Despite the market being a difficult place for some thanks to the falling pound and current conditions due to the impending exit from the Europe, Fastsigns UK has achieved its three-year plan for franchise growth, highlighting key growth areas.

The network is on course to open six new centres, with branches opening in Leicester, Maidstone, and Canterbury last year. The opening of the new centres has also highlighted the key growth trend of dye-sublimation in textiles and digital signage, a point that is made by managing director of Fastsigns UK, John Davies.

He explains: “We’ve started 2018 with a robust new franchise enquiries pipeline and are on course to exceed targets. Last year, we found that interest was high, but many potential franchisees chose to put their plans on hold, largely due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the General Election. However, there now seems to be a renewed confidence and people aren’t prepared to put their business plans off any longer. They want to push ahead and get started.

“Two areas that have huge growth potential for Fastsigns UK centres in 2018 are digital signage and imagery embedded into fabric via a process of dye-sublimation. In 2017, and continuing into 2018, we have continued to call upon our dedicated digital signage training experts, bringing them over from our headquarters in Dallas, Texas to deliver training that ensures all of our centre teams understand the benefits and features of digital signage, and are able to create engaging content for our customers.”

Davies adds: “We are already reaping the rewards of this activity having completed our largest single digital signage project to date, at the close of 2017.”

Diversifying into printed solutions has also been successful for two further Fastsigns UK branches in Leeds and Manchester. The two franchisees have been awarded the Idealliance G7 Master Qualification, which recognises the consistency of print production quality, following in the footsteps of Fastsigns Hammersmith last year.

To receive the acknowledgment, six weeks of trainings, an examination, and a qualification process are required. Owner of Fastsigns Manchester, Richard Wedgwood, comments: “This achievement topped off what was an outstanding year, not only were we able to purchase an Océ Arizona UV flat-bed printer and Roland RF-640 roll-to-roll printer, all of which represented a £500,000 investment in the business, but within seven years of opening, we have become one of the highest volume Fastsigns centres in the UK.

“Our G7 Master Qualification provides independent confirmation of our dedication to providing outstanding quality print services.”

Andy Simpson, owner of Fastsigns Leeds, adds: “It’s so great to be recognised by such a prestigious body as Idealliance and achieving this accreditation comes hot on the heels of a fantastic year, kicking off a strong start to 2018. In receiving this accreditation, it demonstrates our commitment to excellence and exceptional levels of customer service and we look forward to sharing our expertise with even more customers over the coming months.”

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