MUMBAI: American spa major Red Door Spa Holdings has bypassed China and zeroed in on India for starting its global operations, a senior company official said.
“India was our first choice over China because of many factors,” said Todd Walter, CEO, Red Door Spa Holdings. “The rate at which the hospitality industry, specially the five-star hotels are growing, an increasing demand for tourism, thousands of years of culture of well-being (Ayurveda), right demographics, younger population (highly educated and affluent)—all contributed to our decision.”
For its maiden foray outside the $13.5-billion North American spa market, Red Door is ready with a two-fold strategy. First, it will partner with a leading Indian hospitality chain. Second, it will also tie up with another partner for free-standing spas in all the major Indian cities, which may include high-end residential projects as well.
“In a decade, our goal is to be in every major city of the world. And in India, we should have two spas in Delhi and Mumbai by 2011,” said Mr Walter, who is on an India visit.
The value addition that Red Door brings in for a hospitality chain, feels Mr Walter, is an increasing local footfall because of the day spa concept. And along with its Mario Tricoci salon expertise, Red Door CEO is confident of opening an additional revenue door for the hotel it partners with.
In a bid to protect the brand name and luxury positioning, Red Door won’t go for either a licensing or a franchise model in India. “It has to be a JV or a model where we have a supervisory role for sure,” said Mr Walter. All the 31 spas that operate under the Red Door name and the 20 salons under Mario Tricoci are directly owned by the Red Door Spa Holding group so that they can ensure the luxury positioning of the brand.
A leader in the North American day spa market with a turnover of $160 million, Red Door Spa started working on its global expansion strategy after the onset of recession in America.
With over 100 years in the industry, Red Door Spa owns and operates 51 full-service salons and day spas across the United States. The privately-held company backed by North Castle Partners, a private-equity firm specializing in investments in the healthy living and aging sector, licenses trademarks from the publicly-traded fragrance and cosmetics company, Elizabeth Arden Inc, part of Unilever PLC and a $1.1-bn global brand.
Tags:Red Door, Todd Walter, Red Door Spa Holdings, Mario Tricoci, North Castle Partners, Elizabeth Arden, Day Spa, Indian Hospitality Chain, Salon Franchise, franchise model, licensing,
Source:24 AUG, 2010, 02.05AM IST, NANDINI RAGHAVENDRA,ET BUREAU
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Showing posts with label franchise model. Show all posts
Showing posts with label franchise model. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Cox And Kings Franchise Model Aims at Penetrating India Travel Market.
Cox & Kings (India) Limited is in the process of increasing its presence across the country through increasing its franchise network by focusing on Tier Two and Tier Three cities such as Ambala, Kurukshetra and Tirupati. It currently has 80 franchise partners across the country and aims to increase this network to 150 partners by March 2011.
Speaking with TravelBiz Monitor Karan Anand, Head- Relationships and Supplier Management, Cox & Kings (India) Ltd said, “The franchise model is an easier growth route as it does not incur any direct investment from the company while expanding its presence in the market. We regularly receive queries from young entrepreneurs wanting to associate with our network.”
Furthermore, the company also assists students travelling overseas for higher studies and specialised courses by providing them information on travel related products like foreign currency bank notes, foreign currency demand drafts, traveller’s checks, air tickets and TravelTag baggage tracking device and student insurance.
Tags:Cox and Kings, Travel Franchise,Franchise Partners, Franchise Network, franchise model, travel abroad franchise, Karan Anand, Tours Franchise, Travel Agent Franchise, Travel Packages Franchise
Source:Dheera Majumder,Mumbai,Travel Biz Monitor
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Speaking with TravelBiz Monitor Karan Anand, Head- Relationships and Supplier Management, Cox & Kings (India) Ltd said, “The franchise model is an easier growth route as it does not incur any direct investment from the company while expanding its presence in the market. We regularly receive queries from young entrepreneurs wanting to associate with our network.”
Furthermore, the company also assists students travelling overseas for higher studies and specialised courses by providing them information on travel related products like foreign currency bank notes, foreign currency demand drafts, traveller’s checks, air tickets and TravelTag baggage tracking device and student insurance.
Tags:Cox and Kings, Travel Franchise,Franchise Partners, Franchise Network, franchise model, travel abroad franchise, Karan Anand, Tours Franchise, Travel Agent Franchise, Travel Packages Franchise
Source:Dheera Majumder,Mumbai,Travel Biz Monitor
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Friday, August 13, 2010
India Franchise Companies and Top Brands waking up to entrepreneurs in Tier II, III cities.
AHMEDABAD: A small town in Parbhani, around 400 km from the financial hub of Mumbai, has of late woken up to the concept of sending their toddlers to a branded pre-school. Never before a parent of the town actually dressed up his child in neat uniform for something that seemed essentially a plaything.
For EuroKids International Ltd, however, it was about spotting a local entrepreneur to lap up its flagship pre-school brand EuroKid as its new franchisee. With the untapped tier II and III cities showing a phenomenal 40-45% growth in the $16 billion Indian franchising industry, the decision to go to Parbhani was obvious.
Not just education service providers, even retailers, travel operators and FMCG companies are thronging lesser known towns and cities to find franchisees in local entrepreneurs. “The Indian market that has never witnessed such excitement in the franchise industry,” notes Ritu Marya, the director of Franchise India. From 300 franchisers in 2005, the numbers doubled in 2008 while standing at 1,150 in 2010, she observes. “With understanding of the franchise business, companies are eager to explore opportunities in the market that is growing at 32-35% YoY.
However, with metros and tier I cities close to saturation in terms of growth of brands through the franchise model, brands are looking at virgin markets. So be it tier II or III cities or rural India, which contribute about 25% and 5% respectively to the franchise turnover basket, brands are expected to penetrate those markets more aggressively than ever before in next five years time,” she adds. That explains presence of EuroKids’ franchisee in markets like Akot, Angangaon (both Maharashtra), Navsari and Nadiad (Gujarat) or kitchenware retailer Prestige’s franchisee in Rajapalyam (TN) and Haldia (WB) and AMUL’s in almost every nook and corner of its home state Gujarat and elsewhere.
Says KG George, VP (retail), TTK Prestige Ltd: “Our presence in 160 towns through 246 franchisees have paid off very well. In fact, in certain cases, like the outlet in Rajapalyam, the turnover (Rs 40 lakh per month) surpasses the cumulative turnover of Prestige from multi-branded outlets. Now, we are keen to scale our number by 50 additional franchisees to achieve a 13% growth this fiscal and would essentially go to smaller towns where we are not represented well.” Big brands eager to set shop in these new markets essentially assess the disposable income of the consumers. “Brands look for a market where an average income of a family would be Rs 8-10 lakh per annum. Growth in infrastructure in those pockets, low rentals and high disposable incomes have given a thrust to this process,” Marya adds.
For Debashis Chattopadhayay, who has been retailing everything from buttermilk satches to ice-creams and pizzas under the AMUL brand, saying no to eager franchise takers has understandably been a daunting task.
The deputy Manager (retail) at Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd that markets AMUL, who seeks to take the number of franchised outlets from current 5,000 to 10,000 by 2012, has experienced the brand-pull of AMUL. “We aspire to grow in smaller markets with partners who are passionate about the business and not just thinking of quick financial returns,” he says.
Franchising essentially needs a long-term approach and has to be looked at in terms of 5-10 years period. Considering it is an alternative to people, time and money, one has to be very sure about the model.Education topping the charts of the most franchised business in India (28%), followed by apparel retailing, companies playing in those sectors have adopted franchise route as their expansion strategies.
Uttam Saklani (area manager-West), EuroKids, could not agree less. Inching closer to take its tally of branded pre-schools to more than 900 in the current fiscal, the company is very sure about the potential growth markets. “With nearly 70% of our target group residing in the smaller towns and cities, we are aggressive about entering those markets through the franchise route,” he says adding that 40% of such franchised pre-schools are in smaller markets.
Tags:franchise model, franchise in tier II cities, franchise turnover, franchise penetration, franchise small towns, franchise smaller cities, franchising in small cities, franchise small markets
Source:12 Aug 2010, 1502 hrs IST,Shramana Ganguly Mehta,ET Bureau.
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
For EuroKids International Ltd, however, it was about spotting a local entrepreneur to lap up its flagship pre-school brand EuroKid as its new franchisee. With the untapped tier II and III cities showing a phenomenal 40-45% growth in the $16 billion Indian franchising industry, the decision to go to Parbhani was obvious.
Not just education service providers, even retailers, travel operators and FMCG companies are thronging lesser known towns and cities to find franchisees in local entrepreneurs. “The Indian market that has never witnessed such excitement in the franchise industry,” notes Ritu Marya, the director of Franchise India. From 300 franchisers in 2005, the numbers doubled in 2008 while standing at 1,150 in 2010, she observes. “With understanding of the franchise business, companies are eager to explore opportunities in the market that is growing at 32-35% YoY.
However, with metros and tier I cities close to saturation in terms of growth of brands through the franchise model, brands are looking at virgin markets. So be it tier II or III cities or rural India, which contribute about 25% and 5% respectively to the franchise turnover basket, brands are expected to penetrate those markets more aggressively than ever before in next five years time,” she adds. That explains presence of EuroKids’ franchisee in markets like Akot, Angangaon (both Maharashtra), Navsari and Nadiad (Gujarat) or kitchenware retailer Prestige’s franchisee in Rajapalyam (TN) and Haldia (WB) and AMUL’s in almost every nook and corner of its home state Gujarat and elsewhere.
Says KG George, VP (retail), TTK Prestige Ltd: “Our presence in 160 towns through 246 franchisees have paid off very well. In fact, in certain cases, like the outlet in Rajapalyam, the turnover (Rs 40 lakh per month) surpasses the cumulative turnover of Prestige from multi-branded outlets. Now, we are keen to scale our number by 50 additional franchisees to achieve a 13% growth this fiscal and would essentially go to smaller towns where we are not represented well.” Big brands eager to set shop in these new markets essentially assess the disposable income of the consumers. “Brands look for a market where an average income of a family would be Rs 8-10 lakh per annum. Growth in infrastructure in those pockets, low rentals and high disposable incomes have given a thrust to this process,” Marya adds.
For Debashis Chattopadhayay, who has been retailing everything from buttermilk satches to ice-creams and pizzas under the AMUL brand, saying no to eager franchise takers has understandably been a daunting task.
The deputy Manager (retail) at Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd that markets AMUL, who seeks to take the number of franchised outlets from current 5,000 to 10,000 by 2012, has experienced the brand-pull of AMUL. “We aspire to grow in smaller markets with partners who are passionate about the business and not just thinking of quick financial returns,” he says.
Franchising essentially needs a long-term approach and has to be looked at in terms of 5-10 years period. Considering it is an alternative to people, time and money, one has to be very sure about the model.Education topping the charts of the most franchised business in India (28%), followed by apparel retailing, companies playing in those sectors have adopted franchise route as their expansion strategies.
Uttam Saklani (area manager-West), EuroKids, could not agree less. Inching closer to take its tally of branded pre-schools to more than 900 in the current fiscal, the company is very sure about the potential growth markets. “With nearly 70% of our target group residing in the smaller towns and cities, we are aggressive about entering those markets through the franchise route,” he says adding that 40% of such franchised pre-schools are in smaller markets.
Tags:franchise model, franchise in tier II cities, franchise turnover, franchise penetration, franchise small towns, franchise smaller cities, franchising in small cities, franchise small markets
Source:12 Aug 2010, 1502 hrs IST,Shramana Ganguly Mehta,ET Bureau.
This Blog/Information/News Item/Press Release has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based at Bangalore,India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Barista To Look At City Franchisee Model For Further Expansion
Mumbai, July 18 (PTI) Barista Coffee Company plans to increase the number of outlets to 300 from the existing 225 by 2012, a senior company official said. Currently, the company has around 225 Barista Lavazza Espresso Bars and Barista Lavazza Cremes in over 30 cities across India.
"We want to increase the number of outlets to 300 by 2012," the company''s Vice-President, Supply Chain Management and Commissary, Sandeep Sharma, told PTI here. However, the growth would be more consolidation-driven than expansion, he added.
The cafe market in India is currently worth over Rs 5,000 crore, in which Caf Coffee Day (CCD) is a major player with a 60 per cent market share, followed by Barista with 30 per cent. "There is a huge potential for the market to grow in the near future.
