WhatTheyThink - Printing Industry News, Commentary & Analysis

June 21, 2006

Does Franchise-Based Quick Printing, A Child of the 1970s, Have Any Viability as A Business Model in the 21st Century? - Commentary by Andrew Tribute

I want to shed some light on the premises posed by the author of this article.

He finds non-professional business management skills among franchise printing company owners. Okay, but the same can be said for every segment of the printing industry, including vendors. Fact is, it’s prevalent among all small businesses and is not limited to franchisees in the printing industry, but also includes what I have seen in the UK and Australia.

He also indicates quick printers are small and lightly funded operations. Well, again, the lack of working capital oppresses quick as well as commercial printers and other small businesses. Poor or non-existent training is also an industry wide phenomenon, and is not limited to quick printers.

I disagree that franchise quick printers tend to work with the standard equipment package purchased through the franchise, at least as far as the United States is concerned. Many franchise shops have long along gone beyond the basics and are into advanced equipment – in fact, I see no differences in the franchise group versus independent printers of similar size in this regards.

“Today,” the author states, “the quick printers are...at risk because they are not adapting to change...they do not want to transfer work to other printers or are limited in what they can do. With corporate organizations wanting to outsource...the quick printer...will lose out.”

I assume the author is talking about the ability for franchise quick printers to compete for national accounts and coordinate the resultant distribution network. That’s probably fair, but it is also been found to be true of a number of large corporations who have total control. They also have floundered on the idea of making distributed printing a commercial success. And while this portends to be a significant market for us in the future, it is nowhere near what the bulk of printers do. Fact is my view is that distributed printing will gain much greater traction within specific corporations with in-plant type facilities than it will as an outsourced service, at least for the foreseeable future.

The author indicates that printers are increasingly challenged to go beyond the simplicity of a walk-in environment. Well, we were really beyond the simplicity of a walk-in environment in the United States as far back as the 1960s. Then, as now, 25 customers represent fifty percent or more of the total business of most shops. This would exclude today, as well as then, copy shop environments. And since only a small percentage of franchised printers are truly copy shops, this excludes them. In short, we have always dealt with significant accounts.

The author cites the need for the quick printer to deal with sophisticated digital workflows including Internet communications with clients, modern automated offset and digital equipment, and advanced finishing.

As a confession, I am the president of CPrint™, Certified Printers International (www.cprint.org) and we are a franchise with 113 affiliates in the United States and Canada. Our companies not only do what the author indicates, but we have been doing this since 1995 within the digital environment. We have fully functioning web sites, standards for digital pre-press, easy PDF creation tools for our customers and advanced Internet-based ordering features. Fact is, unless our affiliates keep up with the necessary software and hardware, then they can not be certified.

The author believes the days of small franchise-based quick printers may be numbered unless there is a change in the business model. Now I do agree with that. Fact is, that’s why we created CPrint™, a franchise based on business and process improvements and to provide resources to the independent printer that is largely unavailable with other incubator franchises. The resources we provide include unique products and services for the printer to sell, management assistance, business training, worker training, marketing and advertising and a buying cooperative. We even provide some centralized production already, specifically in the pre-press area.

The author assumes that he will be told that quick printers are already working in this way, and that the master franchise holders are already offering such services. He cites Kinko’s as certainly being in that category, but suggests others are not.

I would agree because I am here to say that CPrint™ is already working in the way the author describes and I would agree that some other organizations are not. However, I disagree with the statement that the franchising opportunity to move into printing has now passed.

In fact, I think we have proven it has not by having 110 existing printers join our franchise in our first year catapulting us to the position of seventh largest printing in the United States with total sales of some $101 million. The total sales of our system is now one-fourth the total of the sales leading Sir Speedy network ($400 million) and is more than all of the other franchises combined who are ranked below us in number of affiliates.

In addition, our average sales per shop came on the scene as a solid second with $924,000 sales per shop. No other franchise had sales per shop over $900,000.

The author postulates that the franchise quick print model that has been successful in the past has to change if it is to continue. I am here to report that it already has.

For more, see this article: Mystery Player CPrint™ Claims Number 7 Spot

Thank You,

Tom Crouser
President
Crouser & Associates, Inc.
CPrint™, Certified Printers International
Columnist, Quick Printing magazine

Responding to: http://members.whattheythink.com/expertrow/tribute64.cfm

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