Window shopping - spotlight on the Perth Franchising Expo
You can spot the latest franchising opportunities at the Perth Franchising Expo this May, an ideal place to review the marketplace, seek advice from the Franchising Advisory Centre and hear what franchising is really like from a panel of franchisees - before the opportunity to chat personally with the franchisees in the Franchising magazine Franchisee Networking Lounge. All this for just $15 entry - but through Franchising magazine you can book a complimentary ticket online and get all the benefits of the show and its services absolutely free! See below. There will be interstate and local franchisors participating in this expo, including young WA businesses, Mini Pancakes , Ovenu domestic cleaning franchise and Metro Modelling Academy .
Now don't assume the latter is all about fashion parades and beauty shots. Sure, there's a lot of grooming and glamour in the resulting photos, but this mother and son run franchise system offers franchisees the chance to make a difference in their local community by boosting confidence and providing life skills for the youngest generation.
With a target market of six to 16, the Metro Modelling Academy education and training franchise guides children on things like deportment and etiquette. Old fashioned? Not really, says Gill Barralet. "These values are lacking in society. The students learn interactive social skills. We are building confidence in a non-competitive environment. Modelling is the medium to build that confidence."
Workshops for schools are popular, and can work well for students poised to leave education for the working world.
An ex-Metro franchisee herself, Barralet (who took over the franchise four years ago and has recently re-branded) has the advantage of knowing what a franchisee expects, and believes the system is ideal for women, with work in peak hours from 4pm to 8pm. "I am looking for someone who understands they can make a difference." She cites hairdressing and teaching as typical backgrounds for franchisees.
For about $40,000 (depending on studio set-up costs) a franchisee can establish a business, working in an exclusive territory defined by demographic site experts, Spectrum Analysis. Ovenu has been cleaning ovens in the UK since 1994 but launched here two years ago. 'We're a detailing service," explains Perth-based franchisor Bernard Bannon. "Everthing on the oven comes off - the back panels, the knobs, the fan. We don't leave any oven until it's in showroom condition." Applying a sealant keeps it cleaner for longer, he adds. Oven cleaning is the opener, he says, but the service extends to barbecues and cooker tops.
Bannon is aiming for 150 franchisees nationally over the next four years. Fancy the business? Pay a $37,000 franchisee fee for a territory of 25,000 homes - the cost of the van is extra.
If you have a taste for catering, Mini Pancakes is a recent addition to the food line-up in franchising. Brit Andrew Croft brought to Perth the Dutch tradition of pancake baking - the mini version is apparently a 200 year old concept - combined it with the American tradition and with his hospitality background honed the batter recipes to create the mix for these sweet and savoury pancakes. These take under three minutes to cook and are sold in boxes priced from $4 a pack to $10 for a family box.
Uniforms and machinery are included in the $50,000 franchise fee, but not the cost of the shop fit out. There is a mobile unit set up available too.
Is the WA boom good for business? Well, the latest recruit is a miner in Kalgoorlie. But Croft plans to spread the name interstate and is using the expo to increase brand awareness, excellent customer service, adapt to new trends in the marketplace, and maintain regular contact with their customer base in order to maximise repeat business.
Retail trends
As with many industries, technology is changing the way retailers do business. Where, when and how people shop has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Today's savvy shopper often interacts with a retail business through a variety of different touch points including online, in-store, via catalogues and call centres as well as across a range of new mobile technologies.
It is imperative to capture accurate customer information from all the various touch points in order to develop and provide quality customer relationship management, effective marketing, efficient inventory control and many other key business operational activities. If customer information is not leveraged across all touch points, i.e. if customers must repeatedly provide the same contact information, address details, preferences each time they interact with the retailer, this will lead to frustration and confusion, which can result in lost sales.
To maintain customer loyalty it is important to ensure that every contact you have with a customer is valuable, relevant and precise. Major trends being seen across the retail industry will impact on the way information is gathered and stored.
1. Ecommerce
The internet has arguably been the most important force for change in the retail industry in a century. Ecommerce allows customers to access information about goods and services at any time from anywhere. It is not only major retailers who have embraced ecommerce but more and more SMBs have joined the internet revolution, with many businesses only existing online. Total ecommerce revenues in Australia hit $45 billion in 2006 with online shopping revenues growing around 31 cent annually.
The value of any retail website is tw collecting information about current of potential customers in order to communicate with them in the future selling products or services. In both cases, easily capturing precise customer information is at the heart of a website’s success.
Customers expect retailers to fulfil orders accurately and deliver goods on time catalogue shopping. In this interconnected world, failure to meet customer expectations can damage your reputation not only with an individual customer but also with numerous potential customers through word of mouth, the internet, on blogs and, increasingly, on social networking sites.
In addition, customer online interaction provides the opportunity for the collection of in-depth information which will enable a retailer to provide better customer service and more targeted marketing campaigns.
Demographic information, customer preferences and shopping habits can obtained through on-line information gathering and then utilised to develop customer specific marketing or sales campaigns. As the use of the Web a 2.0 technologies expand further into the retail environment these opportunities only increase.
