Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, today announced one of its top franchisees – Joe Sweeney – has purchased an additional franchise territory, now meaning he owns a franchise which distributes greeting cards to half of Ireland.
Joe Sweeney who won the Card Connection ‘Franchisee of the year award’ for five consecutive years while he built his business states: “I have been a Card Connection franchisee for the past nine years and I have continually developed my Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim, Roscommon & Galway area. Extending my coverage to the neighbouring region made complete sense, as the economies of scale gained have resulted in increased opportunity for a higher volume of sales and added a new challenge. With my team I now service almost 400 retail outlets with a buying population of just over a million people.
“We already had a substantial operation, including 1800sq.ft of warehousing,” he continues. “However, I have now grown my merchandising staff by two, so there are now four of us on the road plus myself and two part time pickers/ packers based in the warehouse. We have also purchased five new vans over the past year, which enable us to carry sufficient stock to be away for a week if necessary, but not so big that they are uneconomical. At Christmas – which is the busiest time of year for card sales – we hire in large transit vans to enable us to distribute the volume of stock that is required.”
