Leather Doctor is growing nationally and internationally with two new franchises in Australia this month and a new division opening in India next month.
A franchise opened in Lismore NSW while a second one opened in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Dean Reid, CEO and director for marketing and IT at Mobile Services International said the furniture industry has seen this growth over the past month as more furniture retailers are using their services of onsite repairs, care product supply and systemised invoicing and reporting.
“This is creating a large amount of work for our franchisees and as a result several are either hiring and growing their franchise or splitting their territory and selling a section to new franchisees,” Reid said.
Franchisees in Monash and Manningham, Melbourne have hired an extra technician each while in North Lakes Queensland the franchisee has split his franchise. The franchisee in Burleigh Queensland has taken on a second franchise.
The company is also about to open a new division in New Delhi, India. This international team will be joining the company’s offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Utah in the USA.
The opportunity cropped up from a contact in the furniture industry in Australia, Reid told Franchising.
“One of the customers we do work for here expressed an interest and is an ex-pat Indian. After some talks about his interest in our business, we decided the best opportunity we could offer was a master franchise in his home country,” he said.
The company is selling a master franchise, which means the person in Delhi will be running the operations and employing technicians as needed. The company in Australia will provide the branding, training and general systems but the person in India will change and alter the model to suit the local market. Reid said the model in Australia does not always translate in other countries due to culture, labour costs and resources.
The company has chosen a person who has experience in the furniture industry with contacts throughout that market.
“This is one of the most critical aspects for a new brand launch. We plan to get traction as quickly as possible in the commercial furniture industry and having local contacts is very valuable,” Reid said.
Image courtesy: The Leather Doctor