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KwikKopy has quick turnaround in its fortunes
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
PRINTING provider KwikKopy is rebranding itself as part of a new and successful growth strategy.
It comes after a hard, few years for the company. KwikKopy had been in decline for the last 12 years, from a revenue perspective.
The organisation had been growing steadily up until the global financial crisis (GFC). The franchise business stopped growing from 2008 when the GFC hit.
In the 11 years until COVID-19, it had declined 16.78 percent. The number of KwikKopy centres had gone from 108 to 92. The result: a 17 percent decline in top line sales revenues and a 13 percent decline in its footprint of store locations.
However, last year the business grew for the first time since 2008, growing 2.8 percent on pre-COVID numbers, and that was with the business in Sydney and Melbourne struggling with COVID conditions. Taking the Sydney and Melbourne CBD operations out, the rest of the business grew 11 percent. 
Back on track
This year the business is expecting to grow 7 percent. The figures at the end of Q1 show it’s on track to meet that.
KwikKopy has re-engaged with its franchise network and brought in a lot of new infrastructure and technology. With automation, it is looking to increase productivity in the centres.
Sonia Schwabsky, KwikKopy’s CEO, said the company’s growth strategy was now focused on two areas in its new format.
First, it has moved from a focus on small format – A3 and A4 – print. In the last year it has moved into the wide format of signage.
“That really had a renaissance during the COVID times. If you recall, there were floors, stickers and window signage and all of that really started to become a strong area,” Ms Schwabsky told Talking Business.
“Luckily KwikKopy had identified this a couple of years before and we’re really investing heavily in becoming known for signage at the same level as signage providers.”
She said the other big growth area for the company was design.
“We’ve always done design but probably always connected to print,” Ms Schwabsky said.
“We see design as an area with all the new technology that people have at their disposal, you’ve got do-it-yourself tools like Canva.
“But what do you do when you’ve outgrown doing it yourself? Where do you go? What’s your next step?
“There is a great opportunity for KwikKopy to provide those services,” Ms Schwabsky said. “We have a lot of graphic designers in our midst and we are looking at ways to bolster that supply line.”
More complete marketing services company
In short, Ms Schwabsky is making sure that KwikKopy has much more of a ‘marketing services’ approach to its customers.
She said parts of the business, such as administrative print, training manuals and business cards, had declined with digitisation.
“Like you do with any good category management product management, these things are in decline, what are the things that will replace them?” she said.
Ms Schwabsky said signage and short-run packaging – due to the e-commerce and online “explosion” – have picked up the slack.
“We can do things quickly, we can do things close to where you are, and we can do short runs which dovetails into the next big change in our industry, which is digital,” she said.
“So digital marketing, digital advertising, that’s the natural way things move.
“If you’re a small business, then we need to empower entrepreneurs to make their mark on the world. So we’re looking at digital signage and that digital space.” 
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.
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