Retail 2013 feature

feature

Shopping for a franchise?

Consider Retail!

Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 63

feature

Helping take the guesswork out of buying a franchise

64 Business 64 Business Franchise Franchise AustraliaAustralia and Newand Zealand New Zealand

feature have strong interest in both these states and are looking to open stores in these regions in the near future,” Mr Beaty said.

Snooze has recently announced vendor finance options to help prospective franchisees, and is also bank accredited with both the NAB and ANZ banks.

The bedMATCHTM system Simon Beaty, Managing Director, Snooze.

According to Snooze Managing Director Simon Beaty, “Attitude is everything” when it comes to success as a franchisee.

“In franchising obviously it’s important that the franchise system is solid and provides franchisees with all information and training required to successfully operate that business, but it’s equally important that the franchisee has the right attitude to create their own success.

“The retail industry is very people oriented – we’re looking for franchisees that enjoy dealing with people. Business acumen and retail experience would also go a long way; however the defining factor is the attitude of the person joining the system,” Mr Beaty said.

“What makes a franchisee successful is a blend of the systems and processes provided by the franchise system, and the drive and determination of the franchisee.

They need to have the drive to take their business and the company forward.

“In my experience, I’ve seen franchise partners that have sold, and then the incoming franchisee has taken that business to new heights – and their attitude was the key attribute to their success,” Mr Beaty said.

STRONG HISTORY IN FRANCHISING As one of Australia’s longest-running franchised business, Snooze prides itself on its service, high quality product, dedicated staff and strong community ties. With more than 70 stores operating across the

country, Snooze has proven itself to be a consistent franchise performer, voted amongst the Top 10 Australian Franchise Businesses in 2012 by topfranchise.com.au.

From humble beginnings as Capt’n Snooze in 1974, the business rapidly grew into six specialty stores offering new standards of service, expertise and range. In 1976, they began to franchise, opening stores across Victoria and New South Wales. And then in 1992, as Capt’n Snooze, the franchise merged with the Queensland franchised bedding group, Bedpost. This established them as one of the largest specialist franchised bedding chains in Australia.

In 2001, the franchise became part of an international group, Steinhoff Asia Pacific, which also operates the Freedom and BayLeather Republic brands.

By consistently striving for innovation and quality, Snooze remains an industry leader, empowering franchise partners to exceed expectations and provide an awesome retail experience for its customers. With an aggressive growth strategy firmly in place, Snooze plans to reach 90 plus stores in the next three years.

Mr Beaty says that across the franchising industry new franchisees seem to be cautious about entering the market.

“Whilst people across the industry are being cautious, we’re seeing great success with existing franchise partners expanding their business and becoming successful multi-site franchisees,” he said.

“We also have new franchisees opening stores across the country.”

Opportunities currently exist Australiawide for new franchisees, in both regional and metropolitan areas.

“Snooze has over 70 stores operating across Australia, with the exception of Tasmania and the Northern Territory – however we

“We’ve always tried to do things differently from our competitors. One of our most successful initiatives is the bedMATCHTM system,” said Mr Beaty.

“Buying a bed is a confusing thing to do – a customer walks onto the shop floor and sees many options before them and doesn’t really know where to start - we aim to take the guesswork out of buying a bed.

“The bedMATCH™ system, powered

by Sleep to Live matches customers to a selection of mattresses that may suit their individual needs more. By lying on the test bed, the system takes a number of measurements to narrow the field of suitable mattresses, simplifying the whole bed-buying experience,” Mr Beaty said.

“It’s a system that’s been well received by our customers. A mattress is a comfort related purchase, and one that takes a lot of consideration, and usually this purchase is only made every seven to 15 years. By reducing the number of options suited to the customer’s needs we’re helping to ensure that their purchase is more likely to be the right one.

