India’s refilling market is largely dominated by unorganized players, is currently estimated at a whopping Rs 3000 crores. Print Studio, that provides complete solutions in cartridge refilling and printing solutions industry, aims to capture about 5-8 % of the total organised market by 2011, offering immense opportunities to the franchisees.By Priyanka Kapoor

Established in 2008, Print Studio today has eight exclusive franchised stores across different cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Cochin, Delhi and Hyderabad. The brand aims to have atleast 100 franchised outlets by March 2011 across various Tier 1 & 2 cities.

“Our specilaty is that we provide cost-effective solutions for all kinds of printers of any model available in India. Our competitors, on the other hand, claim to have solutions for certain brands only like HP etc.,” asserts Rajesh C.P, MD, Print Studio.

What sets them apart from other brands in the industry is that besides cartridge refilling they have also integrated printing, lamination, spiral binding and courier services in their retail format stores. This gives the franchisee an advantage of earning dual income.

“Besides regular refilling we have also added these facilities in our retail format so that our franchises have an added advantage of earning daily revenue,” affirms Rajesh.

Franchise model

Elaborating on the franchise model, Rajesh adds that it comprises of three different categories. There is the Print Studio Authorized Refiller that requires investment of about Rs 2 lakhs to Rs 6 lakhs depending on the city with a space requirement of 100-200 sq. ft. The Unit Franchisee requires an investment of about Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 12 lakhs and an area of 300-400 sq. ft. Lastly a Master Franchisee needs an investment of about Rs 30 lakhs and retail space of 1200 sq. ft. Other than this, the company also collects, on a monthly basis, 1 % of the total sales as marketing campaign costs.

Print Studio promises break-even to its franchisees within 2 years time, whereas Authorised Retailer can break-even in 12-14 months because the investment is small. The unit franchisee on the other hand takes about 14-16 months for the pay back while the Master Franchisee will take around 20 months time. As for return on investment, in printing alone, one can expect about 30-40 % ROI while for Refilling can easily fetch 60-70 % ROI in all three formats.

While selecting a franchisee the company looks at his background. “It is not necessary that he is a highly successful entrepreneur or a high-profile person. What is important is that he is sincere and committed to the business he takes up”, informs Rajesh

A typical Print Studio authorized refiller will have only cartridge refilling options at his store while the Unit Franchisee gets the advantage of having other services like printing, lamination, binding, courier service etc at his outlet. The Unit Franchisee, further, provides services to the authorised refiller of his area.

“So the advantage of taking up unit franchisee is that one has dual income. For example, a Unit Franchisee in Bangalore will supply products to an authorised refiller in Tumkur or other nerarby areas. So he makes a 6-10 % margin on his business while he is serving the Bangalore clients to get more money. As such he has two different streams of incomes. The Master Franchisee handles the entire working of his state or two states in certain regions. He is incharge of training, taking care of Unit Franchisees, stock development, brand development etc. ,” claims Rajesh.

As far as providing support to their franchisees is concerned, Print Studio helps in creating brand awareness in the market. They also provide complete technical know-how to the franchisees. Every two months they have training updation programme.

Expansion plans

Meanwhile, the company is looking to expand its network across various cities in the country. “Our aim is to capture 5-8 % of the total organised market by 2011 and have over 100 franchisees in Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities. By March we will be adding another 12 franchisees. We are studying the market very carefully and spreading into all parts of the country. We also plan to go overseas into Nepal and Sri Lanka.”

“We get several franchisee enquiries and a dedicated team caters to that. With an ad budget of Rs 3 crores for the next 6 months we are going to work on promoting the Print Studio brand in the entire market. The second team deals with overseas enquiries from Nepal and Sri Lanka. We are almost into the final stages of our expansion plans in Nepal. Other than this, we also have an institutional sales team which is looking at the national tie-ups. We are eyeing tie-ups with several companies,” declares Rajesh.

Obviously with organized players gaining momentum in the cartridge refilling market, Print Studio has a way to go.

Box Item:

Franchise Facts
Investment : Rs 2 Lakhs to Rs 30 Lakhs
Space Requirement: 100-1200 sq. ft.
No. of Operational Outlets: 8 Franchised outlets
Any Franchisee Fee: The company collects, on a monthly basis, 1 % of the total sales volume as marketing campaign costs.
Franchise Opportunity: Plan to open 100 franchised outlets by March 2011.
ROI: One can expect about 30-40 % ROI in printing while for Refilling one can expect 60-70 % ROI.
Break-even Period: Authorised retailer can break-even in 12-14 months, unit franchisee in 14-16 months and the Master Franchisee in 20 months time.