Printing.com Bids For UK Franchise Awards

Printing.com, based in Manchester (UK) has been crowned one of the UK's brightest franchisors by The British Franchise Association after being shortlisted in the Franchisor of the Year Awards.

Printing.com, based in Manchester (UK) has been crowned one of the UK's brightest franchisors by The British Franchise Association after being shortlisted in the HSBC Enterprise category in this year's Franchisor of the Year Awards.

The Awards, sponsored by HSBC and the Daily Express, are designed to showcase Britain's best-performing franchisors in an industry worth an annual GBP 10 billion to the economy.

Companies entering the awards could nominate themselves in three categories, the others being Express Newspapers Brand Builder of the Year and BFA Franchisor of the Year, where the theme was 'Support for Success'.

Printing.com opened its doors for business 1998, sold its first franchise in 2002 and is looking to list 175 outlets nationwide by the end of this year, with a franchisor turnover in excess of GBP 9 million.

The two key principles of printing.com are a 'hub and spoke' structure and a centrally controlled supply chain, something that other print shops do not have, claimed the company.

By centralising production, the company believes it can take on jobs requiring giant commercial printing presses, offering an extremely high print standard, very fast print times and at a significantly lower cost to the customer.

The company said it also differs from the normal time and labour intensive procedure of fielding individual sales enquiries, supplying estimates and printing quotations, by providing a buying guide, detailing more than 2,000 fixed price costings.

Initially a network of 14 managed outlets under company ownership, Printing.com moved to franchising only after the systems had been thoroughly tried and tested.

The company's strategy was to offer its system as a 'bolt-on' franchise that could be run in tandem with an existing print business - a successful move, with 72 'bolt-ons' currently up and running added Printing.com.

Alternatively, there is a 'territory franchise' option, generally taken up by management, sales or marketing professionals, who can both operate a Printing.com store and establish a local network of 'bolt-on' franchisees.

The company also believes that the success of the individual franchises can be assessed by the increasing number of employee buy-outs and the rate at which new franchisees are joining the company.

Printing.com said it is aiming to become the biggest print chain in the UK by the end of 2005 and to grow sales to around GBP 70 million.

The company's chief executive officer, Tony Rafferty said: "When the company floated in 2000 we always set out to become the UK's pre-eminent printing chain.

This nomination is a clear signal of the progress we have made in achieving that objective." HSBC's national franchise manager, Cathryn Hayes, said: "Printing.com's achievements underline the many benefits franchising has to offer for those seeking to start up in business.

Everyone at Printing.com should be justly proud that they have been shortlisted in this category." Director General of the BFA, Brian Smart, said "The Franchisor of the Year Awards recognise the very best within our industry, those who constantly strive for excellence to achieve success both for themselves and their networks.

We congratulate Printing.com on reaching this stage in the awards." Express Newspapers' Advertising Manager Jon Notley added : "Printing.com clearly demonstrates how enterprise can drive a business forward - we look forward to sharing the winners' stories with our family of over four million readers.".

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