THE FIRST GRAFENIA OWNED NETTL store has opened in Birmingham with the London store due to be in operation this week.
Nettl is a web design and development franchise that follows on from the earlier success of the printing.com model. printing.com has changed its name to Grafenia to reflect the change in its business model, adding web to print capacity through wp3.com and .com for online design templates.
NETTL REFLECTS THE DEMAND FROM from SME businesses for online as well as printed marketing collateral. “Print is still and will remain the biggest part of the business mix for some time,” says Grafenia chief executive Tony Rafferty. “However, we have go to go and win relationships with the next level of local enterprises. If printers are not leading with web design services, they will not be at the table for printing.”
The services extend the templates design model from print to the web but with greater sophistication than five page websites can muster. Local restaurants, dentists, golf courses and so on require an online booking system Rafferty explains rather than just static pages.
AND WORKING AS A NETTL FRANCHISE protects the business should the only web designer leave the printing business taking his or her knowledge with them.
“We have spent a year extending the software we have to handle cross media functionality and have heard time and again from people in the sector that they were building a head of steam in offering digital services only to find that their designer leaves,” he explains. “Our philosophy is that all the expertise should be in the system, not the individual.”
GRAFENIA IS TO OPEN NETTL OUTLETS in Manchester and Dublin to follow Birmingham and London over the next four weeks. It will then offer the franchises to existing printing.com franchisees. “They will get the first right of refusal,” says Rafferty. Not all will take this up, preferring to remain in print on paper. It will then seek out other companies looking to become Nettl franchisees. Grafenia plans to launch this opportunity at the National Franchise Exhibition at the NEC in October.
A support team of Nettl black belts is in place to support these companies. Adopters start as yellow belts and receive higher grades with experience and training. The system is essential to ensure that Nettl can deliver the service levels required.
“A COUPLE OF PEOPLE HAVE TRIED to offer website design franchises, but nobody has made it work satisfactorily,” he explains. “We know there’s a real need out there with the support on a networked brand. Owners of small businesses are spending half the marketing budget on print for brochures, exhibitions and so on and half online. There is a demand there from our clients and demand from people in the sector.”
