Kwik Kopy posts record franchise growth

Print and design franchise Kwik Kopy increased its franchise system sales by 3.5% in the first half of the financial year, attributing the result to the company’s focus on franchisee support and product diversification.

Kwik Kopy was established in 1982 and now has more than 100 centres operating throughout Australia, aiming to deliver practical print advice, graphic design and online access to clients with superior communication products.

The company recently announced that franchise system sales for the first half of the 2011 financial year increased to $43.6 million year on year, indicating the company will exceed its pre-GFC record results in 2008.

Kwik Kopy chief executive David Bell says the latest result provides clear evidence the company has recovered fully from any lingering effects of the GFC.

“We are now seeing very strong sales figures returning throughout the system. Our top 20 franchisees have grown their businesses at 20% or more this year,” Bell says.

“The strong focus placed on cutting costs and optimising service levels has clearly paid dividends. Against a background of business closures in the print industry, not one of our centres failed.”

“We have focused on diversification in our product and service offerings through the system and this has seen design sales increase 21% over the last three years.”

According to Bell, Kwik Kopy focuses strongly on franchisee profitability, with a business model based on service and quality rather than price.

Kwik Kopy has also been commended for the level of franchisee support it provides, as seen in the latest 2011 Topfranchise Awards, which placed the company in the top 10 Australian franchise systems.

Ian Krawitz, head of intelligence at Topfranchise.com.au, says Kwik Kopy’s success can be attributed in part to its high level of IT support, with Krawitz stating this is particularly attractive to baby boomers looking to enter into a franchise.

“Kwik Kopy recognises that a lot of franchisors will be boomers. They’re an attractive talent pool because they have the capital and the contacts to successfully run a print business,” he says.

“Kwik Kopy puts a lot of money into IT support to help boomers cope with it because often they’re not using it to the best of its capacity.”

In addition to coming sixth overall in the Topfranchise Awards, categories within the awards reveal Kwik Kopy claimed fourth spot for support, eighth spot for salary and return-on-investment, and ninth spot for the level of satisfaction franchisees feel about the lifestyle their business affords them.

Krawitz says finding a work/life balance is becoming increasingly important to franchisees, so any such measures franchisors introduce are often seen as incentives.