Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
The economy is booming and business is exploding, which meansgood things in the world of franchising. Here, Jerry Wilkerson,founder of Franchise Recruiters Ltd., discusses the future offranchising.
Lori Francisco: What are some major franchising trendsyou're seeing this year?
Jerry Wilkerson: We'll continue to see a lot ofbuyouts and takeovers. Franchisors can buy competition and takeover a region without increasing the size of their managementstaff. They've become bigger players since so much venturecapital money is available.
The labor pool will continue to shrink. To sell more franchises,franchisors need to be involved with helping franchisees findemployees.
We're going to see more in-store branding-franchisorslocated inside larger facilities, such as Wal-Mart and Kmart,because it's less expensive to set up and the marketing abilityis obvious.
Franchisors are trying to gather more information on theirconsumers so they'll know how to target their audiences.It's imperative that franchisors and franchisees use theInternet and e-mail.
Francisco: How will technology affect franchising?
Wilkerson: The Internet will provide almost immediate,in-depth information as to what's selling in theirmarket-[ultimately] keeping prices down.
Francisco: Will it be easier for franchisees to findfunding?
Wilkerson: Most financing companies have identifiedfranchising as a major [source of] business and have alreadydeveloped individual Web sites for all your financing, real estate,marketing, advertising, PR and demographics needs. These newsystems are going to bring so much to the table for franchising inthe future.
Contact Source
- Franchise Recruiters Ltd., franchise@att.net.
