Franchise businesses, although seem of new-age operating models date back as early as the early 1600s when trading & exploration activities were managed by franchisors. Over the past 400+ years, the franchise software concept was adopted in various industrial sectors and gradually penetrated the hospitality, retail, education, and other consumer-centric businesses. As of 2020, India was the world’s second-leading franchise market after the US with more than 200K franchise outlets. The prevalence of the franchise model is due to its high success rate of 85% as compared to 10% in other types of businesses.

It definitely feels great when your own franchise model is successful and sets high benchmarks for your competitors. Franchise businesses both young and mature require the most efficient software systems in place so that the owner can manage multiple outlets with the ease of a finger tap. Businesses have grown to become quite big to be operated with only pen and paper. The advent of the internet boom has enabled enterprises like yours to understand the potential losses due to inefficient management of accounting, outlet performance, supply chain, and customer retention activities.

Brandwide – Franchise Software

In order to prevent such economic leakages, one has to adopt the best digital technologies available in the market and implement them in his/her business. The following post throws light on the importance of franchise software in the franchise system.

• Faster Deployment:

The only thing that makes your company unique as compared to others is the software system you have deployed across your franchises. It is of least importance if there is a single outlet managed by you right now. As you grow to become a multi-site owner, the software system will grow with you to handle a multitude of tasks on the go. New-gen software systems are synced with robust cloud networks which not only provide real-time monitoring of various operations but also keep personal and company data secure from any potential cyber threats.

There are several franchise software available in the market and choosing the best system will help you succeed in the highly competitive digital era. The software that has the right set of features suitable for your business operations and can manage big data while syncing multiple devices systems will give you instant visibility into admin, inventory, and retail activities on a real-time basis. It also has features related to enterprise management such as employee performance metrics, goals, and store-level reporting.

In addition to efficient management of franchisees and owned assets, the software lets you manage relations with third-party vendors and e-commerce which can be effective when updating these entities about the latest product availability.

• Helps in Performance Evaluation:

Apart from managing corporate and operational aspects of a business, the franchise software also lets you manage the customer-facing roles. Comparing store performance will help you identify outlets facing sluggish sales and identify the conversion rate, sales pattern, and take action beforehand. It lets the owner be flexible about price levels across multiple outlets based on local festive seasons or to boost sales of an underperforming outlet. Prices can be set across multiple product categories ranging from personal care to fashion clothing.

The foremost duty of a franchise is not only to meet sales targets but also to provide the best customer experience. User experience is highly influenced by the effectiveness of sales promotion tools. Additionally, gift cards, loyalty points, and coupons. Cloud-based franchise software will help multiple outlets to deploy promotional ads relevant to local festive seasons and based on the average customer sale value.

• Real-Time Monitoring:

In the case of retail, real-time monitoring of inventory levels also lets stores replace expired consumables with new products so as not to belittle the customer experience. While the stores enhance the real-world experience, franchise software lets you build a stronger digital connection with the consumers. Online campaigns can be centrally managed to be deployed across email and texts to let consumers know about buying guides, sales deals, discounts, financial assistance, and new service launches such as delivery services.

• Improves Data Analytics:

The last but not the least advantage of owning/subscribing to franchise software is data analytics. Analyzing customer footfall, revenue, and operational expenses at the individual store level can allow business owners to develop centralized performance metrics and take well-informed decisions when designing upcoming sales campaigns and setting future goals. The amount of store-wise data collected over time will help you analyze historical reports such as sales and inventory levels and let you optimize logistics across all outlets.

Finally,

Sharing logistics and reducing inventory costs will give you a significant competitive edge over the others. Tracking due payments can be cumbersome when dealing with multiple dealers, which can be eased by software features such as automatic invoice generation and monitoring payments across multiple vendors. New-gen franchise software is compatible with multiple mobile devices which can let senior stakeholders access various reports and make last-minute changes before digitally signing new contracts.