We want to take advantage of this and make certain corrections in our strategy by adopting the consolidation method. Increasing the number of outlets would also be a part of the consolidation phase," he said.
The company will look at expansion during the 2012-2015 period. "After 2012, once the market picks up, we will take the necessary steps for expansion," Sharma said.
He, however, refrained from commenting on the investment the company was planning to commit. About the company''s plans for exploring the franchisee model in the country, Sharma said, "Currently, we have no franchisees (in India) and all the outlets are owned by us.
However, in the future, we might go in for city franchisees, where a franchiser could open four to five outlets in a city." The company is currently operating international franchisees in Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai and a few other countries, he said.
Tags:International Franchisees, cafe franchise, Barista Franchise, franchise model, barista franchise, cafe coffee day franchise,sandeep sharma,lavazza franchise, lavazza Creme, city franchisees,
Source:Yahoo News, 18 July 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
"We want to increase the number of outlets to 300 by 2012," the company''s Vice-President, Supply Chain Management and Commissary, Sandeep Sharma, told PTI here. However, the growth would be more consolidation-driven than expansion, he added.
The cafe market in India is currently worth over Rs 5,000 crore, in which Caf Coffee Day (CCD) is a major player with a 60 per cent market share, followed by Barista with 30 per cent. "There is a huge potential for the market to grow in the near future.
We want to take advantage of this and make certain corrections in our strategy by adopting the consolidation method. Increasing the number of outlets would also be a part of the consolidation phase," he said.
The company will look at expansion during the 2012-2015 period. "After 2012, once the market picks up, we will take the necessary steps for expansion," Sharma said.
He, however, refrained from commenting on the investment the company was planning to commit. About the company''s plans for exploring the franchisee model in the country, Sharma said, "Currently, we have no franchisees (in India) and all the outlets are owned by us.
However, in the future, we might go in for city franchisees, where a franchiser could open four to five outlets in a city." The company is currently operating international franchisees in Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai and a few other countries, he said.
Tags:International Franchisees, cafe franchise, Barista Franchise, franchise model, barista franchise, cafe coffee day franchise,sandeep sharma,lavazza franchise, lavazza Creme, city franchisees,
Source:Yahoo News, 18 July 2010.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Keen To Clean Founder Brij Purohit Looks To Franchise In India
Domestic and commercial cleaning franchise, Keen to Clean, has plans to launch into the Indian market before the end of the year.
Founder and franchisor Brij Purohit, who comes from India, told Franchising "The market in India has a huge potential and I know the market very well."
The structure of the franchise business in India is yet to be finalised, said Purohit, who launched his one-stop cleaning business in 2003 and began franchising two years ago. There are now 13 franchises in Victoria and one in New South Wales, offering carpet, blind and upholstery cleaning as part of the service.
Tags:Cleaning Franchise, commercial cleaning franchise,Service Franchise, Keen To Clean, Brij Purohit, Franchise Business, Franchise Structure, franchise model, Franchising In India,
Source:Franchising.com 16 July 2010
This Blog/News Item has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Founder and franchisor Brij Purohit, who comes from India, told Franchising "The market in India has a huge potential and I know the market very well."
The structure of the franchise business in India is yet to be finalised, said Purohit, who launched his one-stop cleaning business in 2003 and began franchising two years ago. There are now 13 franchises in Victoria and one in New South Wales, offering carpet, blind and upholstery cleaning as part of the service.
Tags:Cleaning Franchise, commercial cleaning franchise,Service Franchise, Keen To Clean, Brij Purohit, Franchise Business, Franchise Structure, franchise model, Franchising In India,
Source:Franchising.com 16 July 2010
This Blog/News Item has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The CADD Centre Franchise
Explore the franchise opportunities at CADD Centre, Asia’s largest network of CAD, CAE, and Project Planning Management (PPM) training centres.
From a “single-product”, “single-unit” training centre in Chennai, in 1988, CADD Centre, today, is offering authorized courses for over 20 market leading products in CAD, CAE, PPM and Modeling & Animation domain. It has over 280 franchises in about twelve countries including Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nigeria, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and UAE.
We attribute this phenomenal success to our domain focus and to our “Franchise first” expansion model. Our multi-faceted growth has been driven by our steadfast adherence to the core values, core vision, and core vocation of excellence.
CADD Centre started Franchising in 1995, and from then on its expansion plan has always been through franchise growth. It regards franchisee of CADD Centre as a CADD Centre that “we do not own”. Except the ownership, it takes responsibility for the franchisee revenues and profitability month after month. The performance of CADD Centre employees is assessed by the profitability of the franchisee centres.
Among the key promises of CADD Centre include:
• Centre quality
• Software compliance
• End customer satisfaction
• Course quality
• Course delivery quality
• Course compliance
• Instructor training
• Viable franchise business plan
CADD Centre takes complete control of the quality of the courses and course delivery.
Core Values:
We place the franchise’s interest first and accord foremost importance to the quality of services in: identifying market needs, conception of curriculum, course delivery, franchise support and partnering with product developers. Our values-driven approach has bestowed on us the market leadership and made us a premium training partner for global product companies.
Core Vision:
We strive to create our presence world over as a provider of high-quality training, products and services in CAD, CAE, Project Management and Modeling & animation domains. We expand through franchising, which we consider is a sustainable model of co-operative entrepreneurship. Our franchise model is homegrown and proven successful within India as well as outside.
Core Vocation Of Excellence:
At CADD Centre, we consider that “training the trainers” is our core competence that brings in standard quality and uniformity of superior customer experience across all our franchises. We continuously engage software product companies in our training.
We also facilitate the knowledge transfer and collaboration within our franchise community by organizing various events. Besides, we associate ourselves with industry bodies that work for the promotion of computer aided engineering and management education.
CADD Franchise Expansion
Through franchising, CADD Centre has increased its presence from one centre in 1995 to 280 centres in twelve countries today. However, the company does not expand for the sake of expansion. CADD Centre looks for a steady growth. It signs a few franchises, works with them for some time till they stabilize and then go for signing the next batch of new franchises. The preference for the long-term growth has helped CADD Centre to achieve over 95% success rate and a 40% year-on-year annual growth rate in franchising for many years now.
The positive feedback from customers, good word of mouth references, and increase in the network are good evidences to show that the CADD Franchise system is a success. Reference and positive word of mouth are two very important ways CADD Centre attract new franchisees. This enables a new franchise to come on board with the right expectations.
CADD Centre is keen to promote entrepreneurship (“intrapreneurship”, rather) among its employees. What stands testimony to the company’s drive towards creating entrepreneurs is the fact that many CADD Centre franchises are owned by its past employees and students, who are familiar with the company’s culture and value system.
Franchise Support - Operation
CADD Centre is a process driven organization. The day-to-day operations of the Centre are well defined and the franchisee employees are trained and retrained to carry on the business as per the process chart. The franchise is not left to any thinking or imagination when it comes to course delivery or deliverables to customer. This ensures there is a uniform delivery of knowledge and skill to every individual registering for the program. Also, the regular monitoring of the Centres, gives a good amount of control in ensuring that the Franchise system is consistent.
CADD Centre is where it is today because of its close working relationship with the franchisees. The Centre offers an induction program for three days for all franchises to provide them with guidelines for handling the operations of the centre. The franchises are guided through a handholding approach.
Franchise Support – Marketing
CADD Centre franchisee is one of the most profitable education franchisee systems in India and hence growing even in challenging times. CADD Centre does not compete with but differentiates itself from its competitors. It builds its growth on referral marketing. It regularly invests in making referral marketing work. CADD Centre believes that “word of mouth” sales are much effective than any other mode of selling. It does not encourage franchises spending too much on promotion, as providing quality education will do a great deal of marketing. However, it does use traditional media and advertisement, in association with its franchises. The shared marketing expenses help both the franchisor and the franchise invest more and get better results.
CADD Centre discusses its marketing plans and brain storms ideas with every franchisee, and facilitates in the creation of marketing plans that are unique to every centre. CADD Centre runs six regional support centres across the country to provide support to the franchises and market test the programs before they are launched at the franchise centres. The Regional Support Centres study the patterns and device/test new marketing plans. Public Relation activities are handled in every location at regular intervals to make sure CADD Centre is on the news for good reasons.
CADD Centre supports its franchises in Creatives, media planning and Market Strategy promotional plans. It designs art works for marketing that is most suited for the target and the event.
CADD Market Leadership
CADD Centre is a 22 year-old CAD training company. It has embraced franchising as a sustainable model of cooperative entrepreneurship, for the last 15 years. Through franchising, the company has increased its centres from one in 1995 to 280 today. In the very first year of its operations, CADD Centre trained 40 people but the number of people trained by the CADD Centre has crossed the 500,000 mark! All these make, CADD Centre one among the world leaders in CAD/CAE/PPM training, Asia’s largest training network and India’s most influential launch medium for any CAD/CAE/CAM/PPM product companies in the world.
CADD Centre demands a premium from the principals (software product companies) as well as the customers (students and corporate employees). It offers the most comprehensive range of training programmes in its domain. CADD Centre believes that it is able to achieve gain and retain its market leadership in a very specialized segment only because of its deep insights into the franchise business.
CADD Franchise Revenue Sharing
CADD Centre has a very unique franchisee model where by the franchisee is allowed to earn in proportion to the efforts they put in the business. CADD Centre does not charge royalty based on the revenues – CADD Centre believes that when a franchise puts in a lot of efforts to increase its collections and profits, it is only fair to allow the franchise to retain a lion’s share.
The revenue sharing is based on a percentage – an annual fee – that is worked out at the very beginning, adhering to the business principles, size of operations and market potential. The annual fee model helps CADD Centre and its franchises keep their level of commitment at peak. Based on the track record of the performance of franchises, CADD Centre reworks the revenue sharing model to reflect the aspirations of franchises.
Franchise Requirements
CADD Centre franchise needs to be a local person. CADD Centre believes that a local person is the best to deliver the services exactly the way an end customer would want it. That is one of the reasons why it has taken the franchise route for expansion.
At CADD Centre, the franchisee is not just an investor but an entrepreneur responsible for success of the franchise centre. The franchise owner looks after the day to day operations of the Centre and sets and meets the targets to make the Centre profitable. CADD Centre works closely with the franchise in initial investments. It teaches the franchise how to work the costing and the investment. As an extension the franchise also understands how to handle the returns.
The franchise invests in physical infrastructure including hardware and software – the initial investment varies depending on the market size. CADD Centre charges an annual fee, which is not fixed based on the revenue. This means there will be no increase in the annual fee in proportion to the increase in the franchise’s revenues.
As for the centre premise is concerned, CADD Centre insists on a comfortable space with ventilation to accommodate class rooms labs, meeting rooms, sales cabins, manager cabins, staff room, store room, toilets, and of course, reserved parking space. There could be spare capacity to be used for walk-in demonstrations and special training on software.
CADD Franchise Relationship
CADD Centre treats its franchises as customers and evolves a win-win strategy. It gives a lot of value and priority to its relationship with the franchise. The company listens to its franchises and hand holds the franchise in business operations
Many franchisees of CADD Centre are its long time associates. For instance, its first franchise partner, Mr.V R Chander started CADD Centre at Coimbatore in a 1200 sft space in 1995. The first year revenue was Rs 24 lakhs. Today, he runs 3 centres in Coimbatore in over 10,000 sft space with revenue of around Rs 200 lakhs.
Tags:cadd franchise,Training Franchise, Education Franchise, Cadd Centre, franchise model, software franchise, franchise expansion, franchise system,franchise support, franchisee system,Franchise Business,
Source:franchise.caddcentre.ws
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
From a “single-product”, “single-unit” training centre in Chennai, in 1988, CADD Centre, today, is offering authorized courses for over 20 market leading products in CAD, CAE, PPM and Modeling & Animation domain. It has over 280 franchises in about twelve countries including Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nigeria, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and UAE.
We attribute this phenomenal success to our domain focus and to our “Franchise first” expansion model. Our multi-faceted growth has been driven by our steadfast adherence to the core values, core vision, and core vocation of excellence.
CADD Centre started Franchising in 1995, and from then on its expansion plan has always been through franchise growth. It regards franchisee of CADD Centre as a CADD Centre that “we do not own”. Except the ownership, it takes responsibility for the franchisee revenues and profitability month after month. The performance of CADD Centre employees is assessed by the profitability of the franchisee centres.
