When examining franchise opportunities to purchase, one helpful trend to look for in any franchise concept is how well the franchise adapts to any form of change. With this in mind, at no time are innovative franchise actions more significant than during economic slowdowns. Following are some examples of situations where franchises have found continued success through some inventive and inspired means/relationships.
Franchises As Vendors/Partners of Franchises – Of course, many franchise concepts have benefited from business affiliation with other franchises over the years. There exists any number of instances in which one franchise operates as a vendor or exclusive partner by way of another chain. Whether it’s an Information Technology franchise service supporting the computers of a fast food business, or a juice/coffee bar situated in the lobby of fitness center, franchise concepts can (and do) assist one-another greatly. By the way of our example, while the said fast food chain benefits from the IT franchise’s services directly, the fitness franchise simply shares a similar target market customer base with that of the juice/coffee bar. Occasionally, the benefits of such relationships are recognized for their extreme value company-wide; subsequently both franchises are sometimes then co-branded and co-marketed as an altogether new opportunity.
Adapting to Changing Technologies – While a franchise can be explained as a unique “system” for doing business, components or “pieces” of the system might always be improved upon to further progress the concept overall. Technology is definitely one of these “pieces” that can drive change in many areas of franchising. Let’s consider a simple POS (point of sale) example and how cash-register technology can improve retail business success. A retail franchise that started 30 years ago or more typically used a standard cash register system to complete the POS transaction. Today, retail cash registers can be fast operating computers that are usually networked together. Not only do these computers assist in the exchange of legal tender, but they can also perform functions such as tracking inventories, evaluating customer shopping habits, gathering different forms of customer information, and more. In short, the original retail franchise business that started 30 years ago might not be around today if it weren’t able to compete though adapting and changing with newer technologies.
See all contributions from Peter Siegel
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