Copy Center

Copy center services:

-       copy or photocopy (despite the question of money, these primary functions have been necessary for all of us instantly);

-       documents lamination;

-       color printout (often required because of the high ink cost for regular home usage);

-       black & white printouts for all those who demand a large quantity of material;

-       photos print-out is also hot as far as copy centers often input discounts on this service. Plus, not every home printer can carry out an enormous quantity of high-quality images. Another excellent option is to offer CDs and flash drives on the spot;

-       business cards design & development costs almost nothing for the customer and even less for you. All you have to do to involve this option is simply to improve basic Photoshop and CorelDraw skills;

-       sometimes, you may receive orders for the books and booklet production as the printing (publishing) houses suggest only a specific amount of copies (no less than 1,000);

-       diplomas hardcover: students always look for it feverishly just before the delivery date. This procedure usually costs about $8;

-       office supplies: you can sell even low priced paper, i.e., attracting more potential customers to order other available services later.

The students usually demand even more services: photocopy, printing, laminating, and hardcover.

Other business opportunities you might be interested in:

In addition, your copy center can provide less typical services like manufacturing various greeting cards with pictures of animals or flowers, calendars, wedding invitations, posters, etc. You can work with the event managers and professional photographers to raise the demand for your business.

A separate kind of activity may be providing the possibility of transfer a desired image on a T-shirt via printing services. Clients always have to be treated friendly and benevolently.

Low initial capital, low raw material costs, and product differentiation might sound as the attractive sides of this particular business.

First of all, you need to possess all necessary equipment to launch a copy center: a computer or laptop, laser printer (it is expensive but more cost-effective), inkjet photo printer and a bookbinding machine. You can buy a multifunctional device (instead of the last three units), which will save money and space. When the flow of people will increase, you will be able to buy separate equipment because simultaneous scanning and copying can be required. The furniture won’t cost much at all. The overall expenses can result into $5,000. That is a trifle in comparison with other types of business. The first advantage of this start-up is its cost-effectiveness.

The most trendy manufacturers are WorkCentre, Xerox, DocuMate, and Phaser. Their quality was tested throughout the time.

Here is a list of equipment you will need for sure:

multifunctional printers (usually combine several functions like printing, copying and graving) - $35,000 average price;

or you may choose to buy everything separately – the quality then would be better:

printer - $500 - $4,500;

copier – about $6,000;

scanner - $250 - $8,000;

solid ink equipment - $2,500 on the average;

you will also have to pay for some software solutions – only licensed software is allowed at official copy centers.

This kind of business doesn’t demand any raw materials except for A4 paper. Once in a month you will have to pay about $100 for paper and other possible consumables.

Copy center is that kind of start-up where almost no raw materials are required. Anyway, they are all cheap, and you don’t have to invest a tremendous amount of money into this category.

HP, Epson, Kodak, canon – those are the recommended producers of the copy center goods. Basically, you will need:

·        ink cartridges in a big amount – around $25;

·        or inkjets cartridge combo pack – fairly the same;

·        colorful ink tanks - $35 (average);

·        blank CDs, DVDs, floppy discs (try to get goods with printable surfaces) – roughly $10 per set;

·        flash drives (as an alternative) - $22 (average);

·        marker pens - $0.20 per piece;

·        paper sets - $25 - $35 per unit (or you can buy special sets of ink and paper for select).

There is an increasing number of people who often look for copy centers that provide photocopying and printing services. Starting a copy shop is therefore a good idea if you are looking for startup business ideas and you are looking for innovative business schemes. The best thing about starting a copy store is you are not required to have special skills and a specialized educational background to provide colour copying and copy services to your clients. You just need to have sufficient startup cost copy shops require.

Next, you have to decide on a location of your potential copy center. As mentioned above, it may be an educational institution (school, college, university), large store, or the territory occupied by many different organizations. It is strongly recommended to choose the first-floor thanks to its access and attendance rate. To begin with, the area of the copy center should be no less than 15 - 20 m. sq. In order to fit at least a couple of people at the same time. The rent of the space will amount to $200 approximately.

Technical requirements. Space needed: 50 - 200 square meters would be perfect. The main sanitary requirement is the lack of moisture and dust: it may damage your expensive (and not really) equipment. If you decide to open a larger and more professional copy center, your expenses will most probably reach $100 instead of $5,000. A lot depends on the space rent, quality of equipment and furniture.

The best locations for a photocopy shop include near or inside schools and universities because most of your prospective clients are students who look for copy stores that can provide bulk copies and color copies for their school lectures and requirements – you can also checkout places near to the court, railway station, notary office, shopping malls. You can also choose to establish your photocopy shop in establishments where people will more likely need to submit photocopied documents such as in government buildings and agencies.

On the average, you can hire five to ten persons to work for your copy center. Once more, it all depends on the space and number of offered services. At least two designers, few sales managers, and a courier is demanded to run this private enterprise successfully. Advertising expenses might reach the mark of $10,000.

Your staff has to be able to handle such responsibilities as:

• B&W and Color Copies
• Digital Document Publishing
• Electronic Document Storage/Retrieval
• Posters and Banners
• Transparencies, Laminating
• Business Cards, Letterheads and Envelopes
• Resumes and Cover Letters
• Invitations and Programs
• Presentations, Fonts
• Labels, Raffle Tickets, Covers, & Name Tags
• Flyers, Brochures, Bulletins, Pamphlets and Tent Cards
• Faxes and Scanning
• Professional Binding Service
• Finishing (cutting, laminating, binding and more)

On the whole, you will need the following employees:

-      manager;

-      operator;

-      system administrator;

-      cashier.