Signarama chief Evan Foster says sign printers can benefit by transforming into a franchise.

Printers looking to expand their businesses are well advised to look at franchises, says Evan Foster, national development manager for Signarama, and EmbroideMe, as are existing sign or display operations.

Foster says, “In the case of existing smaller sign or display businesses there are tremendous advantages in converting to a Signarama franchise. These include having the brand name, the marketing back up, the technological and systems support.

“However one of the biggest benefits is without doubt that it provides an excellent exit strategy. If you are the owner of an independent sign shop it is much harder to sell it than if you are the owner of a Signarama franchise. There are a steady stream of applicants for our existing stores, most of whom come from outside the industry, whereas for an independent sign shop the pool of buyers is far smaller, because you are essentially drawing only from people in the industry, and those people are less likely to want your kit, they will just want the customer list.”

Signarama has just switched over an independent print shop in Gympie for exactly these reasons. Foster says, “That is an interesting shop, at present they are doing 70- per cent in print, 10 per cent in cartridges and 20 per cent in signage, but the owners are angling their business to be 70 per cent in signage.”

The sign and display industry is evolving rapidly, as the lower end products become commoditised, and Signarama is leading that evolution. Foster says, “When we began operations the standard pull up banners and posters were our stock in trade. However the market is becoming more sophisticated, as those products become more commoditised, so now Signarama franchisees are moving into more sophisticated signage solutions, which naturally command higher margins.

“When any printer can buy a pull-up banner for around $100 from various trade suppliers it is clear there is no business growth in that. We have moved away from a focus on commodity products onto larger projects.

In the case of printers looking to diversify Foster is equally bullish, he says, “We recently had a printer from a regional city that came to us, they had been in business for 20 years, they were a $2m a year business, and realised they had to diversify to grow. The decided that sign and display was the sector they wanted to be in, and after careful analysis came to the conclusion that a Signarama franchise was the correct strategy for them. And since they came on board and opened a store they have been outstanding.”

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