“All of our franchisees and store staff are trained in the bedMATCHTM system.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SUPPORT With almost 40 years’ experience in the bedding and home furnishing business, the team at Snooze understand the importance of sharing knowledge and expertise among their entire network, ensuring an exceptional level of service, with ongoing support provided to franchise partners across marketing, product and sales training, visual merchandising and IT – allowing stores to perform at their optimum level and meet the needs of their local market.

Snooze also hosts regular meetings, forums and conferences for franchise partners to network with colleagues and learn more about the business, ensuring they’re aware

Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 65

feature

Snooze

of company news, able to speak directly with the senior management team, and be the first to view new products and technologies from suppliers.

In addition to ongoing training, Snooze offers a superior product range. Snooze product managers don’t simply select products from catalogues; they work hand-in-hand with suppliers from all over the world to identify products that are innovative, unique, and of a superior quality to other products on the market.

Snooze stores also stock an extensive range of brands and technologies which are exclusive to Snooze.

As part of the Steinhoff International group (which also own Freedom Furniture and BayLeather Republic), Snooze’s industry connections are second to none.

“The Snooze support centre is very comprehensive. We want to be sure that our franchise partners are well supported to get the most out of their investment,” said Mr Beaty.

“I was in head office not so long ago talking with one of our new franchise partners about the training process he’d been through. This man made an excellent observation that epitomises the important role attitude plays in success.

“He said “I’ve been given the knowledge to run my new business in the best way possible; the manuals, the support and the training. Now it’s all down to what I do with the business from here.”

“I couldn’t agree more. We’ll do everything we can to help you be successful – but at the end of the day it’s up to the individual franchisee to make the most out of their business,” he said.

Mr Beaty said that the future for Snooze is looking very positive.

“We’re targeting growth in the number of stores, as well as the performance of existing stores, and we believe that Snooze has a very positive future ahead.”

If you’re an enthusiastic individual, identify with the Snooze brand, and are willing to work hard to reap the rewards, contact Alistair Browne, Snooze Franchise Network Development Manager.

Phone: 0427 401 169 Email: franchising@snooze.com.au Web: www.snooze.com.au

The following eight points form the basis of Snooze’s franchise support system: Marketing and promotional support Snooze has a strong history of effective marketing campaigns which have created strong brand image and consumer awareness.

Sales and merchandising support Snooze’s sales process has been customised for Snooze, and is tried and tested.

Product training Snooze has accumulated invaluable knowledge during its 30+ years in the bedding retail industry. This experience is passed on to franchisees via a series of training courses.

Business management support Franchisees can rely on a network of Regional Managers dedicated to assisting them and their support staff.

IT services Snooze provides a range of IT and help desk support, as well as operational support.

Benchmarking & KPI measurement and comparison Snooze maintains financial, product and retail benchmarking, providing each store with individual financial and business models.

Site selection and property negotiation Snooze provides assistance in negotiations with centre management or landlords, as well as drafting plans and approvals.

Store design & layout Snooze offers in-house expertise in store layout, design, fixtures and fittings, as well as hands on visual merchandising support

66 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand

feature “I hope in this article you will get some insights into what I have learnt and what I believe makes a successful business.”

Janine Allis is Managing Director of Retail Zoo.

Retail is detail When I first started Boost in 1999, I read in a financial magazine the horrific stats on new startup businesses with regard to their success rates.

I was mortified to read that four out of five new businesses fail in the first five years.

Fast forward 14 years and I can see clearly why some businesses succeed and others fail. I hope in this article you will get some insights into what I have learnt and what I believe makes a successful business.

People’s expectation when they start a business is nearly always bullish; they just expect the customers to come. I often see a new business spend a fortune on a new office fit-out, a fancy car and pay themselves a large salary because they think they deserve it, or need it to survive.

