Festive fervour in franchising

Brands are having a ray of hope to boost their sales and enjoy the festive fervour that has engulfed the whole country. We see new advertisement campaigns and promos galore organised to ramp up sales. But the $ 64000 question is should franchisors be aligning their annual franchise sales targets with festival periods?

Francorp has observed that apart from education sector which relates to academic cycle there can be an analogy of retail and service brands synergising their B2C campaign with B2B franchise sales. Easier said than done, our experience of contacting brands for franchise development nearing festive and holidaying season is primarily of being too tied up with B2C sales efforts and loaded travel schedules.

Sparkling Leaders

The festive season brings back the cheer in all the business sectors. But the most awaited category is the jewellery sector. It is the only sector where we have seen a certain degree of alignment due to its very nature. These jewellery franchisors plan and work hard to open franchised stores well ahead of the festive season. This proves to be beneficial for them as this works as both as a sales strategy for qualified prospects and also a beeper to the marketing supply and technical team for planning their activities.

Handle with care

At the time when festive season is knocking at the door, both, the aspiring franchisor and existing franchisor should handle the festive season with care. An aspiring franchisor who is into retail or service company and is planning on franchising his business should critically plan the roll-out strategy circling around the festive period. This however is not a day’s game, companies should ideally plan yearly in advance to have sufficient time and framework for designing the program structure, developing internal system, marketing of the franchisee, recruitment of qualified franchisees and finally making the franchise operational before the targeted period, which subsequently should also be ready for any last minute logistical issues.

And on the other hand the existing franchisor, while working on their annual marketing budgets and recruitment targets, can assess the franchise sales and marketing targets in the first half of the year, instead of delaying it to the festive season for supporting the ‘just on board’ franchisees and also the existing franchisees. Enterprises with a wide network can also delve into devising a strategy on converting an existing franchisee to take multiple franchises with attractive schemes and bonuses.

Conclusion

Franchising always brings us back to the ‘chicken and egg’ chronicle, where the question is always what comes first, the franchisee or ATL- BTL advertising or supply chain or franchise oriented team. However, the company which can walk the thin line of balancing the act with constructive planning of resources and growth objectives leads the way.