Franchises are defined as a type of business managed locally by one or more individuals —the franchisees— but supervised by a company or legal entity —which would be the franchisor, the parent company—.
Starting a franchise, as we said, allows you to take advantage of a series of advantages such as knowing the profitability of the idea before launching it, having the support of an entire network in matters such as image, communication, marketing or even the management of impacts of overseas chinese consumers in uk material and human resources. Among the disadvantages, we could find a certain lack of control over the aforementioned issues, especially in relation to those that have to do with the brand and its values, not being allowed to vary them in any way.
Geomarketing for franchises
Geomarketing is defined as the marketing variant or discipline that allows the analysis of a business or economic activity, as well as its real and potential audiences, through its location in geographic space, on the map.
By using layers of information, GIS or Geographic Information Systems are generated, which provide different data and allow analysts to draw business conclusions related to them.
In the case of a franchise, geomarketing will facilitate, among many other things, decision-making on issues related to the location of a new opening.
When opening a new franchise, it is important to know where the competition is geographically located, as well as what type of public lives or works in the surrounding area, among other things. By cross-referencing data and information from the brand itself, from third parties or from public sources such as the Land Registry, it is possible to obtain highly reliable information, in order to reveal a multitude of unknowns in business plans, marketing plans, etc.
For example, by using isochrones, we can find out how long it will take potential customers to travel from their homes to the sales point of the franchise we are launching. In this way, we will not only know if it is optimal to open in a certain location, but we will also know where we have to focus our efforts in terms of advertising impact or communication of the opening, offers and/or promotions.
