A new survey from Griffith University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence and the Massey University Business School has found that, per capita, New Zealand is the most franchised country in the world.
The survey identified 631 franchised brands operating in New Zealand and 37,000 franchise units – equating to one for every 124 Kiwis.
Professor Lorelle Frazer, director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence, says the New Zealand per capita rate is more than double the equivalent figure in Australia of one franchise unit per 310 people.
It is thought that no other country in the world comes close to the New Zealand rate of franchises per capita, giving it claim to the title of the ‘most franchised country in the world’.
Frazer says it is also significant that 72 percent of the franchises operating in New Zealand are home-grown brands.
The Franchising New Zealand 2017 survey found that the combined turnover of franchises in New Zealand (excluding motor vehicle sales and fuel retail) is $27.6 billion – roughly equivalent to 11 percent of New Zealand’s GDP.
This is a considerable increase since the last survey in 2012, which estimated the size of the country’s franchise market at $15 billion from 22,400 units across 446 different franchises.
The latest survey also shows that New Zealand’s franchise sector employs a total of more 124,000 people, including 74,300 full-time and 42,500 part-time staff. The proportion of full-time staff members has increased since 2012.
The Franchising New Zealand 2017 survey was completed jointly by Griffith University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence in Australia and the Massey University Business School in New Zealand.
It provides the only systematic university-backed data on New Zealand’s franchise sector. Griffith University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence undertakes a similar biennial survey of franchising in Australia.
The Franchising New Zealand 2017 survey was sponsored by the Franchise Association of New Zealand and supporting contributors Westpac, Franchize Consultant, Hayes Knight, Asco Legal and The Franchise Coach.
“The latest survey demonstrates the value that franchising brings to New Zealanders,’ says Brad Jacobs, Franchise Association of New Zealand (FANZ) chair.
“As well as providing revenue and jobs, franchises enable small business people to own their own business while being part of a bigger group. That enables them to compete successfully with the corporates and multi-nationals while remaining true to their own area, keeping ownership, profits and employment truly local – and paying a fair share of taxes in New Zealand too.”
Franchising is a commercial relationship between franchisor and franchisee and, as with any commercial relationship, there can be disputes from time to time. However, the Franchising New Zealand 2017 survey found that only 1.9 percent of franchisees had been involved in any form of dispute that required outside intervention, with almost half (49 percent) of all disputes being handled via mediation rather than litigation.
“It’s a good reminder that, although disputes within popular big-brand franchises tend to hit the headlines, they are actually quite rare,” says Jacobs.