This is often the downfall of a business in its early days as a fancy fit-out and a nice car does not turn into profit. One thing is guaranteed, that like a baby, a new business is totally reliant on you for its survival and whatever time you think it will take to be successful - double it and with the estimate of money you think it will take to succeed, triple it and then you may be close to the

reality. This is not meant to put anyone off going into business, but it is designed to make sure every dollar that is spent is spent wisely.

Now I do not want to sound so downcast in the opening paragraphs when I am writing about creating a successful business, because I have had the time of my life creating our business, BUT people can and do enter into their own business with rose coloured glasses and it takes every atom of your soul to be successful and lots of sacrifices are needed.

Here are some areas to focus on to create a successful business:

People People will make or break you in business and in life. Surrounding yourself with great, experienced, dedicated people is critical for the success of your business.

Take your time to interview, reference check and train your new employees, but equally if they are not right, do not delay in replacing them, as I have seen many great ideas and businesses fail because of the people chosen to be part of the business. It is identical to creating a top sporting team, you must have a mixture of different skills and types to be successful, but at the end of the day for you to win the flag you need to be ruthless in your approach to having only the best. Hiring the best also attracts the best, because great people want to be with great people and be challenged to continually lift the bar.

Money Being undercapitalised is also another way for a business to fail. There are some great potential businesses out there that have failed because of a lack of cash. It is better to have a small piece of a big pie than a large piece of a small pie. But make sure you get the balance right. You need to value the investment that people make into your business; I have seen people get bitter that they are doing all the work but have to share the profit with the silent partner. But they forget without the capital to grow the business, it would not be where it is.

Customer is King Customer focus: The basic law of marketing and business is to find out what your customer wants and give it to them. Simple, right? Then how come so many businesses do not listen to their customers, they don’t make it easy for feedback and don’t make changes to meet the customer’s needs. Often, very often, retail businesses think too short term, they have extremely strict return policies and do not value the customer’s needs. For example, I purchased a jacket from a large department store, I followed the washing instructions on the label but despite this after one wash it looked like it was a year old, instead of a week. When I returned it, I was given the third degree, she made it clear that she did not believe me and told me that the manufacturing company had this machine to be able to tell if I actually washed it correctly or not. I had to get the

Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 67

feature

E x per t Advice

supervisor to eventually allow me a credit note. To this day, I will avoid the store.

Where a different outcome would have left me feeling great about the store and given me confidence in shopping there again.

Great retail businesses shine when things go wrong, not when all is normal. To be great, you always need to put yourself in the shoes of the customers, how would you feel if you had a bad experience? We all have them, but we love the retail stores that are flexible and willing to help in any way.

I would want my time respected, I would want an acknowledgement that there was a problem, I would want them to give me a reason to tell my friends how great the store was, not how horrible or rude they were. In retail things go wrong all the time, in our case blenders break down, deliveries can be late, registers sometimes do not work.

Customers understand that stuff happens now and then, but it is up to us as retailers to give them a reason to rave about us, to go above and beyond. Surprise and delight, we all have regular customers. Every now and then treat them with something you think they will like.

Product The product you sell must be amazing and what the customer wants. You need to be

obsessed with getting your product right. I know this sounds obvious, but I walk into food courts and see food that looks like it’s days old and I wonder if the owner of the food outlet would in fact actually eat that food and if they were passionate and obsessed about getting it right, would they serve this food. That is one of the reasons at Boost and Salsas we always make it fresh, it is because that is what our customers want, and that is what I would want from a food outlet. It is because we are obsessed about getting our product right and tasting great that we are successful. It does not matter if you are in food or other retail, the product has to be perfect and if it is not, you have to have mechanisms in the business so that the customer can let you know and then you fix it.

