Card Connection franchise owner for Bristol, Clive Jones, has purchased the additional territory of Taunton and Weston Super-Mare.

The deal means that Jones, a former Coal Merchant, now supplies Card Connection’s greeting card ranges and gifts to a further 100 retail outlets in the region, taking the number of stores he merchandises to around 300.

Jones said: “Before I joined Card Connection around 13 years ago, I ran the family coal merchant business. Interestingly, there are a lot of similarities: I still enjoy the benefits of being self-employed and at the same time, provide a quality product and service while looking after my value customer base. Greeting cards just tend to be a bit cleaner than coal.

“Despite the continued challenges in the economy, business has been great and in the past 12 months profit is up by around 12 per cent compared with last year. However, I was looking to expand my franchise further. The additional area offers much potential for growth and the chance to take advantage of economies of scale through running a larger operation.

“Currently, I am helped with the picking and packing of card ranges by my wife. My niece also works for a few hours at weekends and in the school holidays. My aim is to take on a new merchandiser to help manage the area as we gradually introduce Card Connection’s greeting card ranges into new retail outlets. It is an exciting time and we are looking forward to ‘cleaning up’ with Card Connection in the new area.”

Card Connection’s franchise owners use a proven system to place greeting cards and gifts in retail outlets on a ‘consignment’ basis. This means the stock and display equipment are installed on free loans to the retailer. This is one step beyond ‘sale or return’ as Card Connection customers never have to buy the stock initially, only paying for what they sell.

Published: 29 August 2012

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