Among the key promises of CADD Centre include:
• Centre quality
• Software compliance
• End customer satisfaction
• Course quality
• Course delivery quality
• Course compliance
• Instructor training
• Viable franchise business plan
CADD Centre takes complete control of the quality of the courses and course delivery.
Core Values:
We place the franchise’s interest first and accord foremost importance to the quality of services in: identifying market needs, conception of curriculum, course delivery, franchise support and partnering with product developers. Our values-driven approach has bestowed on us the market leadership and made us a premium training partner for global product companies.
Core Vision:
We strive to create our presence world over as a provider of high-quality training, products and services in CAD, CAE, Project Management and Modeling & animation domains. We expand through franchising, which we consider is a sustainable model of co-operative entrepreneurship. Our franchise model is homegrown and proven successful within India as well as outside.
Core Vocation Of Excellence:
At CADD Centre, we consider that “training the trainers” is our core competence that brings in standard quality and uniformity of superior customer experience across all our franchises. We continuously engage software product companies in our training.
We also facilitate the knowledge transfer and collaboration within our franchise community by organizing various events. Besides, we associate ourselves with industry bodies that work for the promotion of computer aided engineering and management education.
CADD Franchise Expansion
Through franchising, CADD Centre has increased its presence from one centre in 1995 to 280 centres in twelve countries today. However, the company does not expand for the sake of expansion. CADD Centre looks for a steady growth. It signs a few franchises, works with them for some time till they stabilize and then go for signing the next batch of new franchises. The preference for the long-term growth has helped CADD Centre to achieve over 95% success rate and a 40% year-on-year annual growth rate in franchising for many years now.
The positive feedback from customers, good word of mouth references, and increase in the network are good evidences to show that the CADD Franchise system is a success. Reference and positive word of mouth are two very important ways CADD Centre attract new franchisees. This enables a new franchise to come on board with the right expectations.
CADD Centre is keen to promote entrepreneurship (“intrapreneurship”, rather) among its employees. What stands testimony to the company’s drive towards creating entrepreneurs is the fact that many CADD Centre franchises are owned by its past employees and students, who are familiar with the company’s culture and value system.
Franchise Support - Operation
CADD Centre is a process driven organization. The day-to-day operations of the Centre are well defined and the franchisee employees are trained and retrained to carry on the business as per the process chart. The franchise is not left to any thinking or imagination when it comes to course delivery or deliverables to customer. This ensures there is a uniform delivery of knowledge and skill to every individual registering for the program. Also, the regular monitoring of the Centres, gives a good amount of control in ensuring that the Franchise system is consistent.
CADD Centre is where it is today because of its close working relationship with the franchisees. The Centre offers an induction program for three days for all franchises to provide them with guidelines for handling the operations of the centre. The franchises are guided through a handholding approach.
Franchise Support – Marketing
CADD Centre franchisee is one of the most profitable education franchisee systems in India and hence growing even in challenging times. CADD Centre does not compete with but differentiates itself from its competitors. It builds its growth on referral marketing. It regularly invests in making referral marketing work. CADD Centre believes that “word of mouth” sales are much effective than any other mode of selling. It does not encourage franchises spending too much on promotion, as providing quality education will do a great deal of marketing. However, it does use traditional media and advertisement, in association with its franchises. The shared marketing expenses help both the franchisor and the franchise invest more and get better results.
CADD Centre discusses its marketing plans and brain storms ideas with every franchisee, and facilitates in the creation of marketing plans that are unique to every centre. CADD Centre runs six regional support centres across the country to provide support to the franchises and market test the programs before they are launched at the franchise centres. The Regional Support Centres study the patterns and device/test new marketing plans. Public Relation activities are handled in every location at regular intervals to make sure CADD Centre is on the news for good reasons.
CADD Centre supports its franchises in Creatives, media planning and Market Strategy promotional plans. It designs art works for marketing that is most suited for the target and the event.
CADD Market Leadership
CADD Centre is a 22 year-old CAD training company. It has embraced franchising as a sustainable model of cooperative entrepreneurship, for the last 15 years. Through franchising, the company has increased its centres from one in 1995 to 280 today. In the very first year of its operations, CADD Centre trained 40 people but the number of people trained by the CADD Centre has crossed the 500,000 mark! All these make, CADD Centre one among the world leaders in CAD/CAE/PPM training, Asia’s largest training network and India’s most influential launch medium for any CAD/CAE/CAM/PPM product companies in the world.
CADD Centre demands a premium from the principals (software product companies) as well as the customers (students and corporate employees). It offers the most comprehensive range of training programmes in its domain. CADD Centre believes that it is able to achieve gain and retain its market leadership in a very specialized segment only because of its deep insights into the franchise business.
CADD Franchise Revenue Sharing
CADD Centre has a very unique franchisee model where by the franchisee is allowed to earn in proportion to the efforts they put in the business. CADD Centre does not charge royalty based on the revenues – CADD Centre believes that when a franchise puts in a lot of efforts to increase its collections and profits, it is only fair to allow the franchise to retain a lion’s share.
The revenue sharing is based on a percentage – an annual fee – that is worked out at the very beginning, adhering to the business principles, size of operations and market potential. The annual fee model helps CADD Centre and its franchises keep their level of commitment at peak. Based on the track record of the performance of franchises, CADD Centre reworks the revenue sharing model to reflect the aspirations of franchises.
Franchise Requirements
CADD Centre franchise needs to be a local person. CADD Centre believes that a local person is the best to deliver the services exactly the way an end customer would want it. That is one of the reasons why it has taken the franchise route for expansion.
At CADD Centre, the franchisee is not just an investor but an entrepreneur responsible for success of the franchise centre. The franchise owner looks after the day to day operations of the Centre and sets and meets the targets to make the Centre profitable. CADD Centre works closely with the franchise in initial investments. It teaches the franchise how to work the costing and the investment. As an extension the franchise also understands how to handle the returns.
The franchise invests in physical infrastructure including hardware and software – the initial investment varies depending on the market size. CADD Centre charges an annual fee, which is not fixed based on the revenue. This means there will be no increase in the annual fee in proportion to the increase in the franchise’s revenues.
As for the centre premise is concerned, CADD Centre insists on a comfortable space with ventilation to accommodate class rooms labs, meeting rooms, sales cabins, manager cabins, staff room, store room, toilets, and of course, reserved parking space. There could be spare capacity to be used for walk-in demonstrations and special training on software.
CADD Franchise Relationship
CADD Centre treats its franchises as customers and evolves a win-win strategy. It gives a lot of value and priority to its relationship with the franchise. The company listens to its franchises and hand holds the franchise in business operations
Many franchisees of CADD Centre are its long time associates. For instance, its first franchise partner, Mr.V R Chander started CADD Centre at Coimbatore in a 1200 sft space in 1995. The first year revenue was Rs 24 lakhs. Today, he runs 3 centres in Coimbatore in over 10,000 sft space with revenue of around Rs 200 lakhs.
Tags:cadd franchise,Training Franchise, Education Franchise, Cadd Centre, franchise model, software franchise, franchise expansion, franchise system,franchise support, franchisee system,Franchise Business,
Source:franchise.caddcentre.ws
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Gokaldas Plans Large Wholesale Stores In Chennai & Delhi
BENGALOORU: Blackstone Group Lp funded Gokaldas Exports Ltd is looking to expand its wholesale business to achieve an all-India footprint and reduce inventory.
The move by India's largest garment exporter comes at a time when growth in overseas orders, particularly from Europe, is uncertain, prompting many textile firms to eye the growing domestic market.
"At any given point of time, we have about Rs60 crore of inventory and this (cash and carry) format will be an effective means to dispose of it," managing director Rajendra Hinduja said.
Gokaldas's apparel business has a requirement of around 4 million metres of fabric a month, some of which is piled up as inventory if there aren't adequate export orders.
Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Blackstone Group.
The Bangalore-based firm, which employs 41,000 people, sees huge potential among small retailers and wholesalers, and plans to open large stores in Chennai and New Delhi after its 30,000 sq. ft wholesale store in Bangalore started doing well since it opened in late 2009.
In the past few months, the Bangalore shop has been earning about Rs 1 crore in revenue every month. This is set to double, said Hinduja.
The firm plans to open a 12,000 sq. ft store in Chennai's Nelson Manickam Road this year, followed by a 20,000 sq. ft shop in New Delhi.
"This format is new and pricing will be one of the key determining factors to decide whether it would work," said a Bangalore-based retail consultant, who declined to be named. "Exporters such as Gokaldas should keep the prices attractive to attract small retailers and shouldn't get lured by high margins."
Though cash and carry is uncommon among garment exporters, large firms such as Gokaldas and Mumbai-based Alok Industries Ltd have begun to use this route to better penetrate the local market.
Integrated textile firm Alok Industries launched its retail apparel brand H&A three years ago, but converted it into a wholesale format in December last year. "We have about 220 stores through a franchise model and will expand the network to 400," chief finance officer Sunil Khandelwal said.
"With the growth in India's organized retailing, exporters will increase their domestic business to 30% from the current average of 10%," said Prashant Agarwal, vice-president, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a management consultancy.
Gokaldas expects that around 10% of its net sales of Rs1,100 crore would come from its cash and carry business in a couple of years.
According to Technopak, India's textile exports are valued at above $20 billion (Rs93,400 crore), while domestic textile and apparel business is $40 billion.
Like many of its counterparts, Gokaldas Exports reported a loss in the March quarter. It posted a net loss of Rs14.41 crore in the three months compared with a net profit of Rs4.72 crore in the year-ago period.
Since many textile exporters are incurring losses and their margins are under pressure, they are likely to venture into new businesses in the fiscal year to March 2011.
Gokaldas, for example, has also started a high-margin industrial textile business this year and has secured its first order of 100,000 uniforms from the US.
Tags:Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Rajendra Hinduja, Sunil Khandelwal.
Source:Bharattextile.com
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
The move by India's largest garment exporter comes at a time when growth in overseas orders, particularly from Europe, is uncertain, prompting many textile firms to eye the growing domestic market.
"At any given point of time, we have about Rs60 crore of inventory and this (cash and carry) format will be an effective means to dispose of it," managing director Rajendra Hinduja said.
Gokaldas's apparel business has a requirement of around 4 million metres of fabric a month, some of which is piled up as inventory if there aren't adequate export orders.
Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Blackstone Group.
The Bangalore-based firm, which employs 41,000 people, sees huge potential among small retailers and wholesalers, and plans to open large stores in Chennai and New Delhi after its 30,000 sq. ft wholesale store in Bangalore started doing well since it opened in late 2009.
In the past few months, the Bangalore shop has been earning about Rs 1 crore in revenue every month. This is set to double, said Hinduja.
The firm plans to open a 12,000 sq. ft store in Chennai's Nelson Manickam Road this year, followed by a 20,000 sq. ft shop in New Delhi.
"This format is new and pricing will be one of the key determining factors to decide whether it would work," said a Bangalore-based retail consultant, who declined to be named. "Exporters such as Gokaldas should keep the prices attractive to attract small retailers and shouldn't get lured by high margins."
Though cash and carry is uncommon among garment exporters, large firms such as Gokaldas and Mumbai-based Alok Industries Ltd have begun to use this route to better penetrate the local market.
Integrated textile firm Alok Industries launched its retail apparel brand H&A three years ago, but converted it into a wholesale format in December last year. "We have about 220 stores through a franchise model and will expand the network to 400," chief finance officer Sunil Khandelwal said.
"With the growth in India's organized retailing, exporters will increase their domestic business to 30% from the current average of 10%," said Prashant Agarwal, vice-president, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a management consultancy.
Gokaldas expects that around 10% of its net sales of Rs1,100 crore would come from its cash and carry business in a couple of years.
According to Technopak, India's textile exports are valued at above $20 billion (Rs93,400 crore), while domestic textile and apparel business is $40 billion.
Like many of its counterparts, Gokaldas Exports reported a loss in the March quarter. It posted a net loss of Rs14.41 crore in the three months compared with a net profit of Rs4.72 crore in the year-ago period.
Since many textile exporters are incurring losses and their margins are under pressure, they are likely to venture into new businesses in the fiscal year to March 2011.
Gokaldas, for example, has also started a high-margin industrial textile business this year and has secured its first order of 100,000 uniforms from the US.
Tags:Gokaldas Franchise, Cash and Carry Franchise,Alok Industries, H and A, franchise model, textile franchise, Apparel Franchise, Export Surplus Franchise,Rajendra Hinduja, Sunil Khandelwal.
