Printing for Franchise
The franchise sector is thriving with over 830 franchised operations in the UK today, equating to 34,600 individual franchisee businesses, employing 467,000 people and contributing around £12 billion to the UK’s GDP.
In 2010 it was reported that 250,000 people were actively looking into owning their own franchise business. Unsuprising when you consider that in the retail sector alone only 5-8% of franchised outlets fail in the first two years of business opposed to 54% which are independently owned.
To the business owner, franchising presents one of the simplest ways of expanding a business, but it does present its own unique set of challenges, not experienced by conventional ownership. The fact that a franchised brand is made up of a network of individually owned small businesses raises the challenge of brand control and consistency of product across a growing network. And each of these businesses will have some level of autonomy, depending on the structure of the franchise agreement.
How does the franchisor maintain control while still empowering each franchisee?
Many franchisees can be new to the sector that they now operate within, lacking either business or product knowledge. Even if they do have experience it’s likely that they will not have needed to sell or market themselves in the past.
How does the franchisor ensure that the network is knowledgeable and has marketing support?
Depending on the market, franchises can have huge procurement and supply issues. In an ideal world, the franchise would aim to aggregate costs across the business to the benefit of each franchisee. But how can this be achieved?
In some operations, a large franchise network presents the opportunity to generate additional revenue through the supply of additional products to franchisees.
How easy is it to establish the systems to effectively expedite this and how expensive can it potentially be to implement such as system?
At besley & copp, we have a deep knowledge of the challenges that franchise networks need to overcome. We work with some of the worlds most recognisable franchised brands in sectors as diverse as fast food, hire, property and professional services. Some, like ServiceMaster, are some of the worlds longest established franchises.
Through knowledge and partnership we have been able to develop innovative solutions that overcome most of the challenges experienced by the franchisor, not just print related, but:
- eProcurement
- Internal communication
- eCommerce
- Online Training
- Mailing solutions
besley & copp’s eSupply Portal is so much more than a print procurement tool. It is a scalable platform able to meet many of the challenges mentioned above:
eProcurement
In its simplest form, the eSupply Portal can provide a central point for all of a networks printed material, but it can carry almost all of the networks operational stock:
- Aggregates print costs across network
- Franchisee benefits from group buying power
- Reduced central administration costs
- Central pricing guides, product literature
Internal Communication
Franchisees need to be supported effectively, remaining happy to be part of your franchise network. And after the initial excitement of starting a new business, franchisees can feel remote. Any successful franchise benefits for site visits and ongoing training, but the eSupply Portal can be a 24/7 support system to augment normal routes:
- Network wide intranet
- Support resource at the early stages of being a franchisee
- Create a sense of belonging
- Facilitate peer to peer dialogue
- Advice, support and best practice
- Ensure the consistency of product or service across a disparate network
Brand Control
You’ve worked hard over several years to establish your brand as a recognised trading name in your sector. A brand with a reputation that other people want to be associated with, a core asset franchisee’s are looking to buy into.
But, a brand reputation that could be diluted or ruined if not supported and controlled across the individual franchisees.
- Online brand guidelines
- Centralised asset management
- Controls use and application of brand across a network
Marketing Support
Franchisees are not sales or marketing people, yet they do need to promote their own outlet and the brand. The eSupply Portal can help support this.
- Centrally generated and distributed collateral
- Marketing stays on brand and on message
- National advertising can be tailored to a regional audience
- Templates that can be printed off locally or commercially
- Reduced need for large print runs
- Faster campaign roll-out
- Faster response to the market
Print and Consumables
- Central deposit for all operation print and documentation
- Health & Safety literature and signage
- Contracts and terms of business
- Reducing the need for large amounts of stock to be held
- ‘Just-in-time’ supply
- Explanation of how to use
Training
In many ways, the success of your franchisees is based on knowledge without it you may find your franchise failure rate is unacceptable. Good franchisors offer their franchisees ongoing development and training, programmes. The eSupply Portal can provide the platform to support this:
- Online training and support
- Product awareness
- General business practice training
- Franchisee obligations under the franchise agreement
- The eSupply Portal facilitates peer to peer training
- Success breeds success - Peer-to-peer
eCommerce
- The eSupply Portal presents the Franchisor with an opportunity to create an eCommerce portal.
- Market additional products and services to your franchisees
- Generate additional income streams
besley & copp has experience and knowledge that can deliver real value to customers in the franchise sector which is demonstrated in the following case studies: