Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has created a win-win-win situation for three of its franchisees based in Yorkshire. Simon and Debbie Lax have stepped down after being Card Connection franchisees for almost 10 years and their territory which covers Bradford, Keighley, Halifax and Dewsbury has now been split between existing franchisees: Martin Sweeney, Brian Spilman and Bob Gribbin.
“We try to be as flexible as possible to help our franchisees develop their respective businesses,” confirms Michael Johnson, managing director, Card Connection. “On this occasion, all three surrounding franchisees were keen to purchase part of the Bradford territory which had become available. We looked at the geography and divided the area, including more than 150 established retail customers, between them enabling all to expand their franchises.”
Brian Spilman, franchisee for Leeds, who also grew his territory by purchasing the additional area of Stockport and Wigan last year commented: “I joined Card Connection a decade ago! I work with my partner Linda to manage the distribution of Card Connection’s quality range of greetings cards and accessories to around 300 stores in the North West. Being able to take on additional established retail Card Connection accounts in this way is an efficient way to expand the business and we are looking forward to developing these new customers further.”
Card Connection’s franchisees use a proven system to place quality greeting cards and gifts in retail outlets on a ‘consignment’ basis. This means the stock and display equipment are installed on free loan to the retailer. This is one step beyond ‘sale or return’ as Card Connection’s customers never have to buy the stock initially, only paying for what they sell. The award winning merchandising service provided to retailers by local franchisees has proved popular with retailers all over the UK and Ireland.
Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an expanding business. Since the franchise network in the UK is complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at £7k + Stock + Card Connection fee with earnings potential in excess of £50k per annum.
