SPECIALFEATURE A
s Napoleon once said: “England is a nation of shopkeepers.” The UK has always been a fantastic location for business and one that continues to
thrive. Choosing a site, however, can be tough. With so many great places to set up shop, deciding on the perfect location for your business is a complex one. This has never been truer when franchising your business. Although it has a lot to do with the franchisee, making sure your business is in a key territory is vital. A good franchisor, even a less experienced one, should have their own tools to assist the buyers in making location decisions. Any franchisor running a franchise business
will agree that the selection of the location is an absolutely critical factor in how successful the business will be. Whether it’s a retail franchise or a quick-service franchise, it is necessary for the franchisor to conduct a careful location analysis. The location of your franchise and your franchisee’s territory is defined in your franchise agreement, but usually the franchisor has the bigger say – remember, this is your business! For instance, if you have a retail franchise, you must discuss the following: • Walk-by traffic – does the business require a high level of walk-by traffic? Does the location provide enough pedestrian traffic to grow?
• Drive-by traffic – does your business rely on drive-by traffic? Do you need sufficient parking nearby?
• Shopping centre – will there be competition if you set up shop here? Will the stream of shoppers outweigh this?
“Getting the right location is fundamental
for successful growth,” explains Euan Fraser, managing consultant at AMO Consulting. “Every business has its own customer demographic, so this becomes an important aspect of location selection. The local demographic in a territory must suit your business. It needs to contain enough potential customers to allow your franchisee to build a strong business. “Once you find the right geographic
territory you need to find the right property. Do you need to be on a bus route? Does there need to be easy parking? Must you have only ground floor premises? Foot flow is important, too: what side of the street do people typically walk by on? If the businesses around you attract a similar type of customer that’s a huge advantage.”
Franchisor News | 25 It’s not just about the site, however, you
should also think about the area. The vote to leave the EU created a lot of uncertainty when it came to opening new stores but there are still plenty of locations in the UK thriving on local business. Research carried out by
www.growthbusiness.co.uk revealed England is dominating the startup market, where you’ll find all but 10 of the best UK companies. While London may be top of the league, that didn’t stop other cities shining through. Birmingham and Cardiff are both doing well, while Chelmsford is flourishing. That just goes to show that success really can come from anywhere. However, a business model that works in Leeds may not do as well in London. If your business is service-based, the South
East can be a very good place to start. Surrey, in particular, is affluent, with a concentration of younger families, which can be ideal for growing a business that provides services for children. Coastal towns, meanwhile, are the perfect place for care franchises. In recent years, the homecare services industry has expanded rapidly in these areas. As a franchisor, it is important to have
a real understanding of the commercial opportunity each territory has in order to make a genuine decision, and demographic data, such as wealth distribution, average age and ethnicity, is vital to this.
For a more detailed vision of where to
move your business, the web-based territory management system ‘My Franchise Atlas’ from Atlas Mapping provides site-planning consultation services to franchisors. Stuart Lee, Atlas Mapping’s sales and
marketing director, says: “This is the modern approach to gaining visualisation of the status of a territory network and sharing market information with prospective franchisees.” Indeed, managing territories in this format allows franchisors to bring departments closer together and improve the franchisee recruitment process. Stuart continues: “Being able to display
the territories to franchisees makes the recruitment and management of territories more transparent. This improves franchisee confidence in the brand, as having access to crucial market information can aid them with business planning.” Remember, each business is unique, and
following in the footsteps of other franchises may cause you trouble at a later stage, so do your research. Seeking out the right location for your next franchisee is like planning your future; take everything into consideration and your franchise will blossom. n
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