It is all in the detail We have spoken about people, product and customers, but you will have no business unless you know the detail. I am sure you have heard before “retail is detail”, which means it is about the little things that make a big difference. It is about knowing every part of your business and that includes the financial numbers. Reading your numbers tells you a story about your business. For example, what products are selling, what

68 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand

are the most expensive products, what products should I be marketing more, am I managing my wastage, am I overstaffed, understaffed, are my staff stealing from me, do I need to open earlier? I am constantly surprised when retail people do not know their numbers, it is also not a surprise when the most successful retail business people I know can roll off their tongue exactly how much they are making and all the details that the numbers offer. You read your numbers like you read a story about your business; you need to learn the language to truly be successful in retail.

Retail is detail in every aspect.

Janine Allis is Managing Director of Retail Zoo, holding company of Salsa’s Fresh Mex Grill, CIBO and Boost Juice and the Founder of Boost Juice Bars.

Boost is now in more countries than any other juice bar in the world.

For more information contact Retail Zoo franchising sales.

Phone: 03 9508 4400 Email: aussiefranchising@

boostjuicebars.com Web: www.boostjuice.com.au and

www.salsas.com.au

feature “I firmly believe that there is always enough business for those doing marketing and looking creatively at “Well, what can we do?””

Katherine Grace, Director, Graceful Solutions Marketing.

Increasing Your Retail Sales

“Retail’s waaaay down;” “People are buying overseas;” “Consumer confidence is bad;” “The online market is killing us;” “Big chains beat us on price,” and so on.

While these all may (or may not) be true for your street, your precinct or your industry, the fact of the matter is that if you are to remain in retail (or sell out at a reasonable price) then the only choice is to work out a way to be successful despite the always present external factors. Because even if less people are buying retail, some still are, and so it falls to those retailers putting up their hand (or waving frantically if required) to pick up the majority of the pie.

I firmly believe that there is always enough business for those doing marketing and looking creatively at “Well, what can we do?”

Add to this an improving market and a definite trend and social media movement towards buying and supporting local

Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 69

feature

E x per t Advice

them know about sales, new products, special events and even personal news about the staff (people love to hear your stories). And of course, to ask for their support in referring their friends.

Collect a database (name and email is essential - mobile is also good, SMS marketing fits very well with retail) either by offering an incentive “Join our VIP Club for advance news about sales and receive a $10 gift voucher as a thankyou gift.” or by running a competition “Enter here to join our VIP list and go into the running for this hamper of products worth over $500!”. And don’t overlook that either offer can just as easily be placed outside your store to pull in people who might not have met you yet (I have placed hampers at schools, major restaurant foyers etc.).

2. Increase your average register ring

independent businesses, and it’s actually looking up for retail at the moment. You may also take heart in the fact that all of my retail clients (and most services) have experienced between 15-30 per cent growth every year since 2010. Consequently, their businesses not only pay them back for their effort but they are looking more and more attractive to a potential buyer, at a time when many businesses are worth just the value of their stock. How? By doing stuff.

As a starting point, here are some specific strategies which will increase your retail sales - by a little if done poorly, by a lot if done with gusto and commitment, but always by something. If you haven’t tried all of these yet then they are a good place to start. If you have, have a look at my website www.graceful solutions.com.au

If a register ring means $10 to you at the moment, what would happen if it meant $15? Yep, your business would increases by 50 per cent, all without a single cent on marketing.

Observe what you do with customers (the owner is usually the best salesperson by a mile) and train your staff to do the same things. Show them how ‘upselling’ is not a dirty word if it genuinely helps the customer. Offer product training nights (get the reps to present and even pay for dinner!) to engage your team in your products and make it easy for them to convincingly sell them. Even better, let them take the occasional (high GP) product home to experience it and be able to say “I use that at home”.

Measure the average sale, by person if you can or by the team if you can’t, and reward anyone hitting your new goal. Go through scenarios with them brainstorming examples of where that extra $5, $10, $500 might come from in each case (sometimes you can even have a formal ‘fries with that’ menu for everyone to refer to, i.e. “If customer buys X try suggesting they also consider getting Y or Z”).

as there is a list of marketing strategies to choose from.

1. Get a database

So, what can we do?