Source:Bharattextile.com
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Just Books Library Franchise Founder Sunder Rajans Journey Of Starting The Library Chain
One afternoon last week I met R Sunder Rajan, the founder of Just Books at N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), IIM, Bangalore, where the two-year-old startup is incubated.
Rajan belongs to a new generation of entrepreneurs, who has slipped into something totally different after years of working in IT firms. Rajan spent 15 years at the IT firm IFlex, after joining them as a fresh graduate from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. The soft spoken and mild-mannered Madurai native in his late thirties says, “My father says I am the first in the family to ever handle a cash box.”
Rajan started a book library near his Whitefield home in mid 2008, since he couldn’t find a good library close to his home. So was the case for a lot of other Whitefield residents. He was surprised to see the tiny operation gain a thousand members in a couple of months.
The response prompted him to take a break from his job around the same time, and he felt he had an entrepreneurial streak; this was a creative pursuit different from his normal work. He explains, “Books looked like an easy thing to handle.”
140000 books, 60000 titles, ten branches and 10000 members, reports Rajan as he describes the growth of Just Books in a short time. One can visit the library to rent, read and return, or do the same online, with books door delivered. Just Books is positioned as a family centric, open to all library, with plans starting at Rs 150 a month, without a pay-per-book charge. They plan to focus primarily on books without getting diverted into coffee shops and movie rentals.
Rajan’s vision is that every neighbourhood has a Just Books store, and the book base is large enough so that every reader finds his or her book, and every book finds its reader. I talked to Rajan for a little over an hour about his journey.
What is innovative about Just Books?
It’s (mainly) the packaging. We had picked up retail industry concepts, like good ambience, good flooring, false ceiling, throwing technology – RFID, self service, and kept the library functioning at the core: take books, read and return and pick up.
How did the firm grow?
I took a break from work, spent a few months at the library, lot of people asked if I can do something like this in their neighborhoods. Why are you only here (in Whitefield), can you do something in Indiranagar? Essentially (it was) leading to franchises, so I read up on franchise model…didn’t want to go against natural momentum.
At one of the Franchise conferences, I bumped into a team from NSRCEL. So I went and gave them a presentation. We formally got incubated in May 2009 (NSRCEL supports startups with incubation facilities and mentoring help. Just Books got incubated there and NSRCEL helped Rajan firm up the franchise model. The JP Nagar branch opened early 2009, followed by many other franchise branches over the months. Just Books now has 30 employees in all, divided into the retail, technology and books teams.)
At the same time (January 2009), I though it’s good to experiment and look at another branch. I looked at JP Nagar and consciously looked at a different kind of neighborhood such as more traditional ones to find out if there are still takers for a library. Then the outline fell into place
Instead of one big library, there should be lots of small libraries, and connect them and let people know they could walk into any library.
How did you hire people?
We initially looked at people with library science background, but they were looking for corporates/schools and couldn’t connect to this. Most of them wanted to work from 9am-6pm. Most of them wanted to join IT companies and handle the libraries there. We ended up drifting to guys with retail industry background. They were quite okay with spending long hours, shifts, working Saturday and Sundays.
How do the staff connect with the readers?
We had a book centric approach, but since the people came from retail industry background, they could engage with the customers.
I thought I could use technology, to bridge the gap to provide book related interaction. I think there is still a missing connection, sometimes when a reader asks for a book, (the staff) don’t the know spelling of a popular writer.
But many of them (BA, BCom graduates) see it as a good career opportunity to learn, they are those who never got an opportunity.
How do you find the reading population of the various neighbourhoods?
The crowd in each area is unique; there is a lot of peer pressure in choosing a book. Whitefield community read a lot American authors such as Junie B Jones, Judy Blumes, whereas in places like Jayanagar, Amar Chitra Kathas are still popular. We try not be judgmental, all books are available in all branches. Enid Blytons and Hardy Boys are still popular, there are takers.
People take offence if you don’t have good Kannada collection in Jayanagar. JP Nagar has more of a mixed crowd, not so traditional.
What about regional language books?
Regional language books have their own takers if the right collection is available. They don’t want to read the old classics again and again. But there is a supply side bottleneck. There aren’t enough books getting published. I want to have a million books to meet the need of Bangalore’s reading population.
So what kind of books do you stock?
The regular popular books and we also have literary panels which recommend specific books.
How do you ensure every book finds its reader?
We have our reader base. We also ask publishers to send their samples to Just Books.
What’s your take on public libraries?
A library is considered a civic amenity for public good. Public libraries are book centric institutions where all kinds of books are available. But it is a volume game; it’s a challenge for a purely government run organisation to cater (to a large reading population like ours).
Do you think there is a trend of those moving out of IT?
It’s very visible. IT industry middle management phase is boring, fairly long phase..there is a strong ecosystem especially in Bangalore.
Is it an issue coming from a pure professional background?
It’s actually a big strength not to come from a business background. We are more into lifestyle and service. Also the book trade has people from family businesses, they find it refreshing to talk to people like us.
Tell me about your family.
Meenakshi, my wife, she is an integral part of this whole thing. We met at iFlex, she still continues there, we chose that one of us spends energy in this. I was comfortable stepping out of the system. When it was just an interest, whole family was extremely supportive, but I talked about switching to full time, there were mixed reactions. People were not sure. There were no serious objections, but they felt, why so much energy on a library chain. But they could connect to the idea of books (we were a reading family).
What do you yourself read?
I read more of non-fiction, little bit of many things. Currently reading Business at the speed of thought by Bill Gates. I read Malcolm Gladwell, Ramachandra Guha and so on.
What are your challenges now?
Expectations will run ahead of our capabilities, that is going to be our main challenge in the next year. A year back, even when we were sloppier, they would say nice things. Now they come with a certain expectation…we may be able to scale much slower than expectations. I am hoping people give us a little longer rope.
Tags:Just Books Store, franchise model, franchise conferences, NSRCEL, franchise branches,Library Franchise, Books Franchise, Reading Franchise, Just Books,R Sunder Rajan, Start Up Franchise.
Source:Meera K,Citizen Matters.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Rajan belongs to a new generation of entrepreneurs, who has slipped into something totally different after years of working in IT firms. Rajan spent 15 years at the IT firm IFlex, after joining them as a fresh graduate from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. The soft spoken and mild-mannered Madurai native in his late thirties says, “My father says I am the first in the family to ever handle a cash box.”
Rajan started a book library near his Whitefield home in mid 2008, since he couldn’t find a good library close to his home. So was the case for a lot of other Whitefield residents. He was surprised to see the tiny operation gain a thousand members in a couple of months.
The response prompted him to take a break from his job around the same time, and he felt he had an entrepreneurial streak; this was a creative pursuit different from his normal work. He explains, “Books looked like an easy thing to handle.”
140000 books, 60000 titles, ten branches and 10000 members, reports Rajan as he describes the growth of Just Books in a short time. One can visit the library to rent, read and return, or do the same online, with books door delivered. Just Books is positioned as a family centric, open to all library, with plans starting at Rs 150 a month, without a pay-per-book charge. They plan to focus primarily on books without getting diverted into coffee shops and movie rentals.
Rajan’s vision is that every neighbourhood has a Just Books store, and the book base is large enough so that every reader finds his or her book, and every book finds its reader. I talked to Rajan for a little over an hour about his journey.
What is innovative about Just Books?
It’s (mainly) the packaging. We had picked up retail industry concepts, like good ambience, good flooring, false ceiling, throwing technology – RFID, self service, and kept the library functioning at the core: take books, read and return and pick up.
How did the firm grow?
I took a break from work, spent a few months at the library, lot of people asked if I can do something like this in their neighborhoods. Why are you only here (in Whitefield), can you do something in Indiranagar? Essentially (it was) leading to franchises, so I read up on franchise model…didn’t want to go against natural momentum.
At one of the Franchise conferences, I bumped into a team from NSRCEL. So I went and gave them a presentation. We formally got incubated in May 2009 (NSRCEL supports startups with incubation facilities and mentoring help. Just Books got incubated there and NSRCEL helped Rajan firm up the franchise model. The JP Nagar branch opened early 2009, followed by many other franchise branches over the months. Just Books now has 30 employees in all, divided into the retail, technology and books teams.)
At the same time (January 2009), I though it’s good to experiment and look at another branch. I looked at JP Nagar and consciously looked at a different kind of neighborhood such as more traditional ones to find out if there are still takers for a library. Then the outline fell into place
Instead of one big library, there should be lots of small libraries, and connect them and let people know they could walk into any library.
How did you hire people?
We initially looked at people with library science background, but they were looking for corporates/schools and couldn’t connect to this. Most of them wanted to work from 9am-6pm. Most of them wanted to join IT companies and handle the libraries there. We ended up drifting to guys with retail industry background. They were quite okay with spending long hours, shifts, working Saturday and Sundays.
How do the staff connect with the readers?
We had a book centric approach, but since the people came from retail industry background, they could engage with the customers.
I thought I could use technology, to bridge the gap to provide book related interaction. I think there is still a missing connection, sometimes when a reader asks for a book, (the staff) don’t the know spelling of a popular writer.
But many of them (BA, BCom graduates) see it as a good career opportunity to learn, they are those who never got an opportunity.
How do you find the reading population of the various neighbourhoods?
The crowd in each area is unique; there is a lot of peer pressure in choosing a book. Whitefield community read a lot American authors such as Junie B Jones, Judy Blumes, whereas in places like Jayanagar, Amar Chitra Kathas are still popular. We try not be judgmental, all books are available in all branches. Enid Blytons and Hardy Boys are still popular, there are takers.
People take offence if you don’t have good Kannada collection in Jayanagar. JP Nagar has more of a mixed crowd, not so traditional.
What about regional language books?
Regional language books have their own takers if the right collection is available. They don’t want to read the old classics again and again. But there is a supply side bottleneck. There aren’t enough books getting published. I want to have a million books to meet the need of Bangalore’s reading population.
So what kind of books do you stock?
The regular popular books and we also have literary panels which recommend specific books.
How do you ensure every book finds its reader?
We have our reader base. We also ask publishers to send their samples to Just Books.
What’s your take on public libraries?
A library is considered a civic amenity for public good. Public libraries are book centric institutions where all kinds of books are available. But it is a volume game; it’s a challenge for a purely government run organisation to cater (to a large reading population like ours).
Do you think there is a trend of those moving out of IT?
It’s very visible. IT industry middle management phase is boring, fairly long phase..there is a strong ecosystem especially in Bangalore.
Is it an issue coming from a pure professional background?
It’s actually a big strength not to come from a business background. We are more into lifestyle and service. Also the book trade has people from family businesses, they find it refreshing to talk to people like us.
Tell me about your family.
Meenakshi, my wife, she is an integral part of this whole thing. We met at iFlex, she still continues there, we chose that one of us spends energy in this. I was comfortable stepping out of the system. When it was just an interest, whole family was extremely supportive, but I talked about switching to full time, there were mixed reactions. People were not sure. There were no serious objections, but they felt, why so much energy on a library chain. But they could connect to the idea of books (we were a reading family).
What do you yourself read?
I read more of non-fiction, little bit of many things. Currently reading Business at the speed of thought by Bill Gates. I read Malcolm Gladwell, Ramachandra Guha and so on.
What are your challenges now?
Expectations will run ahead of our capabilities, that is going to be our main challenge in the next year. A year back, even when we were sloppier, they would say nice things. Now they come with a certain expectation…we may be able to scale much slower than expectations. I am hoping people give us a little longer rope.
Tags:Just Books Store, franchise model, franchise conferences, NSRCEL, franchise branches,Library Franchise, Books Franchise, Reading Franchise, Just Books,R Sunder Rajan, Start Up Franchise.
Source:Meera K,Citizen Matters.
This Blog has been posted by Sparkleminds, A Franchise Consulting Company Based At Bangalore, India, Offering Complete Franchise Solutions Nationally and Internationally for more than a decade now.Visit www.sparkleminds.com for more details.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Reliance BIGFlix Looks at 150 Stores By Mar 2011 Via Franchise Route.
BIGFlix Movie Rentals, India’s largest online and offline movie rental service (a division of Reliance BIG Entertainment), announced today, its retail expansion plans via the franchise route with a total of 150 stores by March 2011. BIGFlix.com will deliver movies at home to the people residing in Tier II cities which will include Jaipur, Vadodara, Surat, Lucknow, Nasik, Jamshedpur, Kochi, Patna, Nagpur, Kanpur and many more.
