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Snap franchise experiences month-on-month growth thanks to Canon large format printer.
Snap franchisee, John Quick, recognised the potential to grow the customer base and open an additional income stream for his Snap printing store by purchasing a large-format printer.
Through the use of Canon's W8400 wide format printer, Mr Quick is now able to provide customers with large-format printing of a consistently high quality, his bottom line is improving, and he is experiencing month-on-month growth.
Making the move
John Quick has owned his Snap printing centre for 15 years. The store - located at Clovelly Park, just south of Adelaide's CBD - employs five staff and has traditionally been focused on offset printing and copying.
It was not until a significant number of customers began requesting large-format printing that Mr Quick identified the opportunity to 'add another string to our bow'.
"When we started offering large-format printing, we began by outsourcing the work to other suppliers while we were building up a customer base. Once we got it to a sufficient level my idea was to put in our own printer," said Mr Quick.
Although he originally expected to trial large-format outsourcing for 12 months, Mr Quick established that there was a good case for purchasing a large-format printer after only 6 months.
While outsourcing the large-format printing, Mr Quick experienced difficulty in providing quality prints to customers promptly. "There were quality issues from the point of view of the clarity of the print or that it didn't meet the standards that we would set ourselves," he said. "I found that very hard to come to grips with because it was out of my control. By the time we were aware there was a quality issue, of course the poster had already been printed," said Mr Quick.
After six months of trialling large-format outsourcing (instead of the expected twelve months) Mr Quick established there was a good case for purchasing a large-format printer.
"I searched around and looked at about five printers from different manufacturers. At the end of the day, I chose the Canon," he said.
Mr Quick selected the Canon because he wanted a printer that would produce the highest quality colour and image, as well as being fast and easy to use. In the end, it was these factors and the helpfulness of the distributor, GBC, which made Mr Quick choose the Canon W8400 over the other printers.
"It was GBC themselves - the sales people - how helpful they were," he said.
"It also came down to the fact that the W8400 fit best into our market. We wanted the quality, but we didn't want it to come at a cost of being very slow."
GBC installed the printer in November 2005 and even flew one of its top technicians from Sydney to run the training course for Mr Quick and his team.
A number of benefits
The Canon W8400 fit seamlessly with Snap's existing systems. "We didn't need to go out and purchase additional equipment or software on top of buying the printer. It all just fitted in nicely," Mr Quick said. He also finds that the PosterArtist application that come with the W8400 to be very helpful.
The Snap store has gained new clients as a result of being able to produce work outside of the traditional large-format realm. "I guess we only originally thought of it as being for A1, A2 and A0 poster printing," but Mr Quick is now finding that the need for display banners, vinyl banners and back-lit film for retail environments is bringing in new customers.
"We found that the machine can produce this other work and that's opened us to new avenues and that's brought us in customers that we never traditionally had before. The compliments that we're receiving from customers just make the whole process."
"It's opened up another income stream, so therefore it has made a difference to the bottom line and it's growing every month. You can see an improvement as the staff themselves get used to selling it and promoting it to customers."
"I would estimate that within 12 months it would have paid itself off."
"It's added another string to the bow, which means that when we're out promoting ourselves, we're promoting ourselves with an additional service. It means that we're actually knocking on doors that we've never knocked on before."
Back to topThrough the use of Canon's W8400 wide format printer, Mr Quick is now able to provide customers with large-format printing of a consistently high quality, his bottom line is improving, and he is experiencing month-on-month growth.
Making the move
John Quick has owned his Snap printing centre for 15 years. The store - located at Clovelly Park, just south of Adelaide's CBD - employs five staff and has traditionally been focused on offset printing and copying.
It was not until a significant number of customers began requesting large-format printing that Mr Quick identified the opportunity to 'add another string to our bow'.
"When we started offering large-format printing, we began by outsourcing the work to other suppliers while we were building up a customer base. Once we got it to a sufficient level my idea was to put in our own printer," said Mr Quick.
Although he originally expected to trial large-format outsourcing for 12 months, Mr Quick established that there was a good case for purchasing a large-format printer after only 6 months.
While outsourcing the large-format printing, Mr Quick experienced difficulty in providing quality prints to customers promptly. "There were quality issues from the point of view of the clarity of the print or that it didn't meet the standards that we would set ourselves," he said. "I found that very hard to come to grips with because it was out of my control. By the time we were aware there was a quality issue, of course the poster had already been printed," said Mr Quick.
After six months of trialling large-format outsourcing (instead of the expected twelve months) Mr Quick established there was a good case for purchasing a large-format printer.
"I searched around and looked at about five printers from different manufacturers. At the end of the day, I chose the Canon," he said.
Mr Quick selected the Canon because he wanted a printer that would produce the highest quality colour and image, as well as being fast and easy to use. In the end, it was these factors and the helpfulness of the distributor, GBC, which made Mr Quick choose the Canon W8400 over the other printers.
"It was GBC themselves - the sales people - how helpful they were," he said.
"It also came down to the fact that the W8400 fit best into our market. We wanted the quality, but we didn't want it to come at a cost of being very slow."
GBC installed the printer in November 2005 and even flew one of its top technicians from Sydney to run the training course for Mr Quick and his team.
A number of benefits
The Canon W8400 fit seamlessly with Snap's existing systems. "We didn't need to go out and purchase additional equipment or software on top of buying the printer. It all just fitted in nicely," Mr Quick said. He also finds that the PosterArtist application that come with the W8400 to be very helpful.
The Snap store has gained new clients as a result of being able to produce work outside of the traditional large-format realm. "I guess we only originally thought of it as being for A1, A2 and A0 poster printing," but Mr Quick is now finding that the need for display banners, vinyl banners and back-lit film for retail environments is bringing in new customers.
"We found that the machine can produce this other work and that's opened us to new avenues and that's brought us in customers that we never traditionally had before. The compliments that we're receiving from customers just make the whole process."
"It's opened up another income stream, so therefore it has made a difference to the bottom line and it's growing every month. You can see an improvement as the staff themselves get used to selling it and promoting it to customers."
"I would estimate that within 12 months it would have paid itself off."
"It's added another string to the bow, which means that when we're out promoting ourselves, we're promoting ourselves with an additional service. It means that we're actually knocking on doors that we've never knocked on before."