In this issue of our newsletter, we tell you of the growing impact of our website on South Africa’s franchise scene. We then introduce you to the Black Diamonds and tell you why you need to know all there is to know about them. We go on to report on BEE initiatives in the franchise arena and related funding issues, highlight some disturbingly poor franchise practices and bring you franchising news of general interest. This issue concludes with a selection of questions received by our panel of experts and the answers they provided.
Using page impressions recorded on our website as a yardstick, we can safely say that whichfranchise.co.za, continues to spearhead the growth of franchising in South Africa and has evolved into South Africa’s foremost franchise information portal. Regular readers of this newsletter may recall that over the past few months, we were consistently reporting new records in the number of visitors to our site. May was no exception, with our site having recorded 67 782 page impressions. The number of queries our “Ask an expert” service received was an all-time high as well, and our panel of experts had to work double-hard to deal with them all. They did so promptly and professionally, and we thank them for that.
“What are black diamonds?” Anyone who has to ask this question is seriously out of touch with the realities of the South African market. The term “black diamonds” has been coined by the UCT/Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing to describe the rapidly growing black middle class. They have researched this market for the past three years or so and their latest findings reveal that it now consists of about 2,6 million South Africans, a growth of over 30% over the past 15 months. The survey also reveals that this market segment has a buying power of R180 billion – equal to 28 percent of the South African total. It is expected to evolve into the biggest single consumer group within a few short years. One could argue that this has nothing to do with franchising but we realise the importance of the issue for the business of every franchisor and franchisee in the country. For this reason, we attended the recent launch of the survey results, and bring you a summary of the findings in the Grapevine section of our website www.whichfranchise.co.za. Be sure to click trough – for two reasons. Firstly, it makes fascinating reading; secondly, the future of your business depends on it. Read more…
According to the electronic edition of Business Report, black entrepreneurs are keen to enter the franchise sector and many of the leading brands have long waiting lists of prospective black franchisees. This notwithstanding, not enough deals are struck, so what’s the problem? Based on input provided by several industry sector leaders, the writer identified three main areas that combine to create the present bottleneck. Read more…
Franchisors often complain that no matter how hard they try to help their franchisees become more successful, franchisees fail to pick up the ball and run with it. This may be true in some cases, in others, franchisors have only themselves to blame when their franchisees threaten to revolt. We bring you two examples of what we are talking about. Read more…
It’s official: using a team approach to problem solving generates significantly better results than letting one star performer work in isolation. Psychologist Patrick Laughlin and his colleagues at the University of Illinois, USA, established beyond doubt that a group approach to solving a problem is more efficient and the resulting outcomes are of better quality. In almost every instance, a team performed better than the best-performing individual team member trying to tackle the problem solo. Read more…
While in the not too recent past, franchise legislation was largely a concern for US-based franchisors, this is changing rapidly. As a result of a combination of factors, primarily actions by irresponsible franchisors and growing militancy among franchisees, several countries within the EU have introduced legislation. Others are about to follow suit. Read more…
Franchising is supposed to be a blueprint for business success. Time and again, experience has shown that when the concept is implemented in the right way, it delivers on all counts. Unfortunately, some franchisors choose to ignore the time-honoured principles of franchising, often with disastrous results. In the end, it matters little whether these failures are the result of fraudulent intent or mere ignorance. Read more…
PostNet, a subsidiary of OneLogix which is listed on the AltX, plans to add a further 15 units to its existing network of 218 branches. Read more…
Research company Zagat announced the results of its first survey into the US fast food sector. Working with over 5 500 surveyors, they came to the conclusion that Wendy’s is the Queen of the Fast Food Mega Chains and Panera Bread Co. is the Most Popular Overall. In the sit-down category, Outback Steakhouse took two awards, “Popularity” and “Top Food”. Read more…
Herewith a selection of questions received by our panel of experts and their answers. If you have a question, write to us – refer to the bottom of this newsletter for details.
I am the junior partner in a very successful family business and would like to take the business to the next level by way of franchising. What are the steps I need to take? Read more…
That’s all for today but it does not mean the end of our service to you, dear readers. Our experts are standing by 24/7/365 to answer any franchise-related questions. This free service draws on the support of some of the leading lights on the South African franchise scene including Eric Parker, Eugene Honey, Trudi van Niekerk, Anita Du Toit and Lynn Mendonça. You’ll find their mini-CVs on our website. Look them up and you’ll agree that better advisors would be hard to find. They look forward to receiving your questions. Just visit www.whichfranchise.co.za, post your question into the “Ask an expert” section and we promise to respond promptly. If we believe that a question is of general interest, we reserve the right to publish it, together with our answers, but we undertake to always protect the identity of the questioner and/or the company or brand involved.
To advertise your franchise opportunity in our franchise directory contact anita@whichfranchise.co.za
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