With the announcement that franchise specialist Jim’s Group has entered the Sign and Print sector, and also Uniforms and Promotional items, the obvious question is ‘what impact will it have on the industry?’
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Bearded no more - |
The size and growth of Jim’s Group cannot be underestimated – combined revenues are now in excess of $500 million. Although the ubiquitous ‘Jim’ face in the logos of over fifty divisions still sports his original lawn-mowing floppy hat and beard; his franchisees now operate in everything from Antennas and Book-Keeping, through Real Estate, Photography & Drones, to Testing & Tagging Electrics to Window & Pressure cleaning. Jim’s is a one-stop marketplace to ‘get things done’ and its franchisees are fully insured, well-trained and supported by an umbrella organisation in the event of difficulties or need to sell/retire.
Succession planning is important to any business and I couldn’t help but think, in the case of Aaron MacDonald’s sign business in Young, NSW, where his young daughter was badly injured in a terrible accident that necessitated he move to Sydney to be close to Westmead Children’s Hospital, what if he’d been a Jim’s franchisee? Could a locum or stand-in have been found within the Jim’s network? Or Jim’s Insurance fully covered the loss of income?
The interesting aspect of the new sign & print venture is that Jim’s has partnered with highly experienced signage company, Major Media, whose co-director David Field is driving the push.
Expertise on tap
Field told Wideformatonline: “The move into signs, print and uniforms for Jim’s is a logical step. Every small business needs signage, print and uniforms but often they are too small to have access to the major suppliers and consequently have no national Go-To. They need a familiar name they can trust that is well-trained and well-resourced with current technologies. Franchisees from other Jim’s divisions have similar servicing requirements with regular needs for everything from vehicle graphics, to uniforms and business cards so, for a franchisee in one of these new divisions, the opportunities are huge.”
He continues: “What the Jim’s Group brings into the industry is a very successful business model based on three decades of continuous improvement. The Jim’s group have a fantastic training and support structure to help small operators set up and run a successful business. Centralised national marketing backed by an industry-leading Melbourne based call centre and refined resources in everything from book-keeping and finance to insurance. The brand and logo are instantly recognisable and trusted, and this trust extends to anyone who is approved to wear the Jim’s uniform.
"A Jim’s job, whatever the discipline, is a proper job because that’s the Jim’s way. Carried out professionally by trained and fully insured operators, who are part of a larger family of independent franchisees enjoying returns well above the average for their sectors, and a proven exit/succession path when it comes time to retire or move on, because Jim’s franchised businesses are in demand,” he says.
Bolt-on franchises
Jim’s Signs & Print will actively seek existing members of the industry to join as franchisees. It is not clear if this will be a ‘total re-brand’ or a ‘bolt-on’ franchise where the owner’s existing business continues, and the Jim’s franchise operates as a separate business unit. This model is not unheard of in the printing industry, both Minuteman Press and Kwik Kopy have or have had franchisees who operate separate businesses under their own name.
While franchising in general has come in for some negative publicity of late, including a Parliamentary Enquiry, spurred by the activities of the Retail Food Group ( Gloria Jean’s, Brumby’s, Michel’s Patisserie, Donut King etc); Jim’s Group has a reputation of looking after the ‘smaller people’ – franchisees who often put houses, families and life savings on the line. This is how he himself began in the 1980s, in debt, jobless and with a young family but a determination to work his way up by providing exceptional garden maintenance (lawn mowing) service.
There have been public stoushes with the ‘mezzanine-level’ franchisors who buy rights to states, regions or even countries, (Jim’s expanded into the UK) and then sell franchises, but these are mostly resolved out of court, with the franchisees sometimes being the movers of disenfranchising the franchisor through dissatisfaction.
Buying a franchise of any kind should not be entered into lightly; there can be very restrictive legal contracts and unexpected fees but, with franchising estimated to account for around 9% of Australia’s total GDP, it is a significant part of the economy. Think almost all petrol stations, Australia Post, McDonalds, KFC and in our own industry, Kwik Kopy, Snap, Minuteman, Signarama, Signwave, Worldwide and others who mix wide format with general printing.
There are probably over 500 franchised business doing signage or a mix of print and signs in Australia.
What is a franchise?
By definition, a franchise allocates rights to an exclusive system of business, a geographical region, intellectual property, brand identity and marketing. In return an up-front fee is paid, followed by payments based on a percentage of sales. The fees remitted are partially expended on marketing, support and administration. The rest is profit to the franchisor.
It can work very well for the right operators. I once met a McDonald’s franchisee who owned five of the burger restaurants. “The big ‘M’ is not called the Golden Arches for no reason,” he told me.
So, what impact is Jim’s entry into Signage, Print and Uniforms likely to have? I think, even within the Jim’s Group, there is enormous potential for cross-franchise trading. Every business needs signs and print. Most elect for uniforms, baseball caps, vehicle livery. A few go into promotional products; coffee mugs, pens, mouse-mats, smartphone cases etc. Jim’s Group has created its own eco-system for organic growth with the ‘family’-like culture creating trust and co-operation between franchisees – ‘you make my signs and I’ll mow your lawn or do your book-keeping’ kind of thing.
Then there is the greater market of signage, display, print, apparel. With Major Media as partner driving the new business, there can be little doubt as to the skills and knowledge that David Field and his team will bring. Whether it develops into a ‘hub-and-spoke’ business or one where franchisees invest in printers, cutters, welders, eyeletters etcetera remains to be seen.
Or maybe existing sign businesses can add a useful level of marketing and business referral that would otherwise not be available to them – Jim’s branding.
Jim Penman was born in Stourbridge, England, a town at the heart of the Industrial Revolution and famed for its glass and iron (the first locomotive to run in the USA was made in Stourbridge). It bred many entrepreneurs, social change-agents and inventors. Maybe Jim has innovation and change in his genes; our industry may benefit from his company’s entry into Signs and Print by elevating B2B awareness of the need for effective signs, displays and brand marketing.
