The Importance of the Brand When Choosing a Franchise

As 2016 begins, many people are making the leap to being a Franchisee. Every year the Franchise industry provides people the opportunity to own their own business and have the support of an established brand.  A strong brand can make all the difference in the world on whether you succeed or fail in business. As you consider different Franchise models, you should ask yourself the following questions

1.     How long has this franchise brand been around?

2.     What is the strength of this franchise brand?

3.     How sustainable is this franchise business?

The Franchise industry provides many brands for individuals to choose from. New concepts are introduced every year which creates  more complexity in  the brand selection process. New concepts provide a lot of opportunity for growth. This can be lucrative and exciting, but it also carries risk.  New concepts lack the brand awareness and brand strength that established brands have. This reduces the benefit that a Franchisee gains from being part of a franchise. They also tend to have a short history which can make it more difficult to predict your future operating expense and growth potential.  As you review franchise brands, you must determine if you want a brand that is well established with its own customer base and track record of performance or if you are comfortable with pursuing a brand  with  less history. 

Some franchise opportunities have been around for many years and are on the decline.  These brands should be easy to identify. They have constant changes in leadership, they lack new store growth, their offering seems dated, and they are out of touch with their core customers. You should avoid these brands. Many of these brands can provide great short-term opportunities but if the overall health of the brand you are joining is weak, your success with the brand will be short lived. Instead, you should seek out franchise business opportunities that have stability of leadership, that are innovative , and that have demonstrated recent success in growing new locations.

The final aspect you should consider when evaluating a brand is its future sustainability. Customer taste and preferences change. As you evaluate franchise businesses, you should compare and contrast their long-term sustainability. Many concepts are hot right now because they are on trend. These concepts generally boast huge returns on investments. These returns are often not sustainable because the brand is so focused on its niche and is not able to reinvent itself when trends change. Here is a great exercise for you to do: conduct  a search on the top 10 Franchisees for 2006 and then complete the same search for 2015. How has the list changed? Ask yourself why. Some brands that were on the top 10 ten years ago are still there, others have dropped off the list.

Franchise brands are not created equal. As you evaluate which brand you want to invest in, make sure you do your research. The quality of the brand should play a key role in your decision making. The time you take to thoroughly evaluate the benefits and risk of different brands will help you to make a wise decision.