Innovation paves way for new franchise businesses

Franchising as a business concept has gained lot of prominence in the last few years. The wide acceptance of franchising can be greatly attributed towards the growth of new franchisors with their unique business concepts. In the highly competitive age, the uniqueness of any business idea predicts the success or failure of a brand. A concept which is unique but not apt for the consumers may not gain popularity. While a unique concept with lot of significance for the consumers, can do wonders for the franchisor as well as his franchisees.

Unique franchise concepts

The Top 100 franchise survey by The Franchising World (TFW) magazine identified and divided the franchisors into established, emerging, debutant and international players. This article further identifies the unique franchise concepts in the franchising arena.

IndiaCan: IndiaCan has recently launched vocational training centres to cater to the needs of the unemployed youth by imparting special training and upgrading skills. The training curriculum of IndiaCan is designed keeping in mind the needs of the local business establishments and enterprises. The company provides vocational training in the various verticals such as spoken English, IT, finance and banking, sales and retail etc. It further plans to extend by launching new verticals like media and logistics. The company has major plans to establish around 200 franchised outlets and 50 company owned outlets by the next year in Tier-II and III cities and towns.

Reliance World: Reliance World, a nationwide chain of retail stores of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), known for its telecom and digital services has recently ventured into a unique business idea. The company is breaking grounds to create a direct sales channel through its concept of Marketing Franchisees (MF). These MFs will directly market Reliance World’s products and services to the customers at their homes and offices. They will be appointed for each Reliance World store and will get pre-sales as well as post-sales support from the store owner. This support may include product training, stock management, customer convincing and fulfillment. The company plans to have at least 600 MFs by the end of 2010.

3M Car Care: 3M India with its innovative concept in car care called ‘Car Detailing’ is now present in 130 cities and towns across the country. This shows the success of this concept. The company offers a comprehensive and superior range of car care solutions. It has recently entered the organised car care retail business through the franchise way. Currently 3M products are only available through its dealers and authorised workshops. But the company aims to have at least eight franchised outlets by this year’s end.

ClubLaptop: ClubLaptop has evolved as a major player in the field of laptop solutions. After cartridge refilling, ClubLaptop offers one-stop shop solution for laptop, laptop accessories, and laptop care. The outlets are currently operational in seven cities but intend to open 150 franchise stores by end of 2010. It also plans to expand to 300 stores by 2011.

Identiti: Identiti as a brand manufactures and retail individuality products like designer nameplates and personalised name accessories is the only brand in this novel concept.. The products portfolio consists of home identiti, kids identity and identity personals. The franchise model of Identiti is based on ‘One million homes One Identiti’. The company had six exclusive outlets and seven shop-in-shops by end of 2009. Therefore, it already has established itself as a successful concept. Identiti further plans to make an international foray in 2012.

A glance through above mentioned unique franchise concepts will definitely inspire the aspiring entrepreneurs to take up the franchise business of any of the unique franchise concepts, to realise their long cherished dream to become a successful entrepreneur.