Franchising V/S Festival Season
Written by Venus Barak | Edited by Neha Nagpal | Posted on 16 Oct 2009
THE SEASONALITY OF IT
Brands are having a sparkle of hope to boost their sales and enjoy the festivity that has engulfed the whole country. We see new advertisement campaigns and promos galore organised to beef up sales. But the $ 64000 question is should franchisors be aligning their annual franchise sales targets with festival periods? Francorp has observed that, apart from education sector which relates to academic cycle there can be an analogy of retail and service brands synergizing their B2C campaign with B2B Franchise sales. Easier said than done, our experience of contacting brands for franchise development nearing festive seasons is primarily of being too tied up with B2C sales efforts and loaded travel schedules. FESTIVE CHAMPIONS
Keeping that in mind there is one sector which deserves triumphs this festive season is Jewellery sector. It’s the only sector where we have seen a certain degree alignment is Jewellery business due to the very nature of its business. With smart mind these Jewellery franchisors plan and work hard to open franchisee stores well ahead of festive season. This proves to be beneficial for them as this works as both as a sales strategy for qualified prospects and also a beeper to the marketing, supply and technical team for planning their activities. HANDLE WITH CARE
To really reap this double benefit the prospective franchisor should handle the festive season with care. This can be tackled at two levels, one at the start up level and second at the time when the franchisor has already marked its existence in the market. The start-up franchisor who is into retail or service company delving on franchising their business in near future should critically plan their roll-out strategy circling around the festive period. This however is not done in a day’s game, companies should ideally plan yearly in advance to have sufficient time and framework for designing the program structure, developing internal system, marketing of the franchisee, recruitment of qualified franchises and finally making the franchisees operations before the targeted period, which subsequently should also be ready for any last minute logistical issues. And on the other hand the existing franchisor, while working on their annual marketing budgets and recruitment targets, the Head of Franchising can look in to assigning franchise sales and marketing targets in the first half of the year, leaving the time nearing the festive season for supporting the ‘just on board’ franchisees and also existing franchises. Enterprises with bigger network can also delve on devising a strategy on converting existing franchisee to multiple franchisees with attractive schemes and bonuses. CONCLUSION
Franchising always brings us back to the ‘chicken and egg’ chronicle, where the question is always what comes first, the franchisee or ATL- BTL advertising or supply chain or franchise oriented team. However, the company which can walk the thin line of balancing the act and constructive planning of resources and growth objectives leads the way. Francorp hope this festive season brings fruitful consequences for all.
Brands are having a sparkle of hope to boost their sales and enjoy the festivity that has engulfed the whole country. We see new advertisement campaigns and promos galore organised to beef up sales. But the $ 64000 question is should franchisors be aligning their annual franchise sales targets with festival periods? Francorp has observed that, apart from education sector which relates to academic cycle there can be an analogy of retail and service brands synergizing their B2C campaign with B2B Franchise sales. Easier said than done, our experience of contacting brands for franchise development nearing festive seasons is primarily of being too tied up with B2C sales efforts and loaded travel schedules. FESTIVE CHAMPIONS
Keeping that in mind there is one sector which deserves triumphs this festive season is Jewellery sector. It’s the only sector where we have seen a certain degree alignment is Jewellery business due to the very nature of its business. With smart mind these Jewellery franchisors plan and work hard to open franchisee stores well ahead of festive season. This proves to be beneficial for them as this works as both as a sales strategy for qualified prospects and also a beeper to the marketing, supply and technical team for planning their activities. HANDLE WITH CARE
To really reap this double benefit the prospective franchisor should handle the festive season with care. This can be tackled at two levels, one at the start up level and second at the time when the franchisor has already marked its existence in the market. The start-up franchisor who is into retail or service company delving on franchising their business in near future should critically plan their roll-out strategy circling around the festive period. This however is not done in a day’s game, companies should ideally plan yearly in advance to have sufficient time and framework for designing the program structure, developing internal system, marketing of the franchisee, recruitment of qualified franchises and finally making the franchisees operations before the targeted period, which subsequently should also be ready for any last minute logistical issues. And on the other hand the existing franchisor, while working on their annual marketing budgets and recruitment targets, the Head of Franchising can look in to assigning franchise sales and marketing targets in the first half of the year, leaving the time nearing the festive season for supporting the ‘just on board’ franchisees and also existing franchises. Enterprises with bigger network can also delve on devising a strategy on converting existing franchisee to multiple franchisees with attractive schemes and bonuses. CONCLUSION
Franchising always brings us back to the ‘chicken and egg’ chronicle, where the question is always what comes first, the franchisee or ATL- BTL advertising or supply chain or franchise oriented team. However, the company which can walk the thin line of balancing the act and constructive planning of resources and growth objectives leads the way. Francorp hope this festive season brings fruitful consequences for all.
