as a business and investment model, franchise chain has shown a strong development trend, involving catering services, beauty salons, education and training, audio-visual books, home decoration, clothing accessories, entertainment and leisure, cleaning and other fields, and has become the most noticeable and concerned format in China in recent years.
franchise chain's mode of operation has spared investors the trouble of not finding entrepreneurial projects and some troubles that individuals often encounter when starting a business. It is indeed a shortcut to success. According to a survey, 81% of independent shopkeepers in Japanese retail industry closed down in the first year, and only 8% can persist until the fifth year; However, only 21% of chain stores were eliminated in the first year, and 77% of chain stores can successfully operate until the fifth year. The comparison between the two proves that joining is more stable, reliable and cost-effective than starting your own business to a great extent.
At present, various projects in franchise chain emerge one after another. "Invest 5,111 yuan to be a boss easily", "Surprise projects earn 11,111 yuan a day" and "Join us with an annual salary of one million" ... Faced with such attractive advertising words, many people are eager to try, holding thousands, tens of thousands or even millions of funds, and want to join the ranks of franchise chain.
However, franchise chain is not as simple as people think. In franchise chain's world, there is a profitable myth, and there is also a tragedy of losing the whole game. Therefore, in order to be the beneficiary of franchise chain, investors need to make full preparations. Otherwise, blindly following the trend, in the end, you can only beat your chest and cry, and everything will not help.
In order to avoid the recurrence of the tragedy, first of all, the British-Chinese Entrepreneurship Lab reminds investors to pay attention to eliminating the following three misunderstandings:
(1) Anyone can open a franchise store
Many people think that opening a franchise store does not require investors' academic qualifications and IQ, and it is suitable for anyone. In fact, opening a franchise store has certain requirements for investors' personality, ability and experience. For example, it is necessary to have a rational personality, good interpersonal skills and management skills, and these factors largely determine whether investors can succeed.
Therefore, investors should ask themselves a few questions before joining the company: Do they have the passion to start a business, the potential to start a business, the ability to cooperate with others, and the sufficient knowledge of franchise chain management.
(2) once and for all investment
Some investors think that after joining, they can lie down and do nothing, and everything will be managed by the headquarters, just waiting for themselves to enjoy the success. In fact, this kind of thing is impossible.
what the headquarters can provide to franchisees is only a franchise operation mode. Only according to the experience and guidance provided by franchisees, step by step and practical implementation, can franchisees succeed. In other words, if franchisees want to succeed, they need to work together with the * * * at the headquarters. Otherwise, even if the headquarters is trying to play the role of guidance and supervision, and the franchisees themselves do not make corresponding investment, then in the end they will only stand in the queue of losers.
(3) Business with guaranteed profit but no loss
Franchisees inherit the mature business model and enjoy centralized procurement, centralized publicity, professional guidance and other services, which will undoubtedly help improve the success rate of entrepreneurship. However, income and risk always exist together, and there is no such thing as absolute guarantee that you will only make money without losing money. Therefore, entrepreneurs should treat joining rationally and have certain risk awareness and psychological endurance.
After eliminating the above misunderstandings, to ensure the success of franchise chain, the UK-China Entrepreneurship Laboratory reminds investors to pay attention to the following matters based on the empirical research and analysis.
(1) Make a plan before investing
Investors who are interested in joining franchise chain industries, no matter which industry they choose, no matter what kind of projects they do, must carry out it in a planned way. How much money to invest, how much income to expect each month, how much profit, how much net profit, when the total investment can be recovered, etc., all these issues should be planned in advance, and the more detailed the better. We should do what we can, and we should not decide the size of the investment by the size of the prospect, so that the investment is beyond the scope we can bear. There are many things in case, and once it fails, there is no reserve force to make a comeback.
(2) Carefully select the industries to join
The market is infinite and business opportunities are limited. In recent years, there are not a few popular chain industries emerging, but many industries have disappeared before long.
Therefore, when you choose to join the industry, you must carefully evaluate whether the industry you want to join has good development prospects. If this industry is in the growth stage, it means that there are not too many competitors at present, and the whole market has great room for growth in the future. The earlier you invest, the greater the possibility of making profits, the richer the accumulated experience and the higher the chance of making money. If investors want to join the industry that has entered the competitive period and the projects are too intensive, they must carefully consider and measure the risks. In this industry, not only the competition between brands is fierce, but also the competition in the same business circle is in full swing. Good locations have already been preempted by the franchisees who joined first. Now it will be more difficult to operate if you want to join again.
at the same time, different industries have different market characteristics and operating methods. if investors have a certain understanding of the market space and operating methods of the areas they intend to join, and the market appeal of mature franchise brands, they will be like a duck to water. Therefore, when investors choose to join the project, they should have the concept of being suitable for each other and try their best to choose their familiar trades and fields. Under certain conditions, you can choose to enter the industry with high barriers, which can greatly reduce the competition within the industry.
(3) Localization survey of franchisees
franchise chain industry is selected, and a large number of local market surveys are needed to analyze the local development of this industry, whether it is compatible, the relevant situation of existing franchisees, site selection and other practical issues. Don't blindly start.
Ms. Liu is a franchisee of a children's wear brand in Shenzhen, and her franchise store is located in Beijing. When she bought winter clothes, she received autumn clothes series, which simply could not adapt to the coming cold weather in Beijing. Upon inquiry, I realized that the clothing of the headquarters was designed according to the weather conditions in Shenzhen. Obviously, Ms. Liu was not careful enough to make a compatibility analysis.
Mr. Wang saw the advertisement of a cleaning company in a magazine, and he was quite moved. After analyzing the current local conference situation, he thinks it is a good opportunity to join the cleaning company. After a phone call, I joined hastily after listening to the exciting explanation of the other party. It was not until he began to look for customers that he found that there were several cleaning companies with strong financial strength in the local area, which already had a good market share, but the business situation of his own franchise store could not be opened.
All the above cases are heartbreaking. If we had done more investigation at first, we would not have ended up in a bleak end.
(4) Choose the brand you want to join carefully
You must be cautious in choosing the brand you want to join. If you just see the attractive conditions in the advertisement and the beautiful company catalogue, you will join in a hurry, which will often cause regret.
generally speaking, the more competitive a chain brand is, the more complete its franchise system will be, the stronger its financial resources and strength will be, and the better its development prospects will be, so it will be more capable of ensuring the profits of its franchisees.
Although choosing a weak brand to join the headquarters can reduce the joining fee and deposit, in contrast, it can enjoy less resources and help from the headquarters; Therefore, many things are managed by franchisees themselves, and their competitiveness is naturally weak. At the same time, due to the low franchise fee, the number of franchisees will often increase sharply, resulting in malicious competition among franchisees.
(5) Be discerning and sign a contract
Signing a contract is also a stage that franchisees can't ignore.
in franchise chain, a contract is an important document to resolve disputes that may arise between the two parties in the future. Therefore, be sure to read the contents of the actual contract you will sign carefully, and carefully check the corresponding terms and points, especially about the franchise fees and the relevant constraints of the headquarters on the franchise stores. Don't rush to sign this contract.
The UK-China Entrepreneurship Lab reminds entrepreneurs that franchise chain is a business model with great competitiveness and development potential, which may be both "Qian Jing" and "trap". The so-called success is also Xiao He, failure is also Xiao He, numerous and unpredictable, and all these require investors to make full preparations.
source: lighting the net.