Cartridge World Franchise - Business Opportunity for 2010

If your someone who uses your printer a lot then you are probably one of the many happy, money saving customers of Cartridge World. Cartridge World is an international company that originated in Australia with the name Australian Cartridge Co. but has since moved its headquarters to Emeryville, California, and changed its name in 1999. Cartridge World specializes in refilling and remanufacturing of ink cartridges for mostly personal home printers. The fact that their target consumers are residential customers can be seen in the choice of their locations, which are primarily in suburbs and inner city. Cartridge World was started in 1991 by Bryan Stokes and was joined several years later by Paul Wheeler. In 2004 the franchises were growing at a rate of nearly one store per day with a total of over 1,600 stores by 2009.

Cartridge World runs under independently owned franchise locations. Their main service is the refilling of ink cartridges using vacuum injection and manually repairing toner cartridges, but they also sell compatible cartridges and accessories for their customers. Cartridge World doesn’t require that the franchisee have any prior technical skills and offers up to 80 hours of training before opening a store. Cartridge world has had explosive growth and continues to grow as customers realize finally, that a refill service is available to them. The only hinderance of Cartridge Worlds growth is lawsuits from large print companies trying to stop the refill services and also new chips and other preventative measures being put into cartridges during their manufacturing.

Customers and franchisees both have reasons for loving Cartridge World. Besides the the cost savings for the customers they also benefit from a 100% satisfaction guarantee and can help keep their community green by refilling instead of discarding old cartridges into landfills. Franchisees benefit from being associated with the largest refill retailer that has also been rated #1 in the industry, #13 for fastest growing and #33 overall by Entrepreneur Magazine. Cartridge World franchisees are not limited to only walk-in customers because of Cartridge Worlds sales driven by business to business efforts, professional networking, trade shows, local chamber of commerce, business referrals and community events. Only a small staff is required to run the store and employees usually have a higher retention rate than other franchises because of their specialized skills. Current owners can also receive discounted franchise fees when they open multiple locations, which promotes multi-unit development, which of course translates into more income for the franchisee.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Cartridge World has been franchising since 2002 and has stores in 47 states in the U.S. and is in 38 countries. Cartridge World expects the franchisee to have a net worth of at least $250,000 and a cash investment of $30,000. The average total investment is usually around $182,000 with an ongoing royalty fee fee of 6% and an advertising fee of 2%. A free standing building or store-front in a strip mall is preferred and needs to be at least 1,000 square feet. A 10 year initial contract length is required with a renewal contract term of 10 years available. A 2 week training is given in Emeryville, California and a 2 week in-store training. A corporate staff of 50 help with tasks such as site selection, lease negotiation, advertising, marketing materials (coupons, mailers, radio/tv ads, etc.), grand openings, inventory control, 800 help line and many other services.

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