BIGFlix currently delivers movies to 9 cities with a total retail presence of 60 stores and an access to a wide range of 21000 titles across 13 Indian languages. BIGFlix.com will engage local logistic partners best suited to the respective cities’ dynamics to deliver movies at home to the masses. The BIGFlix franchise business will have two models, namely, Store franchise and Master franchise. Store franchise, is where the interested party can become the franchise of a single store in any specific city and Master franchise, is where the interested party can opt for the franchise of a set number of stores for a specific geographic location.
Speaking on the announcement of the franchise plans, Mr. Puneet Sachdeva, Chief Lead- Franchise Operations, BIGFlix.com, said, “We are all geared up with the launch of our new expansion plans with the franchise route. While we will focus on the brand building and content acquisition aspects meeting with the specific requirements of the denizens residing in these cities, our franchisees will handle all the logistics and operations of the business. Considering that even today we see 75 – 80 % of our registrations come from the offline route, and constant tremendous response in terms of enquiries / registrations on our website from these cities for our movie service, we are confident that franchise model will be the most feasible path at this stage. Currently we have a customer base of 80,000 customers and with the franchise foray we aim to reach a target of 1, 50, 000 customers by March 2011.
Also, commenting on the launch, Mr. Pankaj Chandra, Chief Lead- Online Movie Rentals, said, “With the franchise route we aim to focus on the core aspects of our business and also reach as many people as possible and satisfy their overall movie entertainment needs. We have done intense research with regards to the movie watching habits of the population in these cities and have fine tuned basic requirements like content, pricing etc so as to cater to their requirements at best. Also, coupled with our constant urge to provide seamless experience of watching movies at home and aggressive marketing strategies planned for these cities, we will for sure meet their entertainment needs capturing the minds of the common man.”
BIGFlix Movie Rentals by now has 10 franchise stores in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh, Faridabad and Panipat and will start operations once they have their respective logistics partners finalized for these cities.
Notes to Editor
About BIGFlix Movie Rentals
BIGFlix.com, a part of Reliance BIG Entertainment, is India’s largest online and offline movie rental service, offering access to more than 21,000 titles. BIGFlix offers the biggest range of premium quality home video content spanning across 13 Indian as well as International languages. BIGFlix.com currently has a vast membership base of around 1,00,000 customers in the country. The service offers the biggest, widest library of films and other alternate content through multiple interfaces i.e. retail stores, online home delivery service and call centre. The service is available at affordable prices and offers option to view unlimited movies on subscription basis. With the aim to reach out to Indians of all age groups the world over, as the one entertainment hub to provide cutting-edge, world class digital content from the world of movies, TV serials, music and other short form content.
BIGFlix currently has a retail presence of 60 stores in 9 cities namely, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
Tags:BIGFlix Franchise, Movie Rental Franchise, Video library franchise, Store Franchise, Master Franchise, Franchise Plans, Franchise Operations, franchise model, reliance franchise,new franchise.
BIGFlix currently delivers movies to 9 cities with a total retail presence of 60 stores and an access to a wide range of 21000 titles across 13 Indian languages. BIGFlix.com will engage local logistic partners best suited to the respective cities’ dynamics to deliver movies at home to the masses. The BIGFlix franchise business will have two models, namely, Store franchise and Master franchise. Store franchise, is where the interested party can become the franchise of a single store in any specific city and Master franchise, is where the interested party can opt for the franchise of a set number of stores for a specific geographic location.
Speaking on the announcement of the franchise plans, Mr. Puneet Sachdeva, Chief Lead- Franchise Operations, BIGFlix.com, said, “We are all geared up with the launch of our new expansion plans with the franchise route. While we will focus on the brand building and content acquisition aspects meeting with the specific requirements of the denizens residing in these cities, our franchisees will handle all the logistics and operations of the business. Considering that even today we see 75 – 80 % of our registrations come from the offline route, and constant tremendous response in terms of enquiries / registrations on our website from these cities for our movie service, we are confident that franchise model will be the most feasible path at this stage. Currently we have a customer base of 80,000 customers and with the franchise foray we aim to reach a target of 1, 50, 000 customers by March 2011.
Also, commenting on the launch, Mr. Pankaj Chandra, Chief Lead- Online Movie Rentals, said, “With the franchise route we aim to focus on the core aspects of our business and also reach as many people as possible and satisfy their overall movie entertainment needs. We have done intense research with regards to the movie watching habits of the population in these cities and have fine tuned basic requirements like content, pricing etc so as to cater to their requirements at best. Also, coupled with our constant urge to provide seamless experience of watching movies at home and aggressive marketing strategies planned for these cities, we will for sure meet their entertainment needs capturing the minds of the common man.”
BIGFlix Movie Rentals by now has 10 franchise stores in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh, Faridabad and Panipat and will start operations once they have their respective logistics partners finalized for these cities.
Notes to Editor
About BIGFlix Movie Rentals
BIGFlix.com, a part of Reliance BIG Entertainment, is India’s largest online and offline movie rental service, offering access to more than 21,000 titles. BIGFlix offers the biggest range of premium quality home video content spanning across 13 Indian as well as International languages. BIGFlix.com currently has a vast membership base of around 1,00,000 customers in the country. The service offers the biggest, widest library of films and other alternate content through multiple interfaces i.e. retail stores, online home delivery service and call centre. The service is available at affordable prices and offers option to view unlimited movies on subscription basis. With the aim to reach out to Indians of all age groups the world over, as the one entertainment hub to provide cutting-edge, world class digital content from the world of movies, TV serials, music and other short form content.
BIGFlix currently has a retail presence of 60 stores in 9 cities namely, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
Tags:BIGFlix Franchise, Movie Rental Franchise, Video library franchise, Store Franchise, Master Franchise, Franchise Plans, Franchise Operations, franchise model, reliance franchise,new franchise.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Shrenuj ,The Gems and Jewellery Looks at Franchise Expansion Internationally.
Wealthy investors have been accumulating shares of Mumbai-based gems and jewellery firm Shrenuj & Company. The stock, which has risen 1% to Rs 50 on Monday, has gained close to 10% in a month on expectation of further rise the prices of polished diamonds. The buzz is that Shrenuj is planning to expand its branded retail jewellery business to over 100 outlets from about 30 outlets across the country in the next year or so.
The company plans to adopt a franchise model in Europe, while an own store model in India and China. The company has recently commenced operations in South Africa gaining access to high-quality rough diamonds from DTC Botswana, by acquiring a facility there. This is expected to result in direct access to high-quality rough diamonds from the mining source. When contacted, a senior company official said that the company has a large order book position, but declined to elaborate further.
Source:1 Jun 2010, 0119 hrs IST,ET Bureau,Contributed by Apurv Gupta, Shailesh Menon & Nishanth Vasudevan.
Tags:shrenuj,branded retail jewellery business, franchise model, jewellery franchise, franchising jewellery business,franchise jewelry brands.
The company plans to adopt a franchise model in Europe, while an own store model in India and China. The company has recently commenced operations in South Africa gaining access to high-quality rough diamonds from DTC Botswana, by acquiring a facility there. This is expected to result in direct access to high-quality rough diamonds from the mining source. When contacted, a senior company official said that the company has a large order book position, but declined to elaborate further.
Source:1 Jun 2010, 0119 hrs IST,ET Bureau,Contributed by Apurv Gupta, Shailesh Menon & Nishanth Vasudevan.
Tags:shrenuj,branded retail jewellery business, franchise model, jewellery franchise, franchising jewellery business,franchise jewelry brands.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Divine Self Opens at Taj President Mumbai and to Expand Further Across India Through Franchising
Signwrite India introduces its first spa outlet at Taj President, Mumbai
Plans to expand in India through franchise model
Friday, May 07, 2010, 10:00 Hrs [IST]
Signwrite India, a company manufacturing writing instruments has entered into the wellness industry by unveiling their spa and wellness brand ‘Divine Self’. The first outlet has been introduced at Taj President in Mumbai offering products like mood elevators, foot spa, hair spa, face spa and range of body spa. The company plans to expand its footprints to other Indian cities through its own outlets along with franchise model. It is targeting all major five-star properties in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai and Jaipur for the outlets.
Talking exclusively with Hospitality Biz, Sudarshan Motwani, CMD, Signwrite India said, “Spa and wellness sector across the world are booming with double digits growth. Everyone is talking about spa vacations and wellness tourism in various destinations. The growing demand for spa and wellness holidays is increasing with hotels now highlighting spa as their USP. Thus, we started off in a five-star property in the heart of India’s financial capital. We intend to introduce our outlets at major five-star properties across the country to tap inbound and high-end domestic clients.” Adding further about growth plans, Motwani said, “We first plan to establish ourselves in Mumbai by introducing two or three more outlets and then move to other cities. We are currently in talks with Grand Hyatt, Mumbai and with few Taj properties across India.”
Highlighting the USP of ‘Divine Self’, Motwani informed that all products at the outlet are signature products based on aroma oils. The company is also planning to supply these signature products to hotels which have or are planning to or currently offering spa facilities.
Source:Hospitality Biz India,Anita Jain,Mumbai
Tags: Signwrite India,Foot Spa, Hair Spa, Face Spa, Body Spa, Spa Franchise, wellness franchise, Mumbai Franchise, franchising Mumbai, franchise model, franchise in five star hotels,
Plans to expand in India through franchise model
Friday, May 07, 2010, 10:00 Hrs [IST]
Signwrite India, a company manufacturing writing instruments has entered into the wellness industry by unveiling their spa and wellness brand ‘Divine Self’. The first outlet has been introduced at Taj President in Mumbai offering products like mood elevators, foot spa, hair spa, face spa and range of body spa. The company plans to expand its footprints to other Indian cities through its own outlets along with franchise model. It is targeting all major five-star properties in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai and Jaipur for the outlets.
Talking exclusively with Hospitality Biz, Sudarshan Motwani, CMD, Signwrite India said, “Spa and wellness sector across the world are booming with double digits growth. Everyone is talking about spa vacations and wellness tourism in various destinations. The growing demand for spa and wellness holidays is increasing with hotels now highlighting spa as their USP. Thus, we started off in a five-star property in the heart of India’s financial capital. We intend to introduce our outlets at major five-star properties across the country to tap inbound and high-end domestic clients.” Adding further about growth plans, Motwani said, “We first plan to establish ourselves in Mumbai by introducing two or three more outlets and then move to other cities. We are currently in talks with Grand Hyatt, Mumbai and with few Taj properties across India.”
Highlighting the USP of ‘Divine Self’, Motwani informed that all products at the outlet are signature products based on aroma oils. The company is also planning to supply these signature products to hotels which have or are planning to or currently offering spa facilities.
Source:Hospitality Biz India,Anita Jain,Mumbai
Tags: Signwrite India,Foot Spa, Hair Spa, Face Spa, Body Spa, Spa Franchise, wellness franchise, Mumbai Franchise, franchising Mumbai, franchise model, franchise in five star hotels,
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Franchise Agreement And Franchise Legalities In India
Today, India is one of the biggest emerging markets for various goods and services, ranging from bare necessities to expensive luxuries. Until 1991 due to the archaic Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (FERA), almost all sectors of goods and services relating to the consumer markets in India were secure from the grasp of foreign investors. After the repeal of FERA and the coming into force of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), foreign investors found their passage into India with rules for entry becoming far more favourable. Today, a convenient medium of entry by foreign companies into the Indian market is the franchising model. Franchising also exists as a successful business module for local companies in India within various sectors.
The United States of America stands at the forefront of the franchise boom. Today, the legal environment in the United States is highly conducive to the healthy growth and evolution of franchising. With more than 50% of total retail businesses in the United States, 45% in Canada and 26% in Australia choosing a franchise model for expansion the impact of franchising on retail industries across the globe is considerable. To foster the rapid and sustained growth that this channel brings it is critical that laws to regulate the franchising business exist.
However, there are no laws enacted solely for the purpose of regulating the growing business of franchising in India, even though many nations across the world have enacted such laws. The result is that when franchisors enter India they are governed by a number of different statutes and codes rather than a single comprehensive enactment.
Franchise Laws across the Globe
There are many countries which have developed comprehensive legislation to cover franchising in their respective dominions. At the federal level in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission ’s Rules on Disclosure Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning Franchising and Business Opportunity Ventures (1979) regulate the information a franchisor is required to supply the prospective franchisee in order to enable the franchisee to make an informed decision on the prospects of venturing into the business. The North American Security Administration Association (NASSA) has adopted a Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) which delineates the information required to be disclosed to a prospective franchisee. Disclosure requirements under franchising are well-defined in the USA.