The most important thing is to do anything, as activity leads to energy leads to sales.

Service based businesses with regular clients (such as hairdressers, gardening, allied health, etc.) tend to always have databases as it is a necessary part of their operating model. Retail businesses tend to be the least likely to have them. I once convinced my client to get their friend, who had just opened a fish and chip shop, to start a database - and soon you will understand why.

Having a list of all your clients gives you the power to control the flow of business, as well as what people buy.

My toy store client has seen her takings increase by over $1,000 each time she has a sale, in line with her increasing database size (quite simply, more people know it’s on). Call them your VIP clients, and contact them often to let

70 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand

feature 3. Get people to visit more

Imagine if your store was so welcoming that people dropped in just to say “Hi” to you and your team! Work on making your store an amazing space to be and your customer experience an unforgettable one. People will come back more often and refer many.

On top of that, engage your customers in a community and let them know that their support keeps another family business alive. Use social media, database marketing and just day to day chit chat. Invite them to sales, product launches, VIP nights, open days and even just social, getting-to-know-you evenings. Send them timely newsletters reminding them you are the perfect place to visit before summer, winter, Christmas, school holidays, etc... If your efforts result in just one extra visit by each customer each year, what is that worth?

4. Be intuitive in your buying

Or rather, ask, listen and respond to what your customers want. The best way to sell more is to stock more of what people want, or stock items they are already buying from others but would buy from you if you had them (or in some cases knew you already do have them!).

It’s a great idea to survey your best customers (via email, phone or just as they come in) and find out what they like best about you, what else you could stock and how you can add to their convenience and your sales figures at the same time. For example, a lingerie store found that many of their clients were buying sleepwear as gifts for friends, so they expanded on that range and added a few other gift lines that were in keeping with the atmosphere of the store. It went gangbusters, in part because the clients who gave their opinion also felt indebted to buy the things they had suggested.

5. Make it easy to buy

You wouldn’t believe the amount of businesses missing out on sales because they are not forward thinking or flexible in how customers can buy. Depending

on your industry, you can offer credit cards, lay by, renting, special orders of things you don’t have, interest free financing.

6. Add value

Rather than thinking about the disadvantages you might be facing, look at the advantages. If you are an independent, or your local area marketing rules allow it, you can offer your clients a large range of valueadded services just by partnering with other independent businesses either within your industry or in your shopping precinct. Think about strategic alliances that would please your customers, such as a coffee shop offering customers five per cent off a clothing boutique in return for the clothing clients being given a free coffee - both businesses will expand their clientele as well as making current ones happy. Also, in many cases your franchisor will have connections or a loyalty program ready-made to help you over deliver to your customers.

As I said earlier, doing any of the above well will definitely result in an increase in

your sales, as well as reinvigorating you and your team to be working on deliberately building the business rather than ‘getting through a tough time’. How you think about the market at the moment is as much about your opinion (and those of your neighbours) as it is about what is actually happening - and I can confidently say that there is a lot to be gained by ignoring the press.

Katherine is a former General Manager for the Jim’s Group, with over 17 years’ experience in franchising and trades. She has also been a successful ActionCOACH (#14 in the world) and runner-up Franchise Woman of the Year in 2010.

Graceful Solutions is a marketing company specialising in no-cost, lowcost and local area marketing. Their team of eight consultants offer services including websites, database marketing and low-cost strategies to engage existing customers and find new ones.

Phone: 0400 865 277 Email: Katherine@gracefulsolutions.

com.au Web: www.gracefulsolutions.com.au

Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand 71

DON’T MISS OUR NEXT ISSUE!

Food & Drink Want to learn more about trends and growth industries in franchising?

Need help making the big decisions?

Every edition we feature advice from the experts to help you on your franchising journey.

Find out more about Food and Drink franchises in the September/October edition of Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand.

72 Business Franchise Australia and New Zealand

On sale 6th September 2013.