional space is useful for catering to more customers and clients, whatever the season. The availability of this extra space is particularly useful to restaurants during rush hours. They can service more customers in this outdoor environment.

In addition to the availability of additional space, the lower cost of this space is an added benefit. The cost to install awnings outdoors is just a fraction of regular walls and expensive interiors. Thankfully it’s also less bureaucratic. Often any type of meaningful structural extension is fraught with local zoning challenges, residential or neighborhood pushback and the potential for competitive bidding wars. Awnings expand one’s commercial footprint without leaving you and your business exhausted of patience – and money. In colder months, partially enclosed awnings, or those draped with additional plastic, can still extend the season as natural body warmth is trapped, warming the environment. Augmented with carefully positioned propane heaters and your awning will be able to protect from the harshest winter weather.

* Business Promotion:
Awnings can be installed on walls, roofs and virtually anywhere. This becomes a useful asset to advertise the latest products available at your shop. The menu at the restaurant can be displayed on awnings your offerings. Prominent large awnings on roofs of business establishments draw more customers, which in turn is responsible for more sales and profits.

Besides, attractive awnings in eye-catching colors can be used to promote the new arrivals at the shop. This is particularly important in a digital age where a growing number of would-be customers are glued to their smart devices, be it smartphones or tablets. With adoption rates around 55% and 30% respectively, getting noticed the old fashioned way, in some sense, has never been more important. To that end, backlit awnings are also important way to rise above the digital and commercial clutter and can be seen at further distances. This is helpful in today’s multitude of shopping malls and strip malls, where sometimes a parking facility may be hundreds of feet from a store entrance.

* Reduce Electricity Bills:
Awnings reduce the temperatures inside buildings by several degrees – sometimes as much as 20°F. They do this by shading them from the glare of direct sunlight. Skeptical? A simple way to test this theory is to go out one day with a small pocket thermometer. Walk along the sunny side of the nearest street and measure the temperature. Then, repeat the test on the shady side. You’re guaranteed to record – and feel – a major difference.

Awnings of all shapes and sizes are like constantly relocating your business to the “shady side” of the street. It’s a savings that really adds up. This reduction of temperatures inside commercial buildings is directly responsible for a reduction in the power bills. The air conditioners in the buildings consume less power because of the decrease in the temperature by several degrees. This reduction in power bills is an additional profit to the commercial establishments or can be used as supplemental savings for additional awnings, landscape/exterior fix-up, and perhaps, coupon and loyalty programs geared toward attracting and retain even more customers.

* Decoration:
Awnings come in various patterns, attractive colors and beautiful materials. This can enhance the appearance of your commercial establishment. Impressive outward appearance attracts more customers. This leads to more sales and profits to your establishment.

Remember, not all awnings need to fit the sloped triangular stereotype. The design itself can be used in decorative purposes. Imagine an awning shaped like an inverted baseball mitt with the glove’s pocket facing downward? Such usage would be ideal for a sporting goods store, either as year-round use, or a promotional attraction for the upcoming start to the baseball season. Baseball hats and football helmet-shaped awnings work great too, but almost any shape or design can be shaped into an awning-like structure.

Summarizing, we can say that using awnings for shops brings in a number of advantages. It is best to do a bit of investment to ensure steady earnings and spring is a great time to clean house and help get your commercial establishment back on it’s a-game.

The new season – and new customers – await!

Author of this article is associated with Academy Inc., an industry leader specializing in wholesale awnings and a variety of other commercial shade structures for businesses, across the United States and around the globe.