In 2000, the Ontario Legislature in Canada adopted the Arthur Wishart Act which deals comprehensively with disclosure requirements as well as important aspects of the franchisee-franchisor relationship such as fair dealing by each party to a franchise agreement as regards its performance and enforcement, and the right of action for damages for breach of the duty of fair dealing.
In the United Kingdom, there exists no operative franchise-related legislation. However different aspects are governed by norms laid down by the British Franchise Association (BFA), the regulatory body of the franchise industry in the United Kingdom. These include a code of ethical conduct, disciplinary procedure, complaints procedure and appeals procedure.
The Australian government has adopted a mandatory code of conduct and has also modified the Trade Practice Act 1974 to provide for franchising. The new code imposes comprehensive disclosure requirements and provides for mandatory mediation of franchising disputes and minimum standards for franchise agreements including, inter alia, a cooling period, refrain from seeking from a franchisee a general release liability, disclosing material facts and refrain from unreasonably withholding consent to transfer of the business.
In April 2002, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), the competition authority of Japan, published new guidelines on franchising. These guidelines contain three parts - a general description of franchising, provisions for the disclosure of necessary information (such as details of the assistance to be offered to franchisees, the nature, amount and conditions of repayment, if any, of the fee to be paid at the time of entering into a franchise agreement, etc.) at the time of the offer of a franchise and a part on vertical restraints between a franchisor and its franchisees. Under the guidelines, the failure to provide necessary information shall constitute deceptive customer inducement, which is considered an unfair trade practice.
On 31 December 2004 the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China promulgated the Measures for the Regulation of Commercial Franchises which became the sole legal framework for franchising in China. The measures became operative on 1 February 2005 and provide detailed regulations for franchising, comprising of 42 articles over nine chapters covering a wide span of areas from the franchise agreement to disclosure requirements, special rules for foreign invested enterprises and legal liabilities.
Need for a Franchise Law in India
A healthy legal environment is of great importance for franchising and should include provisions pertaining to all areas that fall within the ambit of franchising. This includes, inter alia, commercial law relating to contracts and joint ventures and intellectual property law for protection of trade marks and know-how. Franchise arrangements are subject to an array of laws and regulations in addition to those regulating commercial contracts and intellectual property rights. There are no specific laws governing franchising in India. As a result a draft franchise agreement may be governed by different laws.
Primarily a franchise agreement is a contract between the franchisor and the franchisee. The first law which comes into the picture is the Contract Act 1872 which governs contracts in India. A franchise agreement will be governed by the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and the Specific Relief Act, 1963 which provides for both specific enforcement of covenants in a contract and remedies in the form of damages for breach of contract. If a party to the franchise agreement commits a breach of contract, the aggrieved party has the option to initiate a suit for specific performance in Indian courts and apply for relief in the form of a temporary or permanent injunction, which may be granted at the discretion of the court considering the balance of convenience and the interests of justice. An order granting or rejecting an injunction may be appealed by an aggrieved party.
Laws relating to taxation, property laws, insurance law and labour laws also apply to franchise transactions. Additionally, laws and regulations applying to specific sectors of goods and services will also apply depending on the franchised.
The following are the reasons why a comprehensive franchise law is required in India:
Application of Multiple Legislation
A well-defined legal structure is indispensable for the effective functioning of any business operation. The international business environment demands a well-defined suitable legislation that is complete in all respects. The lack of a comprehensive legislation on franchising in India leads to the applicability of multiple laws to a franchise transaction.
This poses the following problems:
Complexities: Parties to a contract normally prefer agreements with a simple approach and encompassing all the required law procedures and rules required to be complied with. However the application of different laws to one agreement makes it complex to decide various issues arising from the agreement.
Ambiguities: Due to the necessary application of multiple legislation, ambiguities are created as to certain issues. For example, a franchisor would imagine that a certain issue is the franchisee’s responsibility under one law, whereas the franchisee would think the opposite based on a different law.
Time-Consuming: Referring to multiple laws consumes a lot of time at the initial stages of a transaction as well as other points of time when the agreement is sought to be enforced. This proves to be detrimental to the smooth functioning of franchising operations in India and also makes time-bound operations involving new enterprises difficult.
Absence of Disclosure Requirements
Countries with specific franchising legislation make it imperative for parties to a franchise agreement to disclose certain factual information pertaining to the business of the parties. This ensures transparency and facilitates an informed decision. A franchisor should be required, by law, to make certain disclosure to the prospective franchisee wherein he is supposed to reveal detailed information regarding himself, his litigation and bankruptcy history, his financial position, the facilities he offers etc. In India, in the absence of effective disclosure norms, a prospective franchisee is rendered helpless as the franchisor is under no statutory obligations to make disclosures.
In the absence of a specific statute governing the franchise agreement, the franchisor refrains from providing any information that is likely to prejudice or make a franchisee reconsider the business proposition of the franchisor. The lack of proper disclosure requirements provides a golden opportunity to a franchisor to abuse his position of importance as he is virtually under no statutory obligation to make the requisite disclosure.
Applicability of Laws of other Countries
Normally, the absence of franchise laws enables foreign franchisors to make the laws of their own country applicable to the agreements entered into with the franchisees in India. The same is the case with franchisors who enter into franchising agreements with franchisees from other countries. This proves to be an additional burden on the parties, particularly the franchisee.
Lack of Proper Format for Franchising Agreements
Due to lack of a specific format, franchisors from other countries draft agreements which are in the same format as is approved or followed in their countries. Such agreements are made to suit the specific environment of their respective countries and hence are not suitable for Indian environment.
Liability of Parties Uncertain
Due to the lack of specific legislation, the liability of either party is either determined by the agreements entered into between them or on the basis of general prevailing law. The liability clause is different in different countries, and this leads to a great discrepancy among the courts which try such disputes on liabilities.
The Central Government is currently considering a franchise law aimed at fast resolution of disputes; the proposal is expected to be placed before a sub-committee of the National Development Council. The aforesaid problems surrounding franchising in India necessitate the enactment of a specific legislation pertaining to franchising in India and providing for the gamut of activities that franchising encompasses. A special franchise law would greatly accelerate dispute resolutions and fortify the Indian retail industry.
Source:Franchising Association Of India.FAI,
The United States of America stands at the forefront of the franchise boom. Today, the legal environment in the United States is highly conducive to the healthy growth and evolution of franchising. With more than 50% of total retail businesses in the United States, 45% in Canada and 26% in Australia choosing a franchise model for expansion the impact of franchising on retail industries across the globe is considerable. To foster the rapid and sustained growth that this channel brings it is critical that laws to regulate the franchising business exist.
However, there are no laws enacted solely for the purpose of regulating the growing business of franchising in India, even though many nations across the world have enacted such laws. The result is that when franchisors enter India they are governed by a number of different statutes and codes rather than a single comprehensive enactment.
Franchise Laws across the Globe
There are many countries which have developed comprehensive legislation to cover franchising in their respective dominions. At the federal level in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission ’s Rules on Disclosure Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning Franchising and Business Opportunity Ventures (1979) regulate the information a franchisor is required to supply the prospective franchisee in order to enable the franchisee to make an informed decision on the prospects of venturing into the business. The North American Security Administration Association (NASSA) has adopted a Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) which delineates the information required to be disclosed to a prospective franchisee. Disclosure requirements under franchising are well-defined in the USA.
In 2000, the Ontario Legislature in Canada adopted the Arthur Wishart Act which deals comprehensively with disclosure requirements as well as important aspects of the franchisee-franchisor relationship such as fair dealing by each party to a franchise agreement as regards its performance and enforcement, and the right of action for damages for breach of the duty of fair dealing.
In the United Kingdom, there exists no operative franchise-related legislation. However different aspects are governed by norms laid down by the British Franchise Association (BFA), the regulatory body of the franchise industry in the United Kingdom. These include a code of ethical conduct, disciplinary procedure, complaints procedure and appeals procedure.
The Australian government has adopted a mandatory code of conduct and has also modified the Trade Practice Act 1974 to provide for franchising. The new code imposes comprehensive disclosure requirements and provides for mandatory mediation of franchising disputes and minimum standards for franchise agreements including, inter alia, a cooling period, refrain from seeking from a franchisee a general release liability, disclosing material facts and refrain from unreasonably withholding consent to transfer of the business.
In April 2002, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), the competition authority of Japan, published new guidelines on franchising. These guidelines contain three parts - a general description of franchising, provisions for the disclosure of necessary information (such as details of the assistance to be offered to franchisees, the nature, amount and conditions of repayment, if any, of the fee to be paid at the time of entering into a franchise agreement, etc.) at the time of the offer of a franchise and a part on vertical restraints between a franchisor and its franchisees. Under the guidelines, the failure to provide necessary information shall constitute deceptive customer inducement, which is considered an unfair trade practice.
On 31 December 2004 the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China promulgated the Measures for the Regulation of Commercial Franchises which became the sole legal framework for franchising in China. The measures became operative on 1 February 2005 and provide detailed regulations for franchising, comprising of 42 articles over nine chapters covering a wide span of areas from the franchise agreement to disclosure requirements, special rules for foreign invested enterprises and legal liabilities.
Need for a Franchise Law in India
A healthy legal environment is of great importance for franchising and should include provisions pertaining to all areas that fall within the ambit of franchising. This includes, inter alia, commercial law relating to contracts and joint ventures and intellectual property law for protection of trade marks and know-how. Franchise arrangements are subject to an array of laws and regulations in addition to those regulating commercial contracts and intellectual property rights. There are no specific laws governing franchising in India. As a result a draft franchise agreement may be governed by different laws.
Primarily a franchise agreement is a contract between the franchisor and the franchisee. The first law which comes into the picture is the Contract Act 1872 which governs contracts in India. A franchise agreement will be governed by the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and the Specific Relief Act, 1963 which provides for both specific enforcement of covenants in a contract and remedies in the form of damages for breach of contract. If a party to the franchise agreement commits a breach of contract, the aggrieved party has the option to initiate a suit for specific performance in Indian courts and apply for relief in the form of a temporary or permanent injunction, which may be granted at the discretion of the court considering the balance of convenience and the interests of justice. An order granting or rejecting an injunction may be appealed by an aggrieved party.
Laws relating to taxation, property laws, insurance law and labour laws also apply to franchise transactions. Additionally, laws and regulations applying to specific sectors of goods and services will also apply depending on the franchised.
The following are the reasons why a comprehensive franchise law is required in India:
Application of Multiple Legislation
A well-defined legal structure is indispensable for the effective functioning of any business operation. The international business environment demands a well-defined suitable legislation that is complete in all respects. The lack of a comprehensive legislation on franchising in India leads to the applicability of multiple laws to a franchise transaction.
This poses the following problems:
Complexities: Parties to a contract normally prefer agreements with a simple approach and encompassing all the required law procedures and rules required to be complied with. However the application of different laws to one agreement makes it complex to decide various issues arising from the agreement.
Ambiguities: Due to the necessary application of multiple legislation, ambiguities are created as to certain issues. For example, a franchisor would imagine that a certain issue is the franchisee’s responsibility under one law, whereas the franchisee would think the opposite based on a different law.
Time-Consuming: Referring to multiple laws consumes a lot of time at the initial stages of a transaction as well as other points of time when the agreement is sought to be enforced. This proves to be detrimental to the smooth functioning of franchising operations in India and also makes time-bound operations involving new enterprises difficult.
Absence of Disclosure Requirements
Countries with specific franchising legislation make it imperative for parties to a franchise agreement to disclose certain factual information pertaining to the business of the parties. This ensures transparency and facilitates an informed decision. A franchisor should be required, by law, to make certain disclosure to the prospective franchisee wherein he is supposed to reveal detailed information regarding himself, his litigation and bankruptcy history, his financial position, the facilities he offers etc. In India, in the absence of effective disclosure norms, a prospective franchisee is rendered helpless as the franchisor is under no statutory obligations to make disclosures.
In the absence of a specific statute governing the franchise agreement, the franchisor refrains from providing any information that is likely to prejudice or make a franchisee reconsider the business proposition of the franchisor. The lack of proper disclosure requirements provides a golden opportunity to a franchisor to abuse his position of importance as he is virtually under no statutory obligation to make the requisite disclosure.
