Printing.com to enter Australia

John Stangeland, previously the master franchisee with troubled print franchise group, Worldwide Online Printing, announced this morning that he has entered into an arrangement with Printing.com to enable him to bring the UK-based hub and spoke print franchise model to the Australian print market.

Printing.com currently operates in the UK, Ireland, France and New Zealand and in 2009 had a retail turnover of over £26 million pounds.
 
Stangeland (pictured) expects the business to be up and running in June this year. He believes that the time is ripe in the Australian market for a new entrant.  "Printing.com's IT platforms and marketing systems are second to none, and I am excited at the opportunities within the Australian market,” he told Print21.
 
The current spate of ongoing closures throughout the industry has not deterred Stangeland. "Obviously, there has been a high level of disquiet within the Australian print market with the well established failures over the last few weeks, but we believe the Printing.com model will shine in these difficult times. The system will have a broad level of appeal within the print and graphic design communities,” he said.

“We envisage commencing our roll out with a series of information evenings in all capital cities to enable printers and graphic designers alike to gain firsthand how the Printing.com model can enhance their businesses, although we are already in discussions with several interested parties to take up the opportunity.”

These parties are likely to come from both the printing and graphic arts industries. “There are two core prospects: in the printing community it’s great for small offset printers that are not able to recapitalise in the current economic environment and want to compete in the colour space; and secondly, graphic design companies looking to manage print direct with their clients,” Stangeland said.

A tight-lipped Stangeland would not be drawn on the detail as to how the production side of the business will be activated, other than to say that he has a supply arrangement in place with a national print supplier, which will allow the Printing.com system to roll out quickly.
 
Unconfirmed reports have it that Stangeland was one of the groups interested in acquiring the Worldwide Online Printing franchise group from the Administrators, McGrath Nichol, but the group has neither confirmed or denied whether or not it has interest in such an acquisition.
 
Stangeland's background includes over 11 years involvement with the Worldwide Group as well as maintaining a Franchise Mediation practice in both Western Australia and Queensland.