Customize Your Franchise and Conquer New Territories
A franchise is an outlet of the brand held by a franchise agent, who acts as a representative for the brand and shares the ongoing profit in exchange for the continuing use of the brand's name and value. The franchise agent also pays a franchise fee as a royalty fee in lieu of the brand name. The brand would usually be headquartered in a particular city in maybe another state or in the case of an international brand, even another country. Whereas, franchises could exist anywhere on the planet, in countries with strikingly different cultures, languages, and lifestyles or even in the same country but in different states with different cultures and habits. Some products and services offered by brands do not get affected by these stark differences in people and www.frantastic.in 1
cultures but most retail or franchise units do suffer due to the lack of uniformity in preferences and cultures. Brands with products or services highly susceptible to this contrast, move forward with caution and might not expand to certain areas or demographics, especially if they are wary of gaining acceptance there. However, brands which could appeal to large audiences with their products and services despite the cultural differences, attempt to expand and reach out to different areas and demographics. But as we have seen from the attempts of multiple enormous brands, no brand has been able to breakthrough different regions with the same products and services. Brands have learned with experience and have had to modify or customize their products and service offerings based on the region and the preferences and the cultural inclinations of the people of the region.
www.frantastic.in 2
Examples of Regional Customization By Corporations 1. Large fast food brands, which are famous for their beef products, scrapped out beef completely from their menus in the Indian market. India has a majority of Hindu population and the cow is considered sacred in India and hence, most Hindus do not consume beef in any www.frantastic.in 3
form. The corporations did their research and they knew that having beef on the menu even with other options present would deter crowds from flocking to their stores. So they removed all beef products and modified their food items to contain the largely accepted chicken and started expanding in India. The result is that the first chain to do this is now one of the biggest fast food chains in India and continues to grow every day.
www.frantastic.in 4
2. International fashion brands, which may have originated in Europe or the United States of America and wanted to expand to India, only showcased styles, which they thought would find acceptance here. For example, most of them did not initially showcase their winter collections in India, India being predominantly tropical would not have the need for much winter clothing. Similarly, initially, they only brought modest clothing options to India, now of course with more exposure to global aesthetics, the sensibilities in India have changed too and now fashion brands bring a wider range of products to India.
Steps to Achieve Customization As a franchise, you might have to customize even within the same country. India is a diverse land and each state has its own set of cultures and language and preferences. Take a look at the steps you can follow to understand your region better and provide them with suitable products and services. 1. Customer Research This is the first step in customization. If you do not understand your customers then there is no way you can provide them with what they want. You need to conduct extensive research to understand their likes, their dislikes, their preferences, lifestyle patterns, their biases, and their culture. This will enable you to create a collection of products, which will appeal to your customers and will help the brand to gain acceptance in the region.
www.frantastic.in 5
2. Customizing the Products Now is the main challenge. By now you should know and understand the people of the region and you need to convey the differences and the possible implications of these differences to the parent company or the brand. With the help of the parent company, you might need to shortlist items in their product line or modify some items in order to present a suitable bouquet of products to the customers of the region.
www.frantastic.in 6
3. Local Hire It is imperative that you hire and train a good number of local staff, who can speak the language and will act as representatives of the brand and the franchise. Local staff will aide in gaining the trust of the local people and might also be better at communication if the language is a hurdle for others. 4. Signages in Local Language Common people, especially in smaller cities or towns find it hard to trust establishments, which do not have their signages in the local language. It is highly important that they can read the name of the company and also trust it at first glance. A foreign name could draw customers away instead of luring them in. In such cases, signages in the local tongue would greatly help the franchise. 5. Local Advertising Advertising in the local language helps in reaching out to more people. Also, the advertisement needs to cater to the sentiments and the sensibilities of the locals and therefore, you might need to hire a local expert, who can guide you through the process. Even creatives can be designed in the local language or depicting the local culture and people. These things touch more people and are more successful than the run of the mill national level advertisements, which do not target local pockets of people. This is also the reason why you see so many brands target smaller regional audiences through their advertising, at times directly or indirectly by showing certain regional people in the advertisements or by hiring a regional celebrity to endorse the product for them.
www.frantastic.in 7
Starting any franchise needs adequate research and work in order to make it a success. Starting a franchise in the unchartered territory is even more challenging but can also be equally rewarding. If you take all the necessary precautions and customize your franchise for your target audiences you will be able to gain a large share of the market and will breakthrough a new regional market. Once you have learned the art of customization, you can take over any region in the world, so keep conquering!
www.frantastic.in 8