Applicability of Laws of other Countries
Normally, the absence of franchise laws enables foreign franchisors to make the laws of their own country applicable to the agreements entered into with the franchisees in India. The same is the case with franchisors who enter into franchising agreements with franchisees from other countries. This proves to be an additional burden on the parties, particularly the franchisee.
Lack of Proper Format for Franchising Agreements
Due to lack of a specific format, franchisors from other countries draft agreements which are in the same format as is approved or followed in their countries. Such agreements are made to suit the specific environment of their respective countries and hence are not suitable for Indian environment.
Liability of Parties Uncertain
Due to the lack of specific legislation, the liability of either party is either determined by the agreements entered into between them or on the basis of general prevailing law. The liability clause is different in different countries, and this leads to a great discrepancy among the courts which try such disputes on liabilities.
The Central Government is currently considering a franchise law aimed at fast resolution of disputes; the proposal is expected to be placed before a sub-committee of the National Development Council. The aforesaid problems surrounding franchising in India necessitate the enactment of a specific legislation pertaining to franchising in India and providing for the gamut of activities that franchising encompasses. A special franchise law would greatly accelerate dispute resolutions and fortify the Indian retail industry.
Source:Franchising Association Of India.FAI,
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Caressaa Day Spa Looks at Franchising Across India
Caressaa Day Spa to launch its first outlet in Juhu, Mumbai
Plans to expand through franchise model in India
Caressaa Day Spa, a spa centre with six treatment rooms and one couple room will be launched in Juhu, Mumbai on April 15, 2010. The brand aims to expand its footprints across various cities of India through franchise model and is currently in talks with few potential franchisees. It is also open to tie up with five-star properties in India and to provide its spa services through management or franchise mode.
Talking exclusively with Hospitality Biz, Rekha Chaudhari, Co-Founder, Caressaa Day Spa said, “With increasing stress levels in today’s life, spa treatments are becoming a necessity more than a luxury. With rise in the annual disposable income among individuals coupled with the growing level of health awareness has created strong opportunities for spa treatments in India. We at Caressaa are planning to tap the ever growing spa industry by opening our first treatment centre in Juhu, Mumbai which is considered to be one of the high-end areas of the city.”
Caressaa is looking at franchising the brand across India, an alternative to build ‘chain stores’ to build the brand and avoid investment and liability over a chain. However, the brand has set certain quality and standards for the franchisee to sustain service standards across the board. Chaudhari said, “Once our Mumbai centre starts its operations, we will start accepting franchisee applications. However, we will be very selective in giving and approving franchise as per the service standards. We are currently in talks with few five-star properties in India for Caressaa Spa brand, but can only disclose the details once the deal gets finalised.”
The treatment centre will offer France-based Silicium+ products along with Dermalife Capsule for multi sensory spa experience. Caressaa will also include Kerastase Hair Station for hair treatments and hair packs.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 10:00 Hrs [IST]
By Hospitality Biz India| Anita Jain | Mumbai
Plans to expand through franchise model in India
Caressaa Day Spa, a spa centre with six treatment rooms and one couple room will be launched in Juhu, Mumbai on April 15, 2010. The brand aims to expand its footprints across various cities of India through franchise model and is currently in talks with few potential franchisees. It is also open to tie up with five-star properties in India and to provide its spa services through management or franchise mode.
Talking exclusively with Hospitality Biz, Rekha Chaudhari, Co-Founder, Caressaa Day Spa said, “With increasing stress levels in today’s life, spa treatments are becoming a necessity more than a luxury. With rise in the annual disposable income among individuals coupled with the growing level of health awareness has created strong opportunities for spa treatments in India. We at Caressaa are planning to tap the ever growing spa industry by opening our first treatment centre in Juhu, Mumbai which is considered to be one of the high-end areas of the city.”
Caressaa is looking at franchising the brand across India, an alternative to build ‘chain stores’ to build the brand and avoid investment and liability over a chain. However, the brand has set certain quality and standards for the franchisee to sustain service standards across the board. Chaudhari said, “Once our Mumbai centre starts its operations, we will start accepting franchisee applications. However, we will be very selective in giving and approving franchise as per the service standards. We are currently in talks with few five-star properties in India for Caressaa Spa brand, but can only disclose the details once the deal gets finalised.”
The treatment centre will offer France-based Silicium+ products along with Dermalife Capsule for multi sensory spa experience. Caressaa will also include Kerastase Hair Station for hair treatments and hair packs.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 10:00 Hrs [IST]
By Hospitality Biz India| Anita Jain | Mumbai
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Liberty To Franchise Outside India.
Apr 06, 2010
Footwear firm Liberty Shoes plans to open 60 outlets, including 10 overseas stores, this fiscal. Liberty's outlets overseas would be on the franchise model, according to its top official.
"We plan to open 50 outlets pan-India, primarily in tier II destinations which will take our network-strength to 550 by end-this fiscal. Besides, we plan to open 10 outlets overseas as well," said Adesh Gupta, chief executive officer, Liberty Group.
Within India, the company will focus primarily on tier II destinations while overseas it plans to set up shops in South Africa, Singapore, the Middle-East and Kuala Lumpur. "We currently have 50 outlets overseas and plan to add 5-10 more -- this should take our overseas network to between 55-60. The Middle-East, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and South Africa are on our radar," Gupta said.
The footwear major has pegged the investment for its domestic expansion at Rs 10 crore. To keep pace with its expansion, Liberty plans to up its head-count and will hire between 300-500 professionals this fiscal.
The company netted a Rs 40 crore revenue from its overseas operations while the domestic market contributed Rs 200 crore in FY10. "We expect a double-digit revenue growth this fiscal in both our overseas and Indian operations," he said.
Tags:Footwear Franchise, Shoe Franchise, Retail Franchise, Franchise Business, India Franchise,
Footwear firm Liberty Shoes plans to open 60 outlets, including 10 overseas stores, this fiscal. Liberty's outlets overseas would be on the franchise model, according to its top official.
"We plan to open 50 outlets pan-India, primarily in tier II destinations which will take our network-strength to 550 by end-this fiscal. Besides, we plan to open 10 outlets overseas as well," said Adesh Gupta, chief executive officer, Liberty Group.
Within India, the company will focus primarily on tier II destinations while overseas it plans to set up shops in South Africa, Singapore, the Middle-East and Kuala Lumpur. "We currently have 50 outlets overseas and plan to add 5-10 more -- this should take our overseas network to between 55-60. The Middle-East, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and South Africa are on our radar," Gupta said.
The footwear major has pegged the investment for its domestic expansion at Rs 10 crore. To keep pace with its expansion, Liberty plans to up its head-count and will hire between 300-500 professionals this fiscal.
The company netted a Rs 40 crore revenue from its overseas operations while the domestic market contributed Rs 200 crore in FY10. "We expect a double-digit revenue growth this fiscal in both our overseas and Indian operations," he said.
Tags:Footwear Franchise, Shoe Franchise, Retail Franchise, Franchise Business, India Franchise,
Friday, March 19, 2010
Educational Institution Bill And What It Would do to Education Franchising In India.
Education Franchise - Foreign Educational Institution Bill
Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2010
What did McDonald, KFC, Subway and the like bring to India? Well, a lot of good food, business for the local businessmen, work for the local lads, money for the Indian economy. The franchise model of business has worked wonders in the food sector in India. Relatively easy to set up, an instant brand recognition and invaluable assistance in terms of knowledge makes it an instant hit in booming economies like ours. Many other sectors have tried the franchise model as well - the hospitality industry for example.
If everything goes right in the next few months in the Parliament we may see the same franchise business model in the education sector as well. "The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of entry and operation) Bill" is all set to be tabled in the parliament for discussion soon. The cabinet has cleared it and Kapil Sibal is confident that though parties like BSP, RJD and SP would oppose it, the bill would get acceptance in BJP and other sorted out parties and should get cleared without much ado. The Left is expected to rattle a little but they have been disarmed in the recent times by the UPA government's massive numbers.
The bill, when passed, would be a big boost to the education system in India. If Universities like the Harvard, Oxford, Stanford and the like start to show interest in Indian education market we may soon move towards a standardization in the education sector which is the need of the hour. The education system in India in present times is raked by malpractices across all fields of study. Unification of education metrics has been echoed a number of times by the education minister and few other government bodies and this bill can do just that in an indirect fashion. A number of universities have had similar successful experiments in countries like Singapore specially in fields of technology, fashion and other contemporary fast paced courses.
Education franchising would bring better education to the people of India, more robust education system and better education franchisers may evolve and more than anything else it would create a respect for Indian education scenario in the rest of the world. According to the current trends the Indian student is in high demand in the global market but the Indian education is looked down upon, this Bill may change the attitude of the world.
Posted on Tuesday, March 16, 2010
What did McDonald, KFC, Subway and the like bring to India? Well, a lot of good food, business for the local businessmen, work for the local lads, money for the Indian economy. The franchise model of business has worked wonders in the food sector in India. Relatively easy to set up, an instant brand recognition and invaluable assistance in terms of knowledge makes it an instant hit in booming economies like ours. Many other sectors have tried the franchise model as well - the hospitality industry for example.
If everything goes right in the next few months in the Parliament we may see the same franchise business model in the education sector as well. "The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of entry and operation) Bill" is all set to be tabled in the parliament for discussion soon. The cabinet has cleared it and Kapil Sibal is confident that though parties like BSP, RJD and SP would oppose it, the bill would get acceptance in BJP and other sorted out parties and should get cleared without much ado. The Left is expected to rattle a little but they have been disarmed in the recent times by the UPA government's massive numbers.
The bill, when passed, would be a big boost to the education system in India. If Universities like the Harvard, Oxford, Stanford and the like start to show interest in Indian education market we may soon move towards a standardization in the education sector which is the need of the hour. The education system in India in present times is raked by malpractices across all fields of study. Unification of education metrics has been echoed a number of times by the education minister and few other government bodies and this bill can do just that in an indirect fashion. A number of universities have had similar successful experiments in countries like Singapore specially in fields of technology, fashion and other contemporary fast paced courses.
Education franchising would bring better education to the people of India, more robust education system and better education franchisers may evolve and more than anything else it would create a respect for Indian education scenario in the rest of the world. According to the current trends the Indian student is in high demand in the global market but the Indian education is looked down upon, this Bill may change the attitude of the world.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Budget 2010: What it brings to the franchise industry
With most of the market signals remaining positive with Union Budget 2010-11, consumer is happy being at the center stage of consumption story and is in a better position than a year ago. However, challenges remain. Read on to know what is in platter for for the SMEs and franchise industry.
Franchise industry has been looking forward several regulatory as well as policy reforms to facilitates its growth. A positive GST outlook by government and rise in threshold for tax compliances has been seen as a very positive move by the franchise industry. However the long impending demand of abolishing dual taxation on the franchise services has been clearly ignored by the policy makers. Presently both service tax as well as VAT are imposed upon the franchise services which distorts the franchise model completely.Morover service tax on rental proceed further makes deters the profitable feasibility. In all it has been the budget has been moderately favorable for the franchise industry. Gaurav Marya ,President, Franchise India Holding Ltd shares’’ The budget 2010-11 brings a reasonable assortment for small retailers as well as franchisors. While increased income tax exemption limits will certainly boost consumption, imposing service tax on rental property distorts retail business models by making the accessibility of retail spaces precipitously expensive, hence making it unviable to sustain profitably.'
According to D P S Kohli, Chariman, Koutons Retail India Ltd, ‘Overall, it has been a mixed budget for us. New tax slabs and rates have been introduced which would offer 60 per cent relief to the tax payers providing them with greater disposable income. This would provide the necessary boost to consumer’s spending a pre-requisite to unleash the true growth momentum of the retail sector.
In addition, reduction of surcharge on domestic companies that the finance minister has announced is sure to accelerate the expansion plans for the retail players at home. However, industry status continues to delude the retail sector. This is a disappointment since this is the first step towards reforming the sector and organising the highly unorganised sector. The hike in the excise duty is also not favorable for us since this might directly affect the quality of production.
Badrinath, Director, Accretive Global stated that the budget has both the shades of gray and white for the franchise industry he further explains detail implications
The good news
No change in service tax rates and the same continues at 10.3 per cent. The FM in his budget speech states that this proposal is “to maintain the growth momentum and also to bring about a convergence in the rates of tax on goods and services.”
