Snap’s new Sydney CBD store will outsource its production and generate 70% of its turnover from non-print services.

Snap Pyrmont, which opened on 8 October, is Snap’s first sales and marketing centre. Snap chief executive Stephen Edwards said the franchise was in advanced planning to roll out another seven of these new stores across Australia.

Edwards said they would focus on selling web-related services through the franchise’s joint venture with Bloomtools. This is a growing market that doesn’t suffer from the same ‘commodity’ stigma as print, he added.

Snap has set a goal of generating 30% of its revenue from non-print work by 2014. The new centres will have to aim for 70%, he said.

[Profile: Edwards aims for ambitious growth]

Young owners from non-print backgrounds have been targeted for the new stores. Edwards said the current ownership model was flawed, because it typically involved a 55-year-old owner with limited technology skills selling web services to clients in their twenties.

The move to outsourcing will make it easier to recruit talented young entrepreneurs as they won’t need to make such large capital investments to buy into the franchise, he said.

It will also make it easier to retain talented young Snap managers who in the past may have moved to other companies because they couldn’t afford to buy their own store.

Pyrmont’s owner, Daniel Escobar, has himself made the step up from centre manager.

Escobar told ProPrint that owning a franchise had been his career goal.

“Through the purchase of Snap Pyrmont, I have realised a lifelong dream of building a business and working with a reputable franchise group to achieve great success. I am looking forward to the challenges ahead and working with the clients in this territory.”

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