What’s the future of print? In this, the second part of our signage and print feature, Domini Stuart looks at the trends and the opportunities that show there is plenty of life in the print business.
Print and signage are both about communication – and both have been changing fast. In print there was a major shift around five years ago when big, offset printers were replaced by digital alternatives. Suddenly, business owners had no need for a dedicated operator and, as digital machines are also much neater and cleaner, their outlets took on the look and feel of service centres rather than manufacturing plants.
The digital revolution has been opening the door to methods of communication that, just a decade or so ago, would have sounded like science fiction. As a result, there are new and exciting opportunities to prosper for anyone willing to work with the changes.
THE CHANGING FACE OF PRINT
“There’s no question that this is shrinking as readers and advertisers move part of their spend into digital forms of communication – but it’s shrinking slowly and from a very large base,” says David Bell, chief executive officer of Kwik Kopy Australia. “Today, the business is as much about software and problem solving as producing printed materials and we have responded by broadening the range of services we offer from print to print and digital.”
For some time, Kwik Kopy has been actively enabling its owners to offer web-based solutions. Website development was the first cab off the rank and quite a few franchisees are now offering web design. The next growth areas will be mobile and social media.
“As competition for the print dollar intensifies, the franchisees most likely to succeed are those who understand what they’re actually selling, which is communication,” says Bell.
“We produce materials for one of two reasons – the first is for internal communication, the second is for external or marketing communication. If you understand that, and you also understand each particular clients’ market place and how they want to allocate their dollars then you can adjust your range of products and services to meet their changing demands. If you’re also offering a broader range of services, you’re in clover because they can come to you for all their digital communications as well as their print work.”
Even franchisees who choose to focus on maintaining or growing their share of the traditional print market now need to move away from the traditional reactive model.
“Customers used to visit a shop, drop off whatever they wanted to have printed or copied, then collect the finished product,” says Bell. “There’s still a huge demand for those kinds of services but, unless you’re interacting with your customers, you could find yourself in a situation where someone who has been coming to you twice a month for the past five years suddenly disappears and you have no idea why. That means you’re missing out on an opportunity to meet their needs in a different way.”
Some franchisees are so focused on customer relationships that they have abandoned the physical shop front. A street presence is effectively a billboard for the brand – however, if you’re communicating with clients effectively by phone and email and you’re visiting their offices for face-to-face meetings, good signage on the first or second floor of a building could provide all the exposure you need.
“Wherever you’re based, if you wholeheartedly embrace the strategy of talking to your customers about their business, thinking about their business and then offering them solutions and ideas I don’t think there’s any doubt that you will do well. As a franchise we have consistently outperformed the market – for instance, while the market has been declining the past four or five years we have effectively gained market share and some of our franchise owners are going gangbusters in terms of growth.”
THE IDEAL FRANCHISEE
Kwik Kopy has always sought out franchisees who are inquisitive, interested in the way other people do business and tuned in to finding better ways of meeting their clients’ needs. Nowadays, it is also looking for people who are comfortable in the digital space.
“We’re tending to attract a younger demographic – people who have grown up with social media, can find their way around a website with their eyes closed and are familiar with all the tools,” says Bell. “They love the idea of making a living in that area – the model is changing in line with people’s skills, abilities and interests.”
Some of the owners who have been in the system for many years are keen to learn this new set of skills. In this case, Kwik Kopy will provide as much training as they need. Those who are less than comfortable with the changes are encouraged to employ someone who is.
“One of our owners employed a young person who has now acquired some equity in the business and, when the time is right, will buy out the franchise,” says Bell. “It’s a win-win situation – an effective mix of old and new skills and also a neat succession plan.”
New franchisees spend four weeks at head office learning the A-Z of running a Kwik Kopy business – everything from marketing, sales, production and pricing to managing staff.
“We have 24 people at head office, which is a ratio of about one support person to four franchisees,” says Bell. “The support team works on a needs basis and our size gives us the flexibility to give concentrated support to the people who are starting out.”
The cost of a franchise varies according to the size and type of centre. As Kwik Kopy is such a long-standing system, about 10 percent of its franchises are available for resale at any time as their owners retire. Alternatively, a new owner can decide to start a Kwik Kopy from scratch.
“A few years ago we had someone who moved to Gosford and decided to open a business there,” says Bell. “Another did the same on the Sunshine Coast. These were lifestyle choices – starting a new business enabled them to live where they want.”
The franchise fee is roughly $40,000. A small business might cost an additional $150,000, a big business turning over a million dollars would cost significantly more.
“It’s hard to put a dollar value on it but the important thing is that our franchisees have a wide choice of ways to get into what will continue to be a vibrant and dynamic sector,” says Bell.
- In the first part of this article you can read how sign business Signwave is embracing the new digital world