Small businesses stand benefited on account of lower direct tax compliance costs. The threshold for having the accounts audited for tax has been increased from 40 lacs to 60 lacs. Further, small businesses with turnover/receipts lower than 60 lacs can also choose to be covered by the presumptive tax system. The threshold earlier was only 40 lacs.
The frequency of remittance of central excise is extended to quarterly basis from the current scheme of monthly payments for units operating under the SSI Scheme.
As a welcome step, exemption from 4 per cent special additional duty of customs is granted to mobile phones, watches and garments imported in pre-packed condition for retail sale.
The not so good news
The FM has retrospectively amended the provisions relating to levy of service tax on renting of immovable property. The judgment of the Delhi High Court in the case of Home Solutions Retail is negated by making mere renting of immovable property liable to service tax.
Further, much against the industry expectations, the FM has retained the CST at 2 per cent and the base rate of excise is increased from 8 per cent to 10 per cent.
The FM has extended service-tax on health check-up services provided to employees of a business-entity or persons covered under health-insurance-schemes if such payment is made by the business entity or insurance company. This is likely to increase the cost of healthcare services. However, if carefully managed, the franchisee in this sector could claim credits of service tax paid on various input services such as renting of immovable property and franchisee fee which is currently adding to the cost of the operations. This could reduce the net price impact for the end consumer.
As the franchise industry brings with its surge innovative new franchise business models to tap the potential of Indian consumption, it also demands a favorable ecosystem which can be realized by necessary monetary policy reforms.
Franchise industry has been looking forward several regulatory as well as policy reforms to facilitates its growth. A positive GST outlook by government and rise in threshold for tax compliances has been seen as a very positive move by the franchise industry. However the long impending demand of abolishing dual taxation on the franchise services has been clearly ignored by the policy makers. Presently both service tax as well as VAT are imposed upon the franchise services which distorts the franchise model completely.Morover service tax on rental proceed further makes deters the profitable feasibility. In all it has been the budget has been moderately favorable for the franchise industry. Gaurav Marya ,President, Franchise India Holding Ltd shares’’ The budget 2010-11 brings a reasonable assortment for small retailers as well as franchisors. While increased income tax exemption limits will certainly boost consumption, imposing service tax on rental property distorts retail business models by making the accessibility of retail spaces precipitously expensive, hence making it unviable to sustain profitably.'
According to D P S Kohli, Chariman, Koutons Retail India Ltd, ‘Overall, it has been a mixed budget for us. New tax slabs and rates have been introduced which would offer 60 per cent relief to the tax payers providing them with greater disposable income. This would provide the necessary boost to consumer’s spending a pre-requisite to unleash the true growth momentum of the retail sector.
In addition, reduction of surcharge on domestic companies that the finance minister has announced is sure to accelerate the expansion plans for the retail players at home. However, industry status continues to delude the retail sector. This is a disappointment since this is the first step towards reforming the sector and organising the highly unorganised sector. The hike in the excise duty is also not favorable for us since this might directly affect the quality of production.
Badrinath, Director, Accretive Global stated that the budget has both the shades of gray and white for the franchise industry he further explains detail implications
The good news
No change in service tax rates and the same continues at 10.3 per cent. The FM in his budget speech states that this proposal is “to maintain the growth momentum and also to bring about a convergence in the rates of tax on goods and services.”
Small businesses stand benefited on account of lower direct tax compliance costs. The threshold for having the accounts audited for tax has been increased from 40 lacs to 60 lacs. Further, small businesses with turnover/receipts lower than 60 lacs can also choose to be covered by the presumptive tax system. The threshold earlier was only 40 lacs.
The frequency of remittance of central excise is extended to quarterly basis from the current scheme of monthly payments for units operating under the SSI Scheme.
As a welcome step, exemption from 4 per cent special additional duty of customs is granted to mobile phones, watches and garments imported in pre-packed condition for retail sale.
The not so good news
The FM has retrospectively amended the provisions relating to levy of service tax on renting of immovable property. The judgment of the Delhi High Court in the case of Home Solutions Retail is negated by making mere renting of immovable property liable to service tax.
Further, much against the industry expectations, the FM has retained the CST at 2 per cent and the base rate of excise is increased from 8 per cent to 10 per cent.
The FM has extended service-tax on health check-up services provided to employees of a business-entity or persons covered under health-insurance-schemes if such payment is made by the business entity or insurance company. This is likely to increase the cost of healthcare services. However, if carefully managed, the franchisee in this sector could claim credits of service tax paid on various input services such as renting of immovable property and franchisee fee which is currently adding to the cost of the operations. This could reduce the net price impact for the end consumer.
As the franchise industry brings with its surge innovative new franchise business models to tap the potential of Indian consumption, it also demands a favorable ecosystem which can be realized by necessary monetary policy reforms.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Franchise is the best way to expand into the emerging economies of the world.
Franchising your existing business might be the best possible way to take the opportunity to enter emerging markets. Markets like India and China have complicated rules and regulations about who is entitled to own and operate a business there. The best way often to circumvent these rules is by franchising your operation in these markets.
By using franchising the franchisee owns the business whilst the franchisor takes a share of the profits. Why does an established business want to deal with headache of red tape and restrictive trade practices when with a leap of the imagination the franchise model allows them to achieve the same profitability without the same hassles?
Many British retailers including Argos and Mothercare have used the franchise model to dabble in new emerging markets. The franchise leaders that are quick to carve out major niches in these new emerging markets will grab unprecedented market share before their slow and sure footed competitors move in.
The largest emerging market place is China with India being a close second. China could become the largest market place in the world within the next ten years and overtake the USA.
Franchising is the ideal route for many US and UK companies who want to test the water without expending large sums of capital. This gives them a chance to dip their toes in the water without risking large sums of capital.
Once large organisations find that their business model does actually work in the new, exciting and dangerous market place they can dedicate their resources to find better ways to keep a higher percentage of long term profits for themselves.
China and India are very unique marketplaces. Unlike say for instance Australia not everybody in China speaks the same dialect. The divide between rich and poor is also vast. Tastes vary enormously as does buying power.
In India there are literally hundreds of different languages whilst admittedly the main bulk of buyers with money can be targeted by 2 languages… Hindi and English. Again here spending powers vary and so do belief systems.
In reality trying to expand new emerging marketplaces without testing the waters first is fraught with danger. Franchising offers a real solution to test out the marketplace, learn the structural issues and change your products and marketing so that it identifies with the local marketplace. This does not mean that you can not enter the marketplace independently. You can franchise x numbers of units and then create non franchised units in other territories.
Throughout history economic powers have grown and declined. Asia is growing rapidly and will play an ever increasing role in the ever demanding need for companies to find new customers. The buying power of Asian consumers is rising at a dramatic pace and the consumers are demanding better products and improving service. The opportunity is there now for Established US & Europe brands to market their brands and test the waters before entering fully.
To sum up, the emerging markets are predicted to compete with the western powers in terms of buying power and economic strength. Any company which ignores this is turning a blind eye and letting its competitors expand, gain a foothold and exploit the opportunity whilst they watch and wait.
By using franchising the franchisee owns the business whilst the franchisor takes a share of the profits. Why does an established business want to deal with headache of red tape and restrictive trade practices when with a leap of the imagination the franchise model allows them to achieve the same profitability without the same hassles?
Many British retailers including Argos and Mothercare have used the franchise model to dabble in new emerging markets. The franchise leaders that are quick to carve out major niches in these new emerging markets will grab unprecedented market share before their slow and sure footed competitors move in.
The largest emerging market place is China with India being a close second. China could become the largest market place in the world within the next ten years and overtake the USA.
Franchising is the ideal route for many US and UK companies who want to test the water without expending large sums of capital. This gives them a chance to dip their toes in the water without risking large sums of capital.
Once large organisations find that their business model does actually work in the new, exciting and dangerous market place they can dedicate their resources to find better ways to keep a higher percentage of long term profits for themselves.
China and India are very unique marketplaces. Unlike say for instance Australia not everybody in China speaks the same dialect. The divide between rich and poor is also vast. Tastes vary enormously as does buying power.
In India there are literally hundreds of different languages whilst admittedly the main bulk of buyers with money can be targeted by 2 languages… Hindi and English. Again here spending powers vary and so do belief systems.
In reality trying to expand new emerging marketplaces without testing the waters first is fraught with danger. Franchising offers a real solution to test out the marketplace, learn the structural issues and change your products and marketing so that it identifies with the local marketplace. This does not mean that you can not enter the marketplace independently. You can franchise x numbers of units and then create non franchised units in other territories.
Throughout history economic powers have grown and declined. Asia is growing rapidly and will play an ever increasing role in the ever demanding need for companies to find new customers. The buying power of Asian consumers is rising at a dramatic pace and the consumers are demanding better products and improving service. The opportunity is there now for Established US & Europe brands to market their brands and test the waters before entering fully.
To sum up, the emerging markets are predicted to compete with the western powers in terms of buying power and economic strength. Any company which ignores this is turning a blind eye and letting its competitors expand, gain a foothold and exploit the opportunity whilst they watch and wait.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Fastrack to Cross 50 Exclusive Stores by April 2010
Fastrack, a fashion accessories brand from Titan Industries Ltd, is mulling to take the number of its exclusive stores to 50 across the country by April 2010, majority of them through franchise model.
According to Fastrack vice president and head Ronnie Talati, most of the outlets would be operated on franchise model with an investment of Rs 40-50 lakh, and a floor space of 400-500 sq ft.
“Since the launch of our first exclusive Fastrack store in Pune, the brand has received tremendous response in Vizag, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Thane and Nashik with Fastrack stores. With the launch of new stores at Begumpet and Himayatnagar in Hyderabad, we now have 13 Fastrack exclusive stores and seven kiosks,” Talati added.
The perspective plan envisages setting up of 50 stores in the country by April 2010 and then expands this further to a chain of over 100 outlets by next year. “We have set up a few of these stores as demonstration points and receive enquires for new stores. In fact, several of the dealers of Titan stores are keen to set up Fastrack stores,” Talati told reporters on the launch of two new stores in Hyderabad.
“Finding a right place to set up a store is a key challenge for us. Once we do so, we are able to roll it out soon. The choice of location of a store is also dependent on how fast we can secure a property. With the slowdown in the real estate market, we see opportunities. However, finding a store of 400 to 600 ft in larger malls takes time,” said Talati.
The brand, whose mainstay is watches and sunglasses, forayed into accessories like belts, hats and bags this year and expects to reach a sales figure of Rs 360 crore with a growth rate of 25 per cent over last year.
“With the expansion of products in the Fastrack stores, covering accessories, most stores are breaking even within the very first year of operation as against our initial estimates of two years. The sales revenues from accessories would contribute 15-20 per cent to our revenues over the next five years," said Talati.
The brand would roll out more designs and models of various accessories like bags, belts, and leatherettes every month, Talati said, adding that they have no intention of bringing foreign brands to India.
According to Fastrack vice president and head Ronnie Talati, most of the outlets would be operated on franchise model with an investment of Rs 40-50 lakh, and a floor space of 400-500 sq ft.
“Since the launch of our first exclusive Fastrack store in Pune, the brand has received tremendous response in Vizag, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Thane and Nashik with Fastrack stores. With the launch of new stores at Begumpet and Himayatnagar in Hyderabad, we now have 13 Fastrack exclusive stores and seven kiosks,” Talati added.
The perspective plan envisages setting up of 50 stores in the country by April 2010 and then expands this further to a chain of over 100 outlets by next year. “We have set up a few of these stores as demonstration points and receive enquires for new stores. In fact, several of the dealers of Titan stores are keen to set up Fastrack stores,” Talati told reporters on the launch of two new stores in Hyderabad.
“Finding a right place to set up a store is a key challenge for us. Once we do so, we are able to roll it out soon. The choice of location of a store is also dependent on how fast we can secure a property. With the slowdown in the real estate market, we see opportunities. However, finding a store of 400 to 600 ft in larger malls takes time,” said Talati.
The brand, whose mainstay is watches and sunglasses, forayed into accessories like belts, hats and bags this year and expects to reach a sales figure of Rs 360 crore with a growth rate of 25 per cent over last year.
“With the expansion of products in the Fastrack stores, covering accessories, most stores are breaking even within the very first year of operation as against our initial estimates of two years. The sales revenues from accessories would contribute 15-20 per cent to our revenues over the next five years," said Talati.
The brand would roll out more designs and models of various accessories like bags, belts, and leatherettes every month, Talati said, adding that they have no intention of bringing foreign brands to India.
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