2. POS data and mobile technology
The ability to gather a range of information at point of sale continues to evolve, whether at the check out in the store or online retailers able to obtain and capture increasingly more comprehensive information about their customers. Purchasing patterns, product preferences, location data and demographic information can all now be captured through loyalty cards, online purchasing, in-store mobile technology, membership numbers and a range of other methods.
In order to use this information in a way which transforms business intelligence into business profits, retailers need to be able to capture and store information from a number of disparate locations and filter it into a central, accurate, complete and up-to-date database. Only then can they analyse the information and use it to make marketing and operational decisions in a systematic manner based on in-depth customer intelligence.
3. Centralisation of customer data
In an increasingly competitive retail environment, with the rise of ecommerce and the rapid growth in franchises customer information has become the lifeblood of business success in the retail industry. Experts suggest that more than 2 per cent of a customer's master file contains records that become obsolete every month as their customers move, divorce, marry and so on.
Previously information about customers tended to be gathered and kept at store level, often on a card filing system. Customer information was often collected several times, not properly updated, gathered at multiple retail locations or lost completely. Retailers were therefore not able to utilise customer data across their company to make quality business decisions, such as targeted promotions or direct marketing to a select demographic.
Increasingly, retail businesses with multiple outlets are centralising their databases to provide more accurate business intelligence, centralised marketing and promotional activities and even centralised logistics and merchandising.
For example, Video Ezy's franchise model led to the existence of 560 separate membership databases around the country. Before the company took steps to remedy the situation, the quality of the data contained in these proprietary systems was inconsistent, leaving Video Ezy with many puddles of dirty data. Recognising the need for a solution that not only cleaned the existing data but also ensured the member fields were entered in accordance with Australia Post conventions CAMAS), Video Ezy implemented the QAS solution.
Collating the information on its membership base to a central location has allowed Video Ezy to dramatically alter the way lt operates and interacts with its customers. Through the extraction and reporting of information from the database, Video Ezy is now able to analyse the purchasing trends of nearly three million members, allowing it to identify who spends what and analyse responses to specific offers.
Integrating databases from multiple outlets into one central location allows for easier de-duplication, customer information updates and regulatory compliance.
Compliance
The Australian Government introduced legislation that came into force in 2001 to protect the privacy of individuals. Under the legislation, businesses have an obligation to uphold an individual's rights to privacy by regulating how it collects, uses, discloses and holds an individual's personal information.
Businesses are required to provide individuals access to all the personal information that an organisation holds about them. As businesses increasingly collect information about their customers from a wide range of touch points, centralising this information and ensuring its accuracy is imperative to ensure compliance.
An independent market research report commissioned by QAS in July 2005 titled, 'How Well Do You Know Your Customers', revealed that 86 per cent of organisations hold database records for customers and prospects which are inaccurate or incomplete. From a legal perspective, this could result in penalties ranging from $2,000 to $30,000 or 12 months' imprisonment in some instances.
Maintaining a competitive advantage
The QAS report of 2005 also found that 85 per cent of Australian business respondents admitted to having lost revenue due to missed business opportunities and 65 per cent claim they lost revenues due to poor data quality. Research has also shown that incorrect addresses can cost up to 6 per cent of revenue, generated by double postage costs, extra printing and material handling costs and related costs of organising and administering erroneous deliveries.
Inaccurate customer data also affects the public perception of a business. A company which is unable deliver goods in a timely and accurate fashion will quickly lose customers. Marketing efforts, such as di mail, which are incorrectly addressed, sent multiple times, from multiple outlets of the same business or mis-directed, may cause customers to lose confidence in a business and its ability to provide accurate and timely customer service.
Conclusion
Maintaining databases underpins effective consumer communication, maximises business intelligence and ensures compliance with regulation. In a highly competitive retail environment, where technology has expanded the touch points retailers have with their customers and allowed for greater information gathering, retailers need to harness the power of databases to maintain a competitive advantage.
This article appears courtesy of Franchising Magazine.
The Franchise Council of Australia is a not for profit membership organisation that is the peak body representing the franchising sector in Australia.
23.06.2008
FCA Member
Franchise Council of Australia News
Eyes Wide Open – a step in the right direction for your potential franchisees
30/03/2012 - The Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) is conducting an educational ...
FCA announces winners of 2011 Westpac FCA Excellence in Franchising Awards
14/10/2011 - The Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) has announced the winners ...
Federal Minister finds new SA Franchising Rules ‘unwise and unfathomable’
12/10/2011 - Federal Minister for Small Business, Senator Nick Sherry, has ...
FCA cautions risks of conflict in SA Small Business Commissioner Bill
11/10/2011 - Franchise Council of Australia’s legal symposium recommends ...
Prominent Franchisees Reject SA Small Business Commissioner Bill Agenda
28/09/2011 - A group of five prominent franchisees have rejected the South ...
SA Franchisees adds their voice to the Small Business Commissioner debate
27/09/2011 - South Australian Franchisees have voiced their concerns amongst ...
Contact Franchise Council of Australia
Suite 6, 307-313 Wattletree Rd
Malvern East
VIC 3145
Tel: 1300 906 479
Fax: +61 3 9508 0899
