Internet printing poms are coming our way

UK franchise printer is looking to set up a local operation and wants to hear from potential Australian partners.

The UK printing franchise operator, Printing.com, is planning to set up an Australian operation in the second half of 2008 and is looking for Australian partners to act as both franchises and a production hub.

In the UK, Printing.com is one of the fastest growing franchise operations in the country and now has more than 225 franchise outlets, a figure which is said to be growing at the rate of one per week. It runs a 'hub and spoke' production model with work from its franchises being fed to the main production plant at Trafford Park in Manchester. The company expects to operate a similar model in Australia with the production hub based in either Sydney or Melbourne.

The company already licenses a Printing.com franchise in New Zealand where Astra Print in Wellington operates the PrintStop network. Over the past 18 months, it has grown the business from ten to 30 outlets.

The company specialises in 'business colour', servicing the SME market with low cost, short-run full colour printing in the form of flyers, business stationery, leaflets, postcards, folders etc. Runs are usually very short so jobs are batched together on a single sheet, typically 100+ business cards, 30+ flyers, or 12-15 sets of leaflets being printed on a single sheet before being cut down and despatched.

The company is noted for its fixed prices and guaranteed delivery times backed by intensive marketing and advanced workflow management through its proprietary Flyerlink software.

Another feature of the Printing.com model is that it offers what it calls 'bolt-on' franchises in which the franchise keeps its own identity and adds a 'Printing.com @' marque in addition to its own branding. This allows individual businesses - which may be printers or graphic designers, copy shops or even web designers - to continue running their own business while offering print as an added service to their customers through Printing.com.

Franchisees charge customers for artwork, file checking and other creative services and retain 100 percent of these revenues. No franchise royalty is charged. Any print jobs are 'bought' from Printing.com at a set price and resold to the franchise's client at Printing.com's published price.

In the UK, Printing.com claims that a typical bolt-on franchise will achieve annual revenues of about $250,000 after three years and that typically this will represent between 20 percent and 50 percent of their overall businesses.

Welcome to the hub
Printing.com CEO, Tony Rafferty (pictured) says the company is already booked in to meet a number of Australian commercial printers at drupa to discuss setting a local production hub.

"We're already in talks with a number of Australian commercial printers with similar equipment that we use in the UK about structures that would make them the home for Printing.com production in Australia," he said, adding that such a partner would not necessarily need to have the same make of equipment as the UK (Komori B1 presses) but would need to have modern equipment, good management and ambition. He anticipates that the Australian business would build gradually over five years to reach UK levels.

In terms of franchisees, 'bolt on' franchise licence fees are likely to be about $8,000-$16,000 with a secondary fee of $2,000 - $6,000 charged for subsequent years, although founder members coming on board at the launch of the programme will be granted the 'bolt on' licence free of charge to reflect their contribution as early adopters. Founder franchisees are expected to be established copying and print stores, graphic and web designers with sound graphics skills and a desire to grow their business.

Printing.com will also be hosting a series of roadshows during June to meet face-to-face with prospective 'bolt on' partners. For more information, contact Simon Davies, franchise director, at simon.davies@printing.com.

For the full story on Printing.com, see the next issue of Print 21 